Book faryrightF ^|/2^ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. A fe^.v' ^^ THIS STORY OK THi: WAR TIMES IS DICDICATED TO 'i'hc iiVmplc of ioiuu. WHOSE HEROISM IN llil- MELD. AM) WHOSE SACRIFICES AT HOME, IIl.Lli.U TO SAVE THE REPUBLIC. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIOJ^S. S. H. M. Byers j. .. . ^ „ , ^^. , Frontispiece. Gov. S. J. Kirkwood.... -p„ • r. 1 iir Tx ^, racing page 34 Col. W. II. Merritt <. .. -^ Battle of Fort Donelson u .. q. Gen. J. M. Tuttle ,. . Gen. S. R. Curtis '..'.'. ■"■ ., ."' ^^^ Battle of Shiloh .'. .> • ■! ^!^ Gen. M. M. Crocker .! !! ^^^ Gen. C. L. Matthies . ," ""^'^ Gen. P. J. Herron .. „' ^^^ Battle of Prairie Grove .....'. .. .'.' ^^^ Gen. James Wilson ..' [[.^^^ Gen. E. F. Winslow ..., [[ [', ^^^ Gen.S.A.Rice '[[] ., [[ ^^^ Senator J. W. Grimes ......'". \\ !! ^^^ Senator W. B. Allison .' ',' ^^^ Gen. P. M. Drake " " ^'^^ Gen. G. M. Dodge .' [[ [[ ^^^ Gen. W. W. Belknap \\ " "^^ Gov. W. M. Stone .'* '' '' ^'^^ Gen. J. M. Corse [\ '' ^^^ Gen. J. I. Gilbert " " ^^"^ Gen. G.W.Clark [[ " ^^^ Gen. P. H.Warren...- [[ [[ ^^"^ Capt. V. P. Twombly... ' " ^^^ Hon. J. B. Grinnell .".'.".'.'.' [] [[ ^^^ Gov. William Larrabee.. .. !! " *'^^ " " 46G THANKS. The author's thanks are due to very many persous who have genei- ously aided him in securing material for this book. To Gov. S. J. Kirk- wood, for the use of valuable papers, private correspondence and per- sonal reminiscences ; to Gov. Larrabee and Gen. Alexander, for placing at the autlior's disposal the important records of the State; to Hon. J. B. Grinnell, for papers and Jissistance; to Gen. Tuttle, Col. Bell, Col. Shaw, Col. Palmer, cx-Governors Stone and Sherman, to Dr. Magoun, Dr. Salter and J. K. Graves, for papers and valuable aid; to A. W. Swalm, for the use of his fine military library; to the pro- prietors of the Burlington Ilawkeye, for the loan of files of their journal, and to the hundreds of others who have patiently answered letters, and who have loaned correspondence and diaries ; and especially to those who have written out regimental histories and whose names are given in the histories themselves. Lastly, his thanks are due to the Iowa Press, that announced and encouraged the writing of "Iowa in War Times," in terms that in themselves would have repaid the author for his labor, and that proved that the editors of to-day are as patriotic and as zealous for the state's honor as were the soldiers of Ml. TO THE EEADER. Every State has its heroic age. Iowa, young as she is, has possibly passed the high-tide period of her existence. Scarcely once in a thou- sand years do states or nations fight for a principle really vital to the human race. All states worth preserving, have wars. Fate stands at the side of the bravest, and in these times, as in all times, nations exist by the edge of their sabres and the calibre of their cannon. Yea, so long as men are human, wars will rage in the world some- where. But war for the upholding of Freedom, for the unchaining of millions of human beings, such wars, are the epochs of the ages. It is a happy people to whom fate gives the chance to strike a blow for human rights. That people's history is made. Had the Greeks no tale but Marathon, their fame would be complete; the Swiss no names but Morgarten, Winkelried and Sempach, their history woulji be perpetual. The traditions of heroic deeds outlive all the books of the world, and the sacrifice of life on the altar of liberty is a deed approved by angels. Liberty never saw a war waged in her name on so grand a scale as on the American continent. The battles of the Greeks, the Swiss, the early English and the Holland struggle, were petty encounters when compared with the mighty con- flicts of the War of the Rebellion. Many northern states won im- perishable renown in the struggle, but the state of Iowa, by common consent, stood first and foremost among them all. Of a population of less than seven hundred thousand, nearly eighty thousand were in the field. Of her arms-bearing men, every other one stood in the ranks of the union army. Two thousand one hundred and fifty-two of them were killed outright in battle ; ten thousand two hundred and sixteen died in hospitals and from wounds and sickness; more than ten thou- sand were discharged for disability and bodies ruined by the service. It was an awful price for young Iowa to pay, in her valor and faith, but it brought her a renown as lasting as history. The soldiers of Iowa marched in columns from the Des Moines river to the Atlantic ocean, and from the Gulf to the interior of every rebel state. Her flags floated at the front in every battle, and points of most awful danger in every conflict in the South were given to Iowa men. From chasing the murderous guerrillas of Missouri, to battling with the trained hosts in the Shenandoah Valley, from Donelson to Shiloh, from Atlanta to Mobile, from Cairo, in Illinois, to the heart of South Carolina, from the beginning of the bloody war until its very end, the history of the soldiers of Iowa has been the story of brave men. Ten thousand miles of marching, a hundred battle fields, and almost never TO THE READER. 7 a defeat. Men who had never seen a fort, went and took a dozen straight by storm. More prisoners were taken than the number of the captors; more cannon charged and captured than would man a dozen Sevastopols ; more flags than the Xorth had states. They marched to South Carolina, captured its treasonable capital, tore down its rebel banner, brought it home as a trophy, and hoisted the loyal flag of Iowa in its stead. Their cavalry rode to every town in rebeldora — and on horse or foot, helped to accomplish more harm to afoeman than had ever been done in the history of cavalry before. From the beginning until the end, the story of Iowa valor was the same as that of tried comrades from other states — not greatex', for all were brave, but these conspicuously so. Their fortune kept them at the front ; they were the first everywhere ; at Wilson's Creek, luka, Donelson, iShiloh ; at Vicksburg, Atlanta, Allatoona, Chattanooga and Mobile. Wherever Grant and Sherman led, they followed, and to victory. They were the heroes — the history-makers of the state. Their deeds will live. It is an impressive thought to realize that a thousand years from now school boys will be taught the story of these men. We owe the future some- thing, we owe it to these men, that, as far as in us lies, the truth as to the heroism of these Iowa patriots, and the sacrifices of Iowa at home, shall be preserved. In this spirit are offered the pages of this book. Its statements have been gathered from the records of the state, and the testimony of hundreds of surviving participants in the scenes it nar- rates. Scarcely a chapter but, before printing, has been submitted to Iowa soldiers who took prominent part in the war, and, though not ven- turing to write from memory, the author had the additional advantage of having been a participant in many of these scenes himself. For many months he has lived over the life on the tented field — marched with the soldiers again, by night and by day, rested in the rude bivouac, heard the tattoo and the reveille and the long roll beating the alarm that waked us to the sudden fight. He has heard again the cry " fall in," and charged with the men across the fields of Corinth, of Champion Hills, of yicksburg and of Chattanooga. And he has seen the dead and the dying, and has heard the sergeant call again that roll to which so many of his comrades will never answer more. He has seen the end of the long drama, in which these comrades played so great a part— and now holds himself fortunate in being even the narrator of a valor that has shed so much lustre on the state. This book will have served its purpose if it shall help to keep the memory of these comrades green, if it shall help let the youth of the state know that their fathers and elder brothers were heroes and patriots, and if it shall help to teach the boys and girls of Iowa, that loyalty to one's country and true valor, make men revered and states powerful. EXPLAISTATOEY. This book is not a book of biography — neither is it a book of incidents. The sincere effort has been made to prepare an enduring history of great events of Iowa during the war period. If there is any art in the book it has been the art of condensing. Men have been largely passed over — leav- ing the story of their deeds to speak for them. No other plan for a single volume seemed possible — and a book beyond a single volume could not be issued at a price desirable for the public. The short-comings of the book are realized by the writer not less than by those who will become its critics. Its statements of facts, however, are based on state and government records, supplemented by data furnished by ex-officers and soldiers all over the state. Where the book fails most, is where the record fails also. The Iowa records of the war, though volumi- nous, are in no sense complete. Aside from the very correct and valuable record of the personal history of the soldier, made by Gen. Baker himself, the official army papers are one vast jumble of letters and reports from the field, of every quality of merit, from perfection to the sadly indifferent. Our Iowa officers were better at fighting than at making reports. A very sincere effort was made to obtain all possible data in the state bear- ing on the war. About 500 circulars were sent to ex-soldiers asking for this, and over 1,000 personal letters have been written on matter pertaining to the book. Officers and privates generously placed at the writer's disposal their correspondence, diaries, etc., and it is believed that there is little of value bearing on the war that has not been examined. Want of space made it necessary to use smaller type for the Histories of the Regiments. It was a choice between smaller type and shorter sketches. These regimental histories are believed to be accurate, and it is to be hoped wiU be of valuable service to every Iowa soldier. They are nearly all new, condensed from the records, or written by members of the regiment especially for this book. When written by others, credit has been given in the sketch itself. To the histories of the Cavalry regiments much space has been accorded in the Second Part of the book. The peculiar nature of their movements, often in detachments, and far apai-t. made it impossible to follow them in the general description of battles. The chief fault of the book, it is believed, must lie in its omissions — not in what it says, so much as in uhat it does tiot say. Without completer data this could not be avoided, and soldiers noticing important lapses in the book, either as to men or events are kindly invited to make them known to the writer for use in case of future editions. Such corrections should be authentic, simple and brief. s. h. m. b. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I— Page 17. JOHN BROWN IN IOWA. A PRELUDE. John Brown — A Warrior of the Lord — " Makes the gallows glorious like the Cross " — The beginning of the end of slavery— Iowa had been one of John Brown's places of refuge — The posts on the path to freedom — The crisis in Kansas — Tabor — West Liberty — Springdale — John Brown as a man— His sojourns in Iowa — Iowa men who hailed the star of freedom — Incidents — By the fireside in Grinnell — John Brown's cannon, CHAPTER II— Page 27. THE WAR GOVERNOR — MUSTERING FOR THE CONFLICT. Fort Sumter — The shot heard round the world — How it met the South — The North — Iowa— The man for the hour — Samuel J. Kirkwood — Govern- ment calls for a regiment — Instant response — Sketch of the War Gov- ernor's life — Political antecedents — Devotion to the Union — Buchanan's administration — Political situation — Sentunent in Iowa — Lincoln's elec- tion— Kirkwood 's letter to President — Visit of congratulation — Believed in Lincoln's star — A later visit to a later President — The Governor pro- ceeds to set his house in order — Undrilled militia — No arms — No credit — Crisis coming — The pilot at the helm — The key note struck — Prompt action — Governor inspires and compels — Writes the Governor of Mary- land — Sentiment in Iowa— H. M. Hoxie — Mass meeting in Des Moines — Government worth fighting for — No unjust compromise — Kirkwood. Teesdale, Kasson, Morris and Grinnell take part — Addresses by patriots — Kirkwood writes his views to delegation in Washington — Conven- tions for compromise in Virginia and Kentucky — Kirkwood invited — Will not go— Sends patriotic letter — The press and the people rally to Kirkwood— Militia companies offered simultaneously— Washington Light Guards — Governor's letter of acceptance — Governor's Greys first company tendered the President — Burlington Rifles — Union Guards — Burlington Zouaves— It was the answer to South Carolina— Governor raises money — Banks bring their aid — Railroads carry the soldiers free — Private generosity — The eight-pounder present — Union of parties — The women of the State— Their love and their labors — Regiments ready before ordered — Governor suggests minute men, like our fathers in the Revolution, to marcti on an hour's notice — No uniforms — Not to be bought— Ezekiel Clark buys cloth for 1,500 in Chicago — The deft hands of Iowa women make them — Governor wants no shoddy for " Our boys " — The First Regiment in rendezvous at Keokuk — The song rings over the State — The church takes up the strain — Ringing sermons from every pulpit — Every prayer a benediction on the soldiers — The burden fallen on the Governor. CHAPTER III— Page 42. THE WAR GOVERNOR — MUSTERING FOR THE CONFLICT — CONTINUED. "For God's sake, sencl_ us arms" — Adjutant General Bowen — Unbounded patriotism and untiring zeal — Soldiers eager for the fray — Governor bor- rows on personal reponsibility — Companies drill without arras— Loyal citizens maintain them— Second regiment accepted by the Governor — 10 CONTENTS. Sent to Keokuk without orders from government— Legislature convened in Mav— The Governor's exposition of the situation— Intense opposition to loval measures developed-Loan of $800,000 called for— Vigorously opposed— Peace conventions suggested— Loyalty triumphant— Loan granted— Militia reorganized-Disloyalty comes out boldly-Copper- heads—Con vention at Des Moines— Denounce the President— Declare loan unconstitutional— Oppose coercing rebels— Rebel flag unfurled at Ossian— Copperhead meeting in Marion county— Shameful resolutions- Active opposition to war measures— Secret meetings— Counterfeit Union convention. CHAPTER IV— Page 56. THE WAR GOVERNOR— MUSTERING FOR THE CONFLICT— CONTINUED. The Governor in Washington begging for arms— Copperhead effOTts pre- vent sale of state bonds— Kirkwood, Hiram Price and Ezekiel Clark maintain the regiments in camp on personal security— Pretended loy- alty—July 4, 1861, extra session of Congress— Pitiable spectacle of par- leying with' treason— Iowa legislature on a larger scale— The hand of the Almighty pushing events— Bull Run rouse.s the people— Iowa an- swers with four new regiments— In a month 12,000 lowans in field and in camp— Governor renews efforts to sell bonds— Fails— Appeals to the citizens of state to buy— Adjutant General resigns— Governor appoints Nathaniel B. Baker— Like Kirkwood, born to the place— Every heart- bea.t for the soldiers— Prompt with the guilty— Success and recognition —Previous life— The State's good fortune in its leaders— Baker's vig- ilance in details— In July, 1861, war begins in earnest— President calls for 300,000— Iowa's quota forms rapidly— Blanket episode— Enlistment more rapid than acceptance— Touching incidents. CHAPTER V— Page 63. IOWA AT Wilson's creek. Iowa's first fight— Lyon pursues Jackson through Missouri— Sigel defeated by Jackson— Joins Lyon at Springfield— Jackson re-enforced by ten thousand— Fremont leaves Lyon unsupported— Lyon makes a bold strike —Marches by night to Wilson's Creek and attacks the enemy— Rebels five to one against him— The First Iowa's time expired, but every man stays to fight with Lyon— Lt. -Col. Merritt leads the First— Five hours in the storm of battle— Ten rebel charges repulsed— Lyon waits for Sigel —Sigel unknown to him retreating to Springfield— Lyon falls— Lull in the battle— Major Sturgis in command— Treacherous approach of the Rebels under Union colors— Desperate contest— Rebels abandon the field- Shattered Union forces retiring to Springfield— The song of the Union— The Hero dead— Successful retreat to Rolla— Honor to the First Iowa— 160 men lost— The remainder, except three, wounded— Every man a hero. CHAPTER VI— Page 71. AFFAIRS IN IOWA. First regiment returns— Is mustered out— Fired by example, enlistment goes on- Kirkwood in Washington asking for arms to defend the state bortler— " When the news of Wilson's Creek reached Washington, it was an honor to be an Iowa man "—State in dire need of money — Cop- perheads succeed in preventing sale of bonds— Dilemma — Work in Adjutant General's office- Ignorance of officers of the art of war- Bravery of the common soldiers— Mistakes in military appointments- Unworthy officers— True merit. CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTER VII— PaCxE 77. BATTLE OF BLUE MILLS. Horrors of war in Missouri— Guerrilla warfare— Part of the Tiiird Iowa, under Lt -Col. Scott, fall in Ambush— Blue Mills— A desperate fight against fate— Retreat before an enemy eight to one— Deeds of bravery— Fre- mont's removal — Thanksgiving Day of 1861. CHAPTER VIII— Page 81. THE BATTLE OF BELMONT — GRANT's FIRST BATTLE. Grant with 20,000 men at Cairo— Fremont and Price— Fremont orders Grant and Smith to deceive enemy at Columbus— Smith makes feint on rear- Grant on the river toward Belmont- Volunteers want to fight— Grant yields— Seventh Iowa in line of battle-Enemy prepared to receive them —Description of the battle— Gallantry of Col. Lauman— Lt.-Col. Wentz killed— Lauman and Maj. Elliott Rice wounded— Rebels disastrously beaten— Tide of battle turns— Surrounded— Desperate Retreat— Severe losses— Mention for gallantry— Belmont a defeat— Rebel congress thanks God. CHAPTER IX— Page 88. AFTER BELMONT. Gov. Kirkwood asks for Iowa Brigadiers— Valor and hardships of our men not properly recognized— Embarrassments of the Governor in appoint- ing — Will England make war? CHAPTER X— Page 91. IOWA AT DONELSON. Fremont— Cause of his removal— Halleck— Albert Sidney Johnston— Posi- tions of Forts Donelson and Henry— Grant's plan—" 1 can take and hold Fort Henry "—Surrender of the Fort—" I shall take and destroy Fort Donelson "—Troops hurried thither— The investment— The Iowa boys on the left— Second Iowa hurries to the scene— Untoward beginning of battle— A night snowy and cold— On the morrow the fight begins— Rebels attempt to cut their way out— Frustrated— Assault by Smith's division— Second, Seventh and Fourteenth Iowa— Col. Lauman— The Twelfth Iowa— The charge— The receiving volleys— The outer entrench- ment won— Morning— The white flag— Unconditional surrender— Lau- man's brigade marches into Donelson — Second Iowa at its head — "The bravest of the brave "—The turning point of the war— Deeds of valor- Tears for the slain — The news in Iowa. CHAPTER XI— Page 108. IOWA AT THE BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE. Hard fate of the Unionists in Missouri— Halleck occupied with the Army of the Tennessee— He "leaves Price to Gen. Curtis "—Curtis equal to the emero-ency- His antecedents— Price enters Springfield on Christ- mas— "The Army of the Southwest "—The march on Springfield- Retreat of Price— Pursuit- Fight at Sugar Creek— Taking " Cross Hol- lows"— Enemy re-inforced— Curtis talis back to Sugar Creek—" Beware of Van Dorn"— He advances with 40,000 rebels— Curtis rapidly dis- poses his forces— Sigel's mishap— Van Dorn's strategy— Curtis sur- rounded—Brilliant strategic movement of Curtis— Faces the enemy on Pea Ridge— Intercepted movement— Rebel cavalry charge— Texan bar- barism—Indian scalping— The scene " not devoid of satisfaction to a 22 CONTENTS, rebel witness-The battle opens in eamest-Iowa men receive the first shock-Seven hours under fire-Desperate fighting- Dodge s brigade against superior numbers nearly nine hours -Loses one-third ot its men -Darkness closes the first day's fight-Sunrise and the fight re-opened -Curtis counsels with Dodge-The heroic resolve -A general charge- The enemy fly— The battle won— The wounded and the dead— Promo- tions for valor. CHAPTER XII— Page 122. IOWA AT SHILOH. The part played by Iowa soldiers— The hero of Donelson suspended from 5utv--Gen C. F. Smith lands the troops at Pittsburg Landing-Grant reinstated-Buell's leisurely approach-Position of the, Union army- Gen W H L. Wallace's division— Gen. J. M.Tuttles brigade— Disposi- tion of the different Iowa regiments— The new volunteers— Was tlie battle a surprise ?— Rebel testimony-Gen. Tuttle's story— "1 he Hornets Nest —Surrounded— "Let us cut our way out"— Tlie Second and Seventh Iowa charge-The Twelfth, Fourteenth and Eighth captured— The part of the Seventh lowa-The Twelfth-The Fourteenth -The Third —Its gallant record- I'he peach orchard— The Sixth Iowa at theright— Its unsurpassed bravery-Its varied fortime--lhe Thirteenth Iowa and the Eleventh-Their skill and valor— The Fifteenth and the Six- teenth—Fresh from their homes— Hurried into a desperate battle— In the hottest places— Sabbath night on the battle field— Daylight-Grant attacks— Shiloh won— Nearly 11,000 Union soldiers lost— Iowa s loss one-fourth of the whole. CHAPTER XIII -Page 149. IOWA AT THE BATTLE OF lUKA. September, 1862— Buell and Brasrg having a race for the Ohio— Western array dispersed by Halleck— Grant left with inadequate force— Gloomy period— Price and Van Dorn move out for attack— Grant's plan to sur- round them— An unlucky wind— The attack— A fierce fight— Great heroism of the Fifth Iowa— Charges and countercharges— Heavy losses —Sunset and victory— The wounded— Night on the battle field— Price retreats — Failure to capture him. CHAPTER XIV— Page 159. THE BATTLE OF CORINTH AND THE HATCHIE. Nio'ht at Corinth— The orderto " fall in "—Forty thousand Rebels approach- ° ing— Preparations for battle— Positions taken— Twelve Iowa regiments —Their disposition— Thermometer 108° in the shade— Rebel charges on the works— Repulses— Col. Baker of the Second Iowa falls— Last wor;ls —Gen. Oglesby— Gen. Hackleman— Last words— Movement of Hamil- ton's division— Gallantry of the Crocker brigade— Night— Morning renews the fight— The thunder of artillery— Furious charging— Ihe redoubt lost and retaken— Gallant exploit of Corporal King— Col. Mills —Battery Robinett— Ihe battle won— "The eye of our Army "—Honor to the brave— Rebel loss— Pursuit— Battle at the Hatchie— The Heroic - Third — "Somebody blundered." CHAPTER XV— Page 175. THANKSGIVING DAY, 1862. McClellan's removal— Iowa glad— Great patriotism in the state— Iowa ahead on troops— But almost a draft to fill old regiments— Proportion of Republicans and Democrats in tlie army— The Knights of the Golden CONTENTS. 13 Circle— Little else than assassins— Provost Marshal Hoxie— Keeps watch on the Knights— Great work for the soldiers at home—" I will do all 1 can for the soldiers, as long as I live," said Baker— Incompetent officers —Politicians in shoulder-straps- All want to be brigadiers— Iowa women 1" the harvest field — Pathetic scenes in Iowa towns— Home on furlough. CHAPTER XVI— Page 186. BATTLE OF PKAIRIE GROVE. A hot battle— Great charge of the Nineteenth Iowa— McFarland slain— Charge of the Twentieth— The victory won— Thanks of the Governor- Parker's Cross Roads. CHAPTER XVII— Page 196. ATTEMPTS ON VICKSBURG — ARKANSAS POST. The Key of the Mississippi— "Citadel of the slaveholders' Confederacy"— Grant moves against it— Sherman to co-operate— Van Dorn strikes a blow— Grant's et!brt fruitless— Sherman continues— Campaign of the Chickasaw Bayou— Fights among bayous and lagoons— AssauUs bloody but fruitless— Sherman withdraws— The Iowa troops— The Fourth infantry— Grant's tribute— Arkansas Post— "Hold out till the last man )s dead''— The fort invested— Taken by assault— The part of the Iowa boys — The Yazoo Pass— Inland seas— Picturesque navigation— Unsuc- cessful, CHAPTER XVIII-Page 206. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. Grant proposes another attempt— The gunboats and transports pass the bat- teries on the river— "A magnificent sight, but terrible "—Grand Gulf— Ihe army crosses the river. Port Gibson— Page 208. First act in the new drama— Twenty-nine Iowa regiments advancing— Fi"-ht- ing in the night— The battle of Port Gibson— Still marching. Raymond and Jackson — Page 211. The way to Vicksburg open— The battle begins May 12th— Gallantry of Iowa troops— The march on Jackson— The capital of Mississippi falls- How our men fought there. Champion Hills — Page 214. May JCth--A terrific fight— Unsurpassed bravery of Iowa men— Incidents of the battle— Saving the hag— A brave boy— Complete victory. Battle of Btack River Bridge— Page 220. Great charge of Lawler's brigade of Iowa men— Witnessed by Gen. Grant —Letter from Grant on the battle field— Rebels drown in the river— The victory— Grant's army marches close to the walls of Vicksburg— The iu '"^ aI- ? cavalry takes Haines's Bluff— Iowa troops the first to leave the Mississippi river on the campaign, and the first to reach water on the Yazoo. The Siege— Page 224. Hie siege begun— Twenty Iowa regiments on hand— Disposition of the investing force— On May 19th, an assault without result— Second ter- rihc assault on the 22d— Loss of the Iowa troops— The Sevastopol of t.ie bouth— Lawler's brigade, with the Twenty-first, Twenty-second and 14 CONTENTS. Twenty-third Iowa, assaults — Sergt. Griffith leads thirteen men into the works, and hoists the Union flag— Other heroic deeds — The lost hope — Men advance with ladders from the ditches, and are all shot down — Unique warfare— Living in the ditches — Blowing up forts — Ten more Iowa regiments — Thirty in all — Gov. Kirkwood visits the boys, and receives a Rebel salute— Vicksburg falls July 4, 1862— "The Mis- sissippi flows unvexed to the sea." Siege of Jackson — Page 232. Corse's celebrated reconnoissance — Iowa aerain at the front — The massacre of the Iowa Third — Somebody blundered — Jackson falls for the second time — Our victorious army returns to Vicksburg. CHAPTER XIX— Page 236. THE BATTLE OF HELENA. A heroic defense — Gen. S. A. Rice — " Please let me take Helena" — Price's gallant charge — Loses 1,500 men — Last fighting for possession of Mis- sissippi river. Sterlij;g Farm — Page 241. Capture of the Nineteenth Iowa. CHAPTER XX— Page 243. SOME MINOR ENGAGEMENTS. Milliken's Bend— Page 243, "No quarter for niggers " — The black flag — Every other man of the Twenty- third Iowa killed or wounded — Hugh T. Reid. Defense of Springfield — Page 245. Gallantry of the Eighteenth Iowa — The Quinine brigade. The Battle of Hartsville— Page 248 The Twenty-first Iowa defeats superior numbers. CHAPTER XXI-Page 250. IOWA AT CHATTANOOGA. The storming of Missionary Ridge — Nine Iowa regiments engaged — Hero- ism of Corse — Waiting the midnight signal — An army crossing the river — The storming of the Ridge — Fighting above the clouds — Gen. Mat- thies wounded — Heavy loss among Iowa troops — Col.Torrence killed at Cherokee — The grandeur of the battle — A great victory. CHAPTER XXII— Page 259. THANKSGIVING DAT, 1863. The greatest year in American history — Proclamation of Emancipation — Speech of C. C. Cole — The Democrats who support the President — A new governor for Iowa — Col. Stone nominated — The Democratic candi- date defeated — Vallandigham's overthrow — The great war summer — Historic milestones— High-handed action of Copperheads in Iowa — Prosperity of the country — Plan to kill Kirkwood — Salter's words of eloquence— Senators Grimes and Harlan — Congressmen Wilson, Grin- nell, Kasson and Price — Wm. B. Allison elf^cted to congress. CONTENTS. 15 CHAPTER XXIII— Page 274. IOWA IN THE RED RIVER CAMPAIGN. The charge at Fort de Russey-Figrht at Si.oine Cross Roads— The battle of Pleasant Hill— Heroism of Shaw's "Iron Brigade —Terrible fighting of the Thirty-second Iowa— Wrong done a brave man. CHAPTER XXIV— Page 284. Steele's march on camden. Battle of Elkin's Ford— Lt.-Col. Drake commands— Prairie d'Anne— AVant of rations at Camden— The Eighteenth Iowa at Poison Springs- Dis- aster to the Thirty-sixth Iowa at Mark's Mills— Battle of Jenkins- Ferry— Gen. Rice mortally wounded— Back at Little Rock. CHAPTER XXV— Page 301. the battles for ATLANTA. The Richmond of the South— Sherman succeeds Grant— 120 days of battle— Dodo-e at Resaca— The fighting continued— Kenesaw Mountain— lovya figures in the great battles— The eventful 22d of July— Heroism of the Crocker Brigade— Col. Belknap's bravery— Capture of Jthe Sixteenth Iowa — "Atlanta is ours." CHAPTER XXVI— Page 321. thanksgiving day, 1861. Governor Stone's Administration— The Democrats' nomination of McClellan for the Presidency--Iowadoes not endorse him— Gov. Kirkwood's retire- ment — Every other arms-bearing man in Iowa at the front- Historic flags in our arsenal— " Shot in tlie heart by a musket ball"— The 100 days men — " Sons of Liberty " as conspirators. CHAPTER XXVII-Page 336. the march to the sea. Seventeen Iowa regiments in the brilliant campaign— Iowa men sever the last tie with the North- Iowa men the first to reach the Sea— Fort McAllister stormed— Savannah entered— The song of the March to the Sea. CHAPTER XXVIII— Page 351. hood's invasion. Gen. Corse and the gallant Thirty-ninth Iowa at Allatoona— A famous strug- gle— Redfield slain. TiLTON — Page 356. Seventeenth Iowa attacked by Hood's army— Is captured— Col. Wever of the Seventeenth Iowa holds Resaca— The great battle of Franklin— Thirteen rebel generals and 6,000 men killed or wounded— The battle of Nashville— Hard fighting of Iowa regiments— Iowa cavalry storming forts— Col. Hill slain— Hood's army destroyed. CHAPTER XXIX— Page 368. TUPELO AND THE DEFENSE OF MEMPHIS. Tupelo— Oldtown Creek and the defense of Memphis— Gallantry of Iowa men at these places 16 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXX— Page 373. IOWA IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY. Battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek— The Twenty- second, Twenty-fourth and Twenty-eighth Iowa conspicuous in them all — Sheri- dan's Ride— Cedar Creek one of the greatest victories of the war— The Valley free— Early destroyed — How Iowa regiments helped to do it — Great losses — Belfs rung and cannon fired all over the country. CHAPTER XXXI- Page 387. WITH SHERMAN IN THE CAROLINAS. Eleven Iowa regiments march and fight in South Carolina— The capture of Columbia— Great scenes— Escape of prisoners — Iowa flags the first to float on the Capitol— The march continues— A hard campaign— Battle of Bentonsville— Charging of an Iowa brigade— The rebel army, followed so long, surrenders— Death of the President. CHAPTER XXXII— Page 401. THE BATTLES FOR MOBILE. The storming qf Spanish Fort by the Eighth Iowa— Gallantry of Col. Bell- Capture of Fort Blakely — Iowa soldiers charging the works— The last l)attie of the war — Mobile falls. CHAPTER XXXIII— Page 416. SOME IOWA COMMANDERS. Short sketches of a few of them — List of Iowa generals. — Page 443. CHAPTER XXXIV— Page 444. SOME SOLDIER CIVILIANS. Mention of many of them. CHAPTER XXXV— Page 4.54. CITIZEN PATRIOTS. Their sacKifices — What they did, and who many of them wen*— They form the great Army of the Reserve — The loyal press. CHAPTER XXXVI— Page 470. A CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES. First soldier wounded — First slaves armed in defense of the Union — Great losses — Cost of living in war times — Great marches — Beating a war secretary — Murders by Iowa Copperheads — The blackest page of history — The grand Army of the Republic — The Soldiers' Home. PART II. HisioKiES OF THE lowA Infantry Regiments — Page 481 — et scq. HisTOKiES OF THE lowA Cavai>ry Regiments — Page 569 — et seq. Histories op the Iowa Batteries, Marine Brigade, Etc — Page 596 — et seq. IOWA IN WAR TIMES. OHAPTEK I. JOHN BROWN IN IOWA. A PRELUDE. The bells of the churches were tolling in many northern towns on the 2d day of December, of 1859; for at Charlestown, not far from Harper's Ferry, the Virginians were hanging one of the Warriors of the Lord. John Brown, the friend of the oppressed, was on that day, in the words of Emerson, " making the gallows glorious like the cross." The drama enacted that day at Charlestown, was one of the events that precipitated the mighty War of the Rebellion. Misguided or not, sympathy for John Brown and the idea he represented, was well nigh uni- versal in the North. If slavery were an institution, the mere threatening of which, by a handful of men, could shake the whole South and drive its people to the verge of madness, it was an evil dangerous to the existence of the country. So thought reflecting men all over the world. John Brown's name became a synonym for freedom to the oppressed. In the eyes of many, his death was martyrdom. That point reached, and the South had prepared the way for the destruction of the crime on which all southern policy was built. Slavery was not more dead at the close of the great Rebellion than it was the day John Brown was hung at Charlestown. From that awful hour, its existence was of form only. Not the North alone, but the world, waited to see if the South, in its terror and desperation, would wage a war to perpetuate a crime that most men felt to be already doomed. Thirty years of threatening to destroy the American government whenever it should cease to make slavery its corner- stone, had not prepared the world to believe that the South was 18 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. at last in earnest. The ease with which three thousand militia could legally put to death a dozen maimed people at Charlestowu, misled the South into supposing that Northerners would not forcibly resist the unlawful spread of slavery, nor by arms preserve the government of the people. All this, too, spite of a bitter experience they had so recently suffered in their unlawful efforts to force their accursed institu- tion into free Kansas. John Brown had given the friends of slavery a taste of blood in Kansas that was reckoned up against him on that fatal December day at Charlestown. His career, during those Kansas days, when hundreds of freedom-loving men struggled against thousands of oppressors of the weak and wronged, was watched in Iowa as from no other state. He had many friends and sympathizers here. Iowa afforded him his first real refuge place after contest. On Iowa soil were inspired and planned his most daring schemes. It was across her prairies and past her loyal towns he wandered by night and by day, carrying with him liberty for the oppressed. Here he rested from struggle, and here he trained and armed the little band of followers who were to share perils and death with him in a cause deemed sacred as the Wars for the Sepulchre. Those were the days of the " under-ground railroad " in Iowa, by which fugi- tives from slavery were helped to the land toward the North Star. The posts of this path to freedom were, to the escaping negro, " as a cloud by day, and as a pillar of fire by night," and every one of them was as familiar to John Brown as his own fireside. He was so often and so closely connected with the state that people almost forgot that he was not an Iowa man. He loved Iowa, and he believed that the sin attempted on Kansas, if successful, would inevitably be visited on Iowa as well. He went farther, and with Lincoln asserted that the country could not much longer exist if slavery were not destroyed. If slavery was a sin, a moral wrong, and a danger to the people, for whom the government was made, then any means, however vio- lent, were justifiable in his eyes in order to put it down. . He did not believe, either, that a few stray " squatters " had a right to determine laws and government for what might soon \n the JOHN BROWN IN IOWA. 19 populous and mighty state of Kansas; the less so if those laws were the children of sin, and that government a government of fraud and oppression. When Kansas was thrown open to settlement, the pro-slavery men of the South determined that it should be given over to slavery. The freedom loving people of the North opposed them, and then commenced a mighty war of words outside of Kansas, and of villainous deeds within. Missourians by the thousands invaded the state, mastered the ballot-box, drove off the officials, assumed the government, burned, destroyed and murdered, and all in the name of a slavery detested outside the South, the world over. John Brown, the gray-haired shepherd of North Elba, in New York, recognized in the Kansas struggle that here was to be the first battle ground in defense of human rights, as opposed to outrage and treason. His own sons, free emigrants to Kansas, were crying to him for help to protect their firesides and their lives. The fearless man, strong in the refuge of the Lord, buckled on his armor, went to Kansas, and alone, struck blows that made victory possible in the bloody years to come. Few realized that the war for the destruction of liberty on this continent had already begun. Absolute war could not have made the people of Missouri, Arkansas, and other parts of the South, greater violators of law, and right, and justice, than the}^ became when they marched with fire and sword into liberty-loving Kansas. Fortunately for this country, the people of Kansas were not cowards. Had they been, they would have been overcome. Hu- man slavery would, like a ghost, have stalked into all the terri- tories. The slave power would have had its way. The War of the Rebellion would not have been heard of, and the great crime that disgraced the Nation in the eyes of the world would have been perpetuated forever. The Lord willed that it should not be so, and the instrument he chose for his purpose, like Saul of old, was found tending the flocks of the field. In all his encounters with the slave-power, and with the southern invaders of Kansas, John Brown was a hero, and his heroism saved the state to freedom. Let that be written on his monument. Had 20 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. he failed, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, and the whole Northwest might have been given over to the barbarism of slavery. That would have been the logical and intended sequence of the Dred Scott decision. John Brown's heroism in Kansas made that out- rageous verdict of no avail. No wonder that the people of Iowa honored his name, for his success was partly by their help and sympathy, and his victory conferred blessings on their children. In all the central part of Iowa, there were loyal stations of the under-ground railroad. Many were the brave and true men who, in those days, spite of abuse, and calumny, and loss of prop- erty, kept the beacon fires of liberty burning in the state. Men like William Penn Clark, J. B. Grinnell, Suel Foster, Jacob Butler, James Parvin, Senator J. C. Jordan, Thomas Mitchell, (xeorge W. Drake, Col. John Edwards, John Teesdale, John Todd, James McCoy, H. M. Hoxie, H. D. Downey, Dr. Jesse Bowen, Ransom L. Harris, and scores of others, faithful to the end, labored without money and without price, serving the cause of the oppressed, feeding, clothing and giving drink to the des- pised, and pointing them to the North Star. They were the first names on the roll of honor of the state. Very many of the leading men and the Abolitionists of the state knew the hero of Ossawattamie personally. At the fire- side of many he was an intimate friend. Tlie places he most frequented were the towns of Tabor, on the Missouri river, and West Liberty and Springdale, in Cedar county, with occa- sional visits to Grinnell, Des Moines, and other points, where he was sure of true friends and substantial aid. Tabor was the nearest under-ground railroad-post to the South, and its people were largely freedom-loving Abolitionists from Oberlin, Ohio. There were times in those days, when little Tabor presented more an appearance of war than it ever did during the great Rebellion. It was not a very uncommon thing, of an autumn evening in 1856 or 1857, to see the little public square filled with from a dozen to twenty covered wagons, a little park of artillery, and scores of armed " free state " emigrants, on their way to Kansas. " The cannon were placed in the center," says John Todd, of JOHN BROWN IN IOWA. 21 Tabor, an eye-witness, " with the Stars and Stripes mounted on the gun carriage. The covered wagons were arranged in a circle around the cannon— tents were pitched outside the wagons, camp fires were kindled outside the tents, and, outside of all, were placed the sentries. Often, on the following day, a hundred men drilled on the village common. Not infrequently we heard of men killed in the conflict in Kansas, who, but a few days before, passed through our village." The wounded and the sick of the Kansas emigrants were some- times brought back to Tabor. So it was that John Brown, bringing a wounded son-in-law, shot in Kansas, made his first visit to Tabor in August of 1856. He made no stay then, but hurried back to the defense of Lawrence against a horde of Mis- souri ruffians. It must have been an impressive sight, when old John Brown entered Lawrence, armed to the teeth, and accom- panied by seven sons and sons-in-law, to help keep Kansas free from the oppressor. In the following September, John Brown and four of his sons, on a journey eastward, rested in Tabor for several weeks. Again, in 1857, almost the entire summer was spent by Brown in Tabor, drilling his followers in the use of arras, and disciplin- ing them for battle. Pie had with him Col. H. Forbes, a drill-master, and there were stored in the village quantities of sabres, muskets, cannon and ammunition. It was believed by the people there that Capt. Brown was preparing to resist another suspected invasion of Kansas by the border ruffians of Missouri. Positive knowledge of his plans was not obtainable. " Brown was a man of few words," says one of the townspeople, " and kept his own counsels." When John Brown, and Lane and their followers had driven the Missouri vandals back into the shadows from which they came, it was in Brown's mind but a step to follow them there, and attempt to take from them the human chattels they held in a bondage bitterer than death. As long as history shall last, John Brown's efforts to free his fellow man from bondage will be remembered with thankfulness and tears. Men will no longer ask whether his methods were wisest, or even protected by laws. 22 IOWA IN WAR TIMES, Had he been successful, his name, even at that very hour, would have been linked with the name of Washington, as a benefactor of mankind. John Brown believed in God's Golden Rule. " It were better," he cried, '' that every man, woman and child should pass from the earth by violent death, than that one jot of this rule should fail in this country." Such heroism of thought had never been known. " This man," cried Emerson, " is the truest hero-man I ever met." " Do you know," said Theodore Parker, " this is one of the extraordinary men of this age and nation?" "I will put his picture there beside that of Victor Hugo," exclaimed Secretary Seward, "for he struck the boldest and highest of any man who ever breathed American air." If John Brown so impressed the intellectual giants of America, what mast have been the impression made on the ordinary people by his heroism? In Kansas, the highest respected and the commonest loved him. If help was wanted, if defense against outrage, John Brown's simple camp in the woods would be hunted up and the story of distress laid before him. One evening, about the good Christmas time of 1858, a poor slave, named " Jim," slipped over the Missouri line into Kansas, to tell John Brown how himself and some of his friends were the next day to be separated from their families and sold south. He appealed for help. The cry for deliverance was not in vain. That night, John Brown, accompanied by trusted friends, crossed the border and rescued eleven slaves from cruel task -masters. Shortly, he was traveling with them along the under-ground railroad of Iowa toward the North Star. That was his most important journey through the state. Great rewards were offered for his arrest. It was death in those days to be convicted of carrying slaves out of Missouri. James Buchanan, President of the United States, joined in offering rewards for the return of men and women to slavery and for the capture of God's minister. To the children of free America to-day, the story must seem incredible. Spies were sent on Brown's tracks, and officers bear- ing warrants and offers of reward. He was pursued as only assassins and murderers are pursued; so intent was the govern- ment of Missouri, and of the United States, in protecting the JOHN BROWN IN IOWA. 23 villaiuy of slavery. No wonder that when he reached his friends in little Tabor, some of them stood back and feared to offer the fugitives the hand. It was the 12th of February, 1859, that John Brown, with his fugitive slaves, and escort of a few armed white men, entered the town of Tabor. To one of the negro fugitives a child had been born on the way, making their number twelve. This child was named John Brown. They stopped at the home of George B. Gaston, the founder of the village, till over Sunday. On that Sabbath morning, as the village preacher was commencing his services, the following note was handed to him, and he read it to the congregation. " John Brown respectfully' requests the church at Tabor to offer public thanksgiving to Almighty God in behalf of himself and company, and of their rescued captives in particular^ for His gracious pres- ervation of their lives and health, and his signal deliverance of all out of the hand of the wicked hitherto, ' Oh! give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever.' " That Sunday, the people of Tabor, anxious to know how so many slaves had been freed, set on foot an inquiry, and by close questioning learned of Brown's raid bv night into the state of Missouri — that the party had divided on entering the state, had taken away the slaves, and with them certain teams of their masters for their transportation; also, that the party not under Brown's command had killed the master of one of the slaves, just as he was reaching for his gun to fire upon them. The law and the propriety of all this was much questioned by the people of Tabor, and John Brown was invited to explain and justify his course at a public meeting on the morrow. In the meantime, a resident of Missouri, passing through Tabor, stopped over to attend the meeting. Brown heard of the presence of what he believed an enemy, or a slaveholder s spy, and refused to proceed with his address, unless the Missourian were compelled to with- draw. The request was refused, and with feelings of grief, Capt. Brown himself withdrew. The meeting at once passed resolu- tions condemning the raid into Missouri. The old hero retired to his quarters greatly grieved, feeling that those in whom he had a right to trust had left him — possi- 24 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. bly, would betray him. He called for his arms, made immediate and close inspection, as if preparing for a conflict, and left his old-time friends and Tabor, forever. The march through Iowa with his contrabands was difficult and full of danger. All the enemies of freedom in the state were astir, and watching for him. " John Brown and his niggers " were to be headed off, and cap- tured, dead or alive. Those who offered food, or rest, or lodging, did so at the peril of their lives. Never in their history had the true courage of the old Abolitionists been so necessary as now. They were threatened in advance of his coming. " Feed John Brown, give him shelter, show him the way, and your roofs burning above your heads shall be the penalty," was shouted clear across the loyal state. To her shame, Iowa had men in her borders capable of doing all of this — the same men who in later and fiercer times, sought to cripple her strength, when traitors were at their country's throat. From post to post, well armed, and sustained by courageous friends, John Brown marched his weary way across the state. The path he went was honor's path, and history should mark its milestones in letters of gold. At Grinnell, the party of fugitives were the guests of the founder of the town, Hon. J. B. Grinnellj himself a devoted Abolitionist of the old heroic school — a man whose name has become linked with all that is noble in the state's history. Here John Brown rested, and at the fireside of his friends fought over the conflicts that have made him famous in Kansas. In an adjoining room were stacked the arms and sabres with which he had been carving a road to freedom. Hidden in the barn were the human beings who for the first time were breathing man's free heritage— free air. Even then, at that quiet fireside, there was planning in his mind the fierce conflict he proposed to enter among the mountains of Virginia, At an antique desk, still the valued souvenir of Mr. Grinnell, John Brown wrote a part of the Virginia proclamation. Sitting by that fireside, he uttered words of heroic wisdom, worthy of the prophets, A price was set upon his head, but he feared not. " It were nothing to die in a good cause," he said, " but an eter- nal disgrace to sit still in the presence of the barbarities of JOHN BROWN IN" IOWA. 25 American slavery." " Providence has made me an actor; slavery, an outlaw." " An old man should have more care to end life well than to live long." " Duty is the voice of God, and a man is not worthy home or heaven who is not willing to be in peril for a good cause." " One man in the right, ready to die, will chase a thousand." "A man dies when his time comes; and a man who fears, is born out of time." These were the words of a man whom his enemies affected to pronounce " crazy." Of such craziness has come all the heroism, all the virtue of the world. While at Grinnell, a plan was proposed by Workman, a gov- ernment official at Iowa City, for Brown's capture. One glance of the old man's fearless eye, one tick of a gun that never missed its aim, and Provost Workman and his slavery-loving squad left the way open wherever John Brown would go. By the middle of March, the contrabands were over the border at Detroit, joined to hundreds of others, saved to their birth-right by the same heroic hand. Later, the old hero was in Iowa again, tarry- ing mostly at West Liberty, Cedar county, preparing for his atttack on Harper's Ferry— and at Springdale. His life here was much as it had been at Tabor — in quiet preparation for the blow that he hoped might end slavery under a government that affected to be free. The people loved him, and the children went out of their way to see his kindly face, and be greeted by the singular stranger in their midst, whose patriarchal words and ways seemed so simple and good. In the rooms of the State Historical Society, at Iowa City, one sees a little brass cannon, presented by Col. Trowbridge, the efficient custodian of the place, and a personal friend of John Brown. So long as state pride shall last in Iowa, so long shall this piece of ordnance be revered as a precious souvenir of the dark days; for it is one of the cannon used by John Brown in his defense of liberty in Kansas. When the blow at Harper's Feny was struck, its very haste defeated its proper end. Organized help was probably ready to join Brown, when the telegraph flashed the news of his capture. Had sufficient force joined him to have made that first blow suc- cessful, there is scarcely a doubt but a general insurrection on 26 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. the part of the slaves of the South would have given them their freedom without the bloody war of which John Brown's history was but the prelude. No man in this country realized so much as John Brown that the Southerners were preparing to destroy the government. His hope was to destroy slavery first, recog- nizing the crime of its existence as the only possible reason for a desire for secession. He believed proper any and all means that might accomplish the end, and reckoned his own life as nothing, if only the oppressed could be free. Possibly his meth- ods were not the best, but he believed them to be approved by Almighty God. They seemed feeble in their results at first, but there sprang from them the forces that destroyed the most shameful iniquity of the world — slavery, in a land consecrated to freedom. Possibly John Brown was not worldly-wise in his plans, but in the shadow of the scaffold there rested in his heart that peace of God which passeth all understanding. Of his hero comrades, nearly all suffered the martyr-death that he did — death for a principle made sacred by command of God. One of them, Bar- clay Coppic, escaped the Virginia massacre, and came to his home in Iowa. His surrender was demanded by the arrogant Virginians, that he, too, might die. Coppic, however, was never surrendered, and the Virginians' hands were saved the blood of one more martyr. CHAPTER 11. THE WAR GOVERNOR— MUSTERING FOR THE CONFLICr. A LITTLE before daylight of April 12, 1861, crowds of people standing at vantage points about the city and bay of Charleston, beheld a sudden flash from a land battery, followed by a dull, heavy roar. The light of a bomb, describing a semicircle in the heavens, was seen to fall upon a fort barely outlined in the darkness. It was the first shot in the war of the great Rebellion. It was another shot "heard 'round the world."' It was the signal for the commencement of the greatest events in American history. Two days of heroic defense, and, with a prayer to God and a salute to the flag of Sumter, the loyal little garrison marched out of the citadel. The war to destroy the Government had^ begun; a war that was to cost a million of human lives, billions of treasure, agony unmeasurable, — a war to end in the disgraceful and utter annihilation of those who brought it about. In twenty-four hours, news of the event had, by telegraph and post, penetrated to every accessible corner of the American Republic. In the South, it was lightly hailed as the harbinger of dissolution of the Government, and the establishment of a new empire, whose foundation stone should be human bondage. In the North, it was received with mingled sadness and anger, followed by a quick determination to resent the outrage, and to save the Government of the people. It has been said that President Lincoln never put his name to a paper of greater import than his first message to Congress. In that paper, in calm, dignified expression, he showed to the world what it was that was bringmg about rebellion on the part of the South against a government from which the South had derived all the advantages, all the honor, all the prestige, all the glory it had ever possessed. He pointed out how for thirty years the South had been debauched with the heresy of secession, and (27) 28 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. how, rather than submit to the voice of an honorable majority, the result of a national election was made a pretext for destroy- ing the Grovernment. The assault on Sumter, he asserted, had in no sense been an act of self-defense, for no Southerner had been attacked, nor his property threatened. It was assaulted simply with a purpose " to drive out the visible power of the Fed- eral Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution." " Thus," continued the President, "they have forced upon the country the distinct issue — dissolution or blood. The question involved is, whether discontented individuals, too few in number to con- trol the administration according to the organic law, can always, upon the pretenses made in this case, or any other pretenses, or arbitrarily, without pretenses, break up the Government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth." The issue was thus perfectly clear, and a great war was to be waged to settle it on this continent. President Lincoln knew at that moment, as the world knows now, that his conduct in the crisis, and the conduct of those whom he might control, would settle forever the question of whether a republican form of gov- ernment could live in spite of internal foes. Whole volumes could not have presented the issue more clearly — but it required a million armed men to decide it. Within four days of that fatal shot on Sumter, Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa, received from Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, the following telegram: ''Call made on you by to-night's mail for one regiment of militia for immediate service/''^ That regiment was ready to march before guns could be put in the soldiers' hands. That very day the Governor's proclama- tion announced to the people of Iowa that the nation was in peril, and that the aid of every loyal citizen was invoked. *This telegram was received at Davenport. The Governor resided then, as now, at Iowa City, but there was no telegraphic communication in those days between the two towns. It was important that the dispatch go to the Governor at once, and Mr., afterward General, Vandever, volunteered to carry it to Iowa City. On reaching there, he drove out to the farm, and found the Governor, like Cincinnatus, working in the field, and in home- spun. He looked the dispatch over, read it again, and in a surprised man- ner exclaimed: " Why, the President wants a whole regiment of men! Do you suppose I can raise so many as that, Mr. Vandever? " When ten Iowa regiments were offered, a few days later, the question was answered. THE WAR GOYERNOR. 29 It was a crisis for every loyal state. To Iowa, whose people had ever followed closely in the paths of quiet peace, the possi- bility of a civil war at her doors seemed well nigh incredible; and yet when duty and danger called, no people in the Union were so ready with sacrifice. But in such a storm as now threatened, where was the mariner to guide the ship? Rocks showed them- selves on every hand. There were no arms worth counting in all the state; the treasury was empty; the taxes were unpaid; the cities and towns of the state were in debt— many of them had suspended payment of even interest; the business crisis that marked the years 1857-8 still hung about them like a pall; and amidst it all, treacherous enemies were waiting to hand the state over to ruin. Fortunately for Iowa, at such a time there was a man equal to the occasion. Like Lincoln, he seemed sent of Providence. The men who once went to a country mill near to Iowa City, and dragged its manager out into public life and important position, were now justified of their faith. Samuel J. Kirkwood, the' ^' War Governor," richly merited the heroic title. He was hero- ism itself. He embodied in his character the self-poise, the calmness, the unbiased judgment, and, above all, that world of common sense that is the make up of a hero man; and he was a patriot. Before coming to young Iowa in 1855, his life, though honorable, had been uneventful. Born in 1813, in Maryland, of good Scotch-Irish descent, his early years were spent in toil about his father's farm and blacksmith shop. After a limited education, at McLeod's Academy in Washington City, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Richland county, Ohio, in 1843. Two years afterward, he was elected prosecuting attorney for four years, and in 1850 was a member of the convention that formed the present constitution of the state of Ohio. On coming to Iowa, in 1855, he undertook the management of a large farm and mill belonging to his brother-in-law near Iowa City. Within a year, his neighbors discovered his talents, and. spite of much protest, elected him to the state senate in a largely democratic county. Ic was a '' lost hope " he led in that election. No other republican dared to be a candidate. His 30 IOWA 11^ WAR TIMES. success brought him into contact with the political leaders of the state. His abilities and his political integri-ty were recog- nized, and in 1859 he was chosen Governor of the state whose name and fame from that hour on were indentical with his own. Gov. Kirkwood did so many things honorable alike to the state, and to himself, said and did so many that were patriotic, and so many that were heroic, no excuse will be offered for recalling some of them at this stage, while some of the first regi- ments are getting their knapsacks on, and themselves into train- ing for battle. Other narratives of the War Governor's actions will follow along with the marching of the boys to the front. Gov. Kirkwood, like Senator Grimes, of good fame, had been a Democrat in earlier days, and now friends and foes alike were watching him in the new role, when his slightest word or act could produce consequences immeasurable. Three great vir- tues were now needed — calmness, patriotism, great good sense. Fortunately for Iowa, he possessed them all. Some of the things he said and wrote, like the things he did, became state history, and loyal precedent in Iowa for all time. His political opinions varied somewhat, of course, with the progress of the war, the resistance of the Rebels, and his njew knowledge of men. He wished for no war, but he would not go as far as Lincoln did to prevent it. He would make some compromises as to slavery, but he would try and keep it out of the territories. " I would make the condition of the territory at the time of its acquisi- tion, its permanent condition until admitted as a state,"' he wrote to Senator Grimes in January of 1861. " But, first of all, comes respect for the Union and the laws." * '' What can I do," he *6ov. Kirkwood had always believed slavery to be wrong and a curse to the country. Like many others, he had considered " colonization " as about the best method of settling the whole question. Frank P. Blaiv approved the Governor's ideas on the subject, and hoped that Iowa migiit become a " great leader" in the movement. That was in the John Brown days. Once, Blair wrote to Kirkwood urging this leadership. " Many of our leaders in the republican ranks," wrote he, " are in favor of colonizing our negroes; but it is in vain to hope that they will take a step forward until urged by the people. It is a misnomer to call such men le.vders. The fact is they never move until forced to do so by the pressure of the masses. It Iowa shall take the first step in this great scheme, she will be justly entitled to the title of Leader of the hosts of Freedom, and of carrying out practically the long cherished plans of Mr, Jefferson." Events were paving a juster, though a fiercer way for ending human slavery in the South. THE WAR GOVERNOR. 31 continued. "Shall I tender the services of the state to Mr. Buchanan?" This was long before Sumter was fired on. "Some of our people want an extra session. I do not," " But," he adds, '' I will see to it, that the last fighting man in the state, and the last dollar in the treasury are devoted to the service of the Gov- ernment, if Mr. Buchanan wants them." Mr. Buchanan, how- ever, wanted nothing of the kind. Buchanan's study was how to conciliate the South by giving them all they wanted, and more, by truckling to them in a manner too base for belief. There was a " Solid South " before Sumter was fired on first, as there has been a Solid South ever since, and, with it. a truckling, base, conciliatory party in the North, with nothing but its mas- ter's contempt as its reward. There were a few men, loyal ones, • too, then in Iowa, who thought the republican party might better die off in the new crisis, and a so-called " Union " party take its place. Reuben Noble, Fitz Henry Warren and others, were quick to see their mistake. When the crash of arms grew louder, Noble's advice to Kirkwood, to bring about a "fusion" of Democrats and Republicans, urging Republicans to resign, that half their places might be filled with Democrats, fell on deaf ears. Kirk- wood knew that loyal Democrats would not wait on office, and as for the others, no loyal party in Iowa, at such a time, had any use for them. The dishonest cry for a "new party" went on, however, until, in the later months, it was drowned in a sea of loyal acclaim of the one party whose loyalty and upright inten- tions no man doubted. Mr. Lincoln's election and the events threatening, were rapidly driving men to choose once and forever which side they would be on in the coming contest. Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood had no need of a mentor, to show him where right and duty were. Mr. Lincoln's election had gratified him greatly. He had by wise counsel helped to bring it about, for he realized with John A. Kasson, who wrote the Chicago platform, that a con- servative, wise maji would be needed in the perilous times 32 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. already threatening.* Mr. Lincoln, he knew, was conservative and wise beyond other American statesmen. On the 13th of November, he wrote to the new President at Springfield : " Permit me to congratulate you, as I most heart- ily do, on your election to the presidency, and to express the hope that your administration may prove as useful to our country and as honorable to yourself, as you yourself can desire." It was not a mere formal courtesy the note implied. Gov. Kirk- wood was a believer in the star of Abraham Lincoln. He believed in his straight-forwardness, his pure patriotism, and in his political ability. Shortly, he went to Springfield, 111., to pay the new President his respects. The visit was one of those not notable events, because not known. The honest, simple repub- lican Governor took no staff of newspapers along, to herald his coming or his going. In plain garb, and with the airs only of an honest man, he sought him who was to be the ruler of mill- ions, and whose fame was to go out into the whole earth. By accident, he met Mr. Lincoln walking in one of the streets of the town, and was requested, after a greeting, to go to the hotel and there wait the President's coming in half an hour. There was not in the crowded corridors of the hotel, perhaps, one other man who bore about him so little of the airs of authority or place as the farmer-looking man in homespun, and with the broad hat, sitting there in the corner, an apparent stranger to every one present, There was a slight winking and nudging of elbows among the congregated politicians in the corridor, when *Dks Moines, Iowa, 17th April, 1860. Gov. S. J. KiRKWOOD, /o?m Ci7//; , . ,,, , „ ,. • Dear Governor : Iliave your favor of the 13th, and the sugrgestion is a ffood one. We will act upon it. Since the election, I feel more than ever anxious about our Chicago nominations. I regard it as absolutely necessary th?t we secure the so-called conservative vote of the free states, by ottering tothate^ment a moderate man, i*bserving for ourselves the guaranty of a thoroughly republican administration. Pray be at Chicag9, it possible, to aid and influence the indiscreet by your counsel. The territorial issues will not again probably be so potential as now. Another lease of four years to democracy may secure them Cuba and secession. 1 sincerely believe that a failure now will make the next contest more than ever sectional, and its re- sult dissatisfactory. 1 propose to be at Chicago the last of the week previ- ous to the convention, and should be gla 1 then to meet you there. Very truly your friend, John A. Kasson. THE WAE GOVERNOR. 33 it was whispered that perhaps the old fellaw iu the corner was "waiting to see the President." The winks changed to wide open eyes when President Lincoln entered, passed by the obse- quious politicians, warmly greeted the plain old gentleman in homespun in tbe corner, and escorted him to his private rooms up stairs. Very soon it leaked out that the unpretentious man was the Governor of loyal Iowa. That hour spent in private interview with Abraham Lincoln was the birth-time of loyal resolutions. Mr. Lincoln was not afraid to trust a man like that. It was a relief to find one adviser who pretended only to plain common sense; a man who knew no policy save that of patriotism, and no politics save duty. In that hour's time, Mr. Lincoln saw that in in the com- ing storm his hands would be upheld. It was like an answer to his prayers for help — the coming of such a man; and the plain words and the common sense uttered were as a bulwark to him in the fierce storms of later days. That Mr. Lincoln learned, shortly, something still more of his Iowa guest, may be seen from the private letter of Mr. Hawkins Taylor, a friend of the new President.* Had Gov. Kirkwood accepted some ♦Keokuk, Jan. 20th, 1861. Dear Gorernor : I have been to Springfield again. I spent last week there. And if there is any man entitled to our sympathy it is Mr. Lincoln. He is thoroughly beset on all sides by the friends of different Cabinet aspir- ants. The moment it is understood that any particular man is to go into the Cabinet, the enemies, or rather the click, who w^ant someone else to fill that particular place, at once beset Mr. Lincoln with all sorts of opj)Osition to the appointment eve)i to the lowest attack on private character. God only knows how thmgs may be settled, both as to the Cabinet and the troubles of our common country. I will give you my notions of who will constitute the Cabinet: Seward, Sec. of State; Chase, Sec. Treasury; Cameron, War; Trumbull. Interior; Wells, P. M. G.; Bates. A tty. General; Clay, Navy. This, you will see, is not according to the papers, and it may bo wide of the mark. It is not the intention to make Clay Sec. of Navy at this time, still I think that the war difliculties will either make him or probably continue Holt during the troubles as Sec. of War, and Cameron, Navy. If Cameron insists on being Sec. of Treasury, and will take nothing else, he will get it. and thus will be an entire change of the state in the Northwest. Smith and Warren may come in in the place of Trumbull and Wells, and New England will then get the Navy and Clay the War department. There is great dan- ger with the Cabinet, If Chase and Cameron go in there will be at least three Presidential aspirants, and none of the best friends to each other. I wanted Banks; he has more useful ability than any man in the Nation, and in my opinion would make the most efficient Secretary of State, Treasury, or Interior, that this Nation has ever had. Do you want anything that 1 could help you in getting? If you do, command me. Mr. Lincoln asked I. W. T.-3 34 IOWA I2J WAE TIMES, appointment away from the state, at the President's hands, as this letter intimates he might have done, Iowa's war record might have read quite different!}'. It was a memorable meeting, and vividly recalls to the Iowa patriot that other, later meeting, at Mentor, in Ohio, between Gov. Kirk wood and another President eleot — chosen, like Lin- coln, for the martyr's glory.* Immediately on his return to Iowa, Gov. Kirkwood set about putting the house in order for difficulties greater than were ever anticipated by Mr. Lincoln. In Iowa, the house needed setting in order, too. As has been said, there were almost no arms in the state, and none to be obtained. The few guns of primitive pattern, owned by Iowa, were in the hands of half organized, and undrilled companies of militia.f The state was so poor, following the crisis of '57, that its warrants could not be sold. It had four hundred thousand dollars of delinquent taxes, and me if you wanted anything. I told him that I did not think that you did; that I knew that you were not an oflBce seeker; that you was a man who was fond of domestic life; that your honor in Iowa had rather been forced on you than otherwise; that your position was such that you could be U. S. Senator at the next Senatorial election if the party lived, and you desired it, and to be Senator, was, in my estimation, the most desirable office in the gift of the people. (To this proposition Mr. Lincoln fully assented and with much animation, said: *' I would much rather be Senator for six years than be President.") And if you looked this way it was important that you should be with the people, and consequently would not want to leave the State. _ I said to him that I did not know your feelings on the subject. If I was mis- taken, and in any way created a false impression, let me know, and I will with the greatest pleasure correct it. I frankly told Mr. Lincoln what I honestly believed to be true : that but feio men rendered hira so much service at Chicago as you did. Let me hear from you and you will find me ready to serve you now or hereafter. Yours most tmly, Hawkins Taylor. Hon. S. J. Kirkwood, Iowa City, Iowa. *It was again the same, plain spoken, unpretentious man, whom Garfield saw before him, asking not his own, but others' advantage. Like Lmcoln, President Garfield recognized the hero- man. and the meetmg paved the plain man's way to the Cabinet— to the Council Seat of the Nation. tThe few arms belonging to the State were scattered about in the hands of militia companies. They were hurriedly gathered up, and with few but pointed directions, put in counties where they were most needed. " Get the 55 muskets of J. M. Byers, at Oskaloosa," wi-ote the Adjutant General to James Matthews of Knoxville, "and another 12 from E. Sells at Des Moines and place yourself in defense against traitors. Your mission is to defend your country and yourselves against tlie enemies of your country. I have no doubt but that you know how to do it without special instructions from me." ''U/m-wc^j-c* r/. t THE WAR GOVERNOR. 35 Duly seven hundred thousand people. Corporations were in debt, individuals far from prosperous, and the state treasury emptj-. Add to it all, Indians on the frontier, and the coming storm of war. The crisis was coming, but a man of nerve was at the helm. In a month, Samuel J. Kirkwood struck the key-note to the tune that Iowa played in the war of the Rebellion. " The last man and the last dollar will he given, if needed, for the service of the Govermnent,^'' was his sentiment, and it became the sentiment of the people. To J. G. Lauman, at Burlington, he wrote, Janu- ary 16th : '' Under the present condition of public aflFairs, I have concluded to gather and have repaired all the arms of the state* Men may not be needed from Iowa, but I will be ready." '' Our southern brethren," he wrote to Senator Grimes, on January 12th, appear really to be determined on the destruction of our government, unless they can change its whole basis, and make it a government for the growth and spread of slavery. Whatever comes, and at all hazards, the Union must be honored— the laws must be enforced." His spirit of loyalty, when others were hes- itating, entered into every act and thought. He rejoiced to see the loyalty of others. To the Governor of Maryland he wrote sending his "own hearty thanks" and the thanks of the people of Iowa for the patriotic and manly stand he had taken against treason and disunion. " I have, I trust, an honest pride in knowing that the good old state (it was his native state), stands firmly to the Constitution and the Union in these trying days, when so many are disposed to abandon both." " This, I am satis- fied, is in a great measure due to the bold stand you have taken, and when passion shall have subsided, and love of country shall have again resumed the ascendant, your name will stand high on the roll of those whom the people delight to honor." Kirkwood's key-note was soon taken up in all Iowa by press and people. The best thinking Democrats, alongside of Bepub- licans, old Whigs and ,j^bolitionists, wanted to support the President's hands. To Gov. Kirkwood, J. C. Bennett, a leading democrat, and the friend of Douglas, wrote: 36 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. Polk Cety, March 9th, 1861. His Excellency, Sam'l J. Kirkwood, Governor of Iowa : I have just perused the President's Inaugural with great satisfaction, and shall sustain the administration whether my friend Judge Douglas and his supporters do or not; but may God in his infinite mercy grant that Mr. Douglas may see his way clear to sustain Mr. Lincoln. The Inaugural is a better basis of settlement than any compromise yet offered, and I can see no reason why all Douglas Democrats cannot give the doctrines of the Inaugural a cordial support. I have written Mr. Lincoln to this effect, and requested him to show the letter to Judge Douglas. Since your interview with Mr. Lincoln, what are your views about filling up your staff, and being ready for an emer- gency? You have probably seen Gen. Bowen since your return home. I received a communication from him during your absence, stating that you would reply to my letter on your return. Very Truly Yours, J. C. Bennett. You may rely on my support of your entire administration unqualifiedly. B. Public sentiment in Iowa, even among Republicans, was scarcely fixed and formed at the beginning of the year 1861. The secession movement was still considered by many as only a threat. But thousands in the North, fearing that threat, advo- cated the repealing of the " personal liberty laws " all over the country, and the modification of other laws — of even the Con- stitution itself, in order to quiet the political bullies of the South, who were bent on rebellion. Very shortly, however, public opinion began to crystalize in the state of Iowa, and men rallied around a principle whose first foundation stone was *" the preser- vation of the Union," and '' the enforcement of all the laws." At Des Moines, on January the 8th, there was a mass meeting held at the suggestion of the Hon. H. M. Hoxie, to express the opinion of Iowa patriots on the national situation. Leading men attended from all over the state, and their names deserve recalling as among the first to publicly declare in Iowa that the government of the United States was worth fighting for, and should be perpet- uated, spite of law-breakers, North or South. Lengthy resolu- tions were passed, declaring that any laws, in any state, abso- lutely in conflict with the Constitution of the United States, should be repealed at once. But other compromise was not THE WAR GOVERNOR. 37 to be thought of. Grov. Kirk wood, Johu Teesdale, John A. Kasson and M. L. Morris were on the committee of resohitions. Hon. Elijah Sells was chairman, and the Hon. J. B. Grinnell was secretary of the meeting. Addresses were made, or parts taken, by patriots like Thomas Mitchell, S. C. Brownell, J. B. Stewart, S. H. Lunt, Stewart Goodrell, W. P. Davis, N. W. Mills, John A. Kasson, F. M. Mills, Thomas F. Withrow, Geo. G. Wright, Lewis Kinsey, Amos B. Miller, J. W. Jones, J. W. Cattell, Elijah Sells, L. H. Cutter, George Sprague, C. Hayden, T. H. Shephard, F. W. Palmer, P. Melendy, H. G. Stewart and J. B. Grinnell. The resolutions were sent all over the state of Iowa for signa- tures, and were forwarded to Washington City as a sort of platform of the patriots of Iowa. Some of Gov. Kirkwood's own views of compromise, in .Januar}^ of 1861, are of interest, as set forth in a letter he addressed in that month to Iowa's Sena- ators and Representatives in Washington. It was a letter asking them to attend a meeting or convention proposed by the state of Virginia, to be held in Washington on the 4th of Feb- ruary. ''I confess," he writes, "that the whole thing strikes me unfavorably. The early date set is liable to be construed as trying to force action before the meeti.ng of Congress. The basis of adjustment proposed in the resolutions is one that all the free states rejected in the presidential election — the votes for Lincoln and Douglas being all against it. This indicates an expectation that the free states shall stultify and degrade them- selves; or a purpose, by failure of the commissions to agree upon terms of adjustment, to afford excuse, or justification to those who are already determined to leave the Union. If you find the convention in earnest in trying to save the Union, permit me to make a few suggestions that may be of use to you. First — The true policy for any good citizen is to set his face, like flint, against secession. Second — To call it by its true name, treason; to use his influence in all legitimate ways to put it down; steadily and cordially to obey the laws, and to stand by the Government in all lawful measures it may adopt for its 38 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. preservation, and to trust to the people and the constituted authorities to correct, under the present constitution, any errors that may have been committed, or any evils or wrongs that may have been suffered. But if compromise must be the order of the day, then that compromise must not be a concession by one side of all the other side demands, nor all for which the conceding side has been contending. In other words, the North must not he expected to yield all the South asks, all the North has con- tended for and won, and then call that compromise. That is not compromise, and would not bring peace. Such compromise would not have become dry upon the parchment on which it would be written, before ' agitation ' for its repeal would have commenced. A compromise that will restore good feeling must not degrade either side." * Conventions for proposing compromise, provided the North *Speaking of this same convention, Curtis wrote : Washington, Feb. 5, 1861. Hon. Sam'l J. Kirkwood: My Dear Sir: Since writing you yesterday I was told Senator Grimes, who first said he would not go near the convention, has concluded to attend with me to-day, and Mr. Harlan will, when Grimes is in the Senate. 1 pre- sume Mr. Vandever will alternate with me. So that Iowa will not appear an obstinate outsider. A meeting of ultra Republicans was held last night, headed by Wisconsin men. I think some of our extreme North men have got a flea in their ear, about Canada, and really desire a disunion. In that I do not participate. I am for the whole Union, peacibly if I can. forcibly if I must. But this attempt to get a meeting of a portion of the Republicans together as " iron backs," without calling all of us, is evidently designed and calculated to divide our party. Did you ever see such madness? I had supposed in time of danger to the Republic, we should try to unite all parties. Such is my view of our duty. The news from Virginia, this morning, is favorable. If we can get the tide turned, traitors will yet get their deserts. Vir- ginia will have a decided influence in the border States. I am glad to see some attention has been given to the organization of our Iowa force. If trouble goes on, the volunteer companies should be so reconstructed that in case of necessity the companies would go imme- diately on a term of service, say six months, or a year's time. I found in Ohio, when we called for volunteers for actual service, our finest corps were non est. All the arms we have should be in the hands of men that tvill use them if occasion requires. In anything of a military kind, move quietly. I have said this much to others, and such a course is being taken in some quarters of the Union. The peace conventions and peace propositions all tend to divide the South, and gain time. In view of future necessity for force, time is of great military advantage to us. The 4th of March will be a point gained. Truly Yours, Sam'l R. Curtis. THE WAR GOVERNOR. 39 would make all the concessions, were the order of the day in the border states in the winter of 1861. The state of Kentucky also tried one — a purely democratic one, on Washington's birthday, and the Governor of Iowa was invited to attend. He did not go, but wrote a letter. Possibly the "National Convention," as they called it, did not get the advice it cared for, but it did get a letter full of sound sense, calm politics, and honest conviction. Kirkwood was no longer a Democrat. He had become, first of all, a patriot; after that, a Kepublican. Within a fortnight, February 14th, the Governor strengthened the hands of the Iowa delegation at Washington by writing to them not to yield any important principle at that Virginia Convention. "I thought it well to have the state represented, but I never would, there or elsewhere, yield the principle for which we have contended. Concession of any kind, in the face of armed and menacing treason, is very dangerous. It establishes a pre- cedent that reduces our government to a level with that of Mexico. If the South is 'conceded ' back, New England may secede. What will be done then ? Time is worth everything. So far as heard, every military company in the state, except one, has promptly and cheerfully tendered its services when called for. I sincerely hope our friends will stand together. Either a conces- sion of our principles, or a division among ourselves, hands the country over for the next twenty years to corruption, filibuster- ism and slavery extension." But the loyalty of the people was not to be expressed by words alone. By the middle of January already, in that year of shame and disaster, militia companies were offered to the Governor to aid in maintaining the laws. According to the record, the first to tender their services were the members of the Washington " Light Guards,^'' Captain H. R. Cowles, of the toimi of Wash- ington. The Governor's letter of acceptance,* dated January *ExECUTivE Office, January 17th, 1861. H. R. CowLEs, Capt. Washington Light Guards, Washington, lotra: Sir: In these days, when cabinet officers plot treason, and use their offi- cial positions to bankrupt and disarm the g^verament they were sworn to support, when members of both branches of our national council openly engage in endeavoring to overthrow the government of which they are the Bwom servants, and retain their places and prostitute their powers to thwart 40 IOWA IN WAK TIMES. the 17th, burned with patriotism. On the 24th of Januaryi he wrote to Joseph Holt, Secretary of War, tendering to him the services of the " Governor's Greys," Capt. Frank J. Herron, of Dubuque. This was the first company tendered to the general government by the state of Iowa.* The " Burlington Rifles,'' Capt. C. L. Matthies, were accepted by the Governor on the 26th of January, though their tender of services was of a few daj^s earlier date.f the efforts of those who loyally seek to maintain that government; when in one portion of our country, delirious with passion, they regard the firing upon our national flag, the seizure of our national forts and the plunder of our national arsenals and treasuries, as manly, honorable and patriotic ser- vice; when in another portion of our country a few men, blinded by partisan preiudice, can be found vflaojustifi/ those acts and say they rairst not be pun- ished.— when, in short, men are found in high places so lost to patriotism as to imitate the treason of Benedict Arnold, and so lost to shame as to glory in their infamy, and find followers and upholders, it is gratifying to know that the gallant yeomanry of Iowa are still determined "to march under the flag and keep step to the music of the Union." I accept with pleasure the services of the " Wat-hington Light Guards" so frankly tendered, and should events render it necessary, shall promptly call you to the field to defend that flag under which our fathers fought so bravely, and to maintain that Government they founded so wisely and so well. Very respectfully, Samuel J. Kirk^ood. *ExECUTivE Office, Iowa, January 24th, 1861. Hon. Joseph Holt, Secretary op War, Washington, City, D. C: Sir: I have the honor to enclose a letter tendering to the President the services of the " Governor's Greys," a military company at Dubuque, in this state. The services of other military companies have been tendered directly to me. While I deeply regret that the perils to which the Union of the states is exposed arise from domestic, and not foreign foes, I feel a great, and I think an honest pride in the knowledge that the people of Iowa are possessed of an unyielding devotion to the Union, and of a fixed determina- tion that 80 far as depends on them, it shall be preserved. Very respectfully, Samuel J. Kirkvtood. tExECTJTiVE Office, Iowa, January 26th, 1861. C. L. Matthies, Capt. Burlington Rifle Co., Burlington Iowa: Dear Sir: Accept for yourself and the company you command, my thanks for the tender of their services, " in case of any public event involv- ing the necessity of arms." Should any such event occur, 1 shall accept the ser- vices so gallantly tendered. 1 am pleased to know that you and your command believe that the flag of our country is worthy of preservation, and that the men who first upheld the one and established the other did not mtendto have both at the mercy of rebels and traitors. I hope to be in your city about the first of Feb., and will endeavor to see you and consult with you in regard to arms. Very respectfully, Samuel J. Kirkwood. [Unfortunately the letter of Capt. Matthies, tendering his company is not among the state records. By persons acquainted with the facts at the time. THE WAR GOVERNOR. 41 In a few days, numerous other companies were tendered; the ''Union Guards," Capt. W. S. Robertson, of Columbus City; the "Burlington Zouaves," and the "Mt. Pleasant Greys," — all within a few days or hours of each other, and this long before Sumter had been fired on. It was Iowa's answer to South Carolina's secession at that noonda}' of December 20th. It was the answer to the thousand threats of destruction to the government and people, made at every public mart throughout the South. It was Iowa's answer to the cry that " the South would not submit to the election of Abraham Lincoln, nor to Black Republican rule." But now the hour had come for fiercer answers. Sumter was fired on. The roar of the rebel guns wakened the loyal hearts from Maine to California. The North was in a blaze of patriot- ism — though the South, which had not given Lincoln a single electoral vote, sang its paeans of joy that now restraint was ended, and, as it hoped, the government of the United States destroyed. That hour, too, sounded anew the knell of human slavery in the United States of America. Possibly man did not intend it, but the Almighty did. it was, and still is believed, that that letter antedated the letter of Capt. Cowles. Mr. Frank Phelps, associate editor of the BurHnyton Hairke>/e at the time, states that Matthies asked him to tender the company to the Gov- ernor, and that it was done about January 1st. If correct, this would make Capt. Matthies's tender not only the /irst in Iowa, but one of the first in the United States.] CHAPTER III. THE WAR GOVERNOR— MUSTERING FOR THE CONFLICT— Continued. " Ten days ago there were two parties in Iowa," wrote Gov. Kirkwood to the President. "Now, there is only one, and that one for the Constitution and the Union unconditionally." What patriotic days those were in loyal Iowa — those Sumter days! For awhile it seemed as if all party rancor had died out, with but one single sentiment animating every breast alike — tlie one resolve to avenge the insult at Sumter, and to save the Union. In the state's financial extremities, Gov. Kirkwood had secured the money for sending the first regiment to rendezvous by his own exertions, and the exertion of two or three personal friends. Money had to be had, and the Governor gave his own personal bonds, pledging all his own property and earnings, many times over, that the first soldiers of the state might have shoes to wear, blankets to sleep on, and bread to eat. Then came the patriotism of the banks of Iowa. Many of them offered the aid the state needed in its distress, without pledge and without bond. Men like Senator J. K. Graves, of Dubuque, offered loans to the state of many thousands of dollars without a thought as to when, if ever, the money might be re- turned. That meant patriotism, and Senator Graves was the first to risk his property that Iowa honor might be main- tained.* " You are authorized to draw on us for any sum you *The very morning after Sumter was fired on, J. K. Graves and R. E. Graves, his brother, telegraphed the Governor, saying they would claim it an honor and privilege to honor his drafts to the extent of thirty thousand dol- lars- leaving repayment to the pleasure of the state, if it could help equip and'send the boys to the front. It was the same spirit that later led these same men to hurry a car load of stores to the suifering of Chicago before the houses of the doomed city were done burning down. It was tne prompt and splendid example cf these men that soon led thousands of others to open their purses for the help of the state and its soldiers. They proved the maxim, too, that "he gives twice who gives promptly." (42) THE WAR GOVERNOR. 43 may need," was a cotnraon message telegraphed to the Governor from the branch banks in different parts of the state. W. T. Smith, of Oskaloosa, and other strong war Democrats, also came forward and promptly tendered money to the state. The rail- roads offered to carry the soldiers free, and private citizens in every town vied with one another in personal sacrifice to aid in the good cause. Patriotism burned at its very height. The Governor had called for but one regiment; that was on April 17th. Within a week, twenty-one companies were offered, and in a short time every organized militia company in the state, with one single exception, was tendered to defend the flag. Then commenced, too, the organizing of volunteer companies for the war. There was but one sentiment—" the Union." For a while party dis- tinctions disappeared entirely. Even the old sympathizers with slavery were silent, and the moss-back demagogues who had no patriotism in their thin-blooded veins, shouted for the preserva- tion of the Union. Those who were not loyal kept it secret, and publicly cheered for the flag. The newspapers talked of nothing but the war, and many kept flags and patriotic songs perma- nently at the head of their columns. Their editorials were of loyalty to the cpuntry, and the very advertisements teemed with hints to stir the patriotism of the people. Republicans and Democrats met in the same rooms, forgetting their animosities, and talked only of Sumter and the South. In Martinsburg, Re- publicans and Democrats held a war meeting together and tore their partisan flags in pieces, to splice them in one common ban- ner. At Aledo, the Democrats and Republicans took their party poles, cut them in two, spliced half of each together, and put the Union flag on top. At little Brighton, $1,250, cash, was raised in a few minutes from Republicans and Democrats alike, and as much more prom- ised, to help feed and clothe the boys who volunteered. Jesse Bowen presented the state with a brass eight-pounder cannon, and eighty rifles. That was the kind of a present Iowa needed then, as much as money. The Governor thanked Bowen for his patriotic gift, in the name of all Iowa. Those who could not 44 IOWA IN WAK TIMES. fight, gave of their substance. The little cotnniuaity of Amana, in Iowa coiintj^ sent the Governor a present of a thousand dollars, to help clothe the Iowa soldiers. Later, the same society gave from its scanty means five hundred dollars more. Doctors offered their services to the enlisting soldiers, gratis. The women of the state did even more than the men. No sacrifice of means, of time, of labor of deft hands— no strug- gle of breaking heart, was too much for those, who, with their blessings and their prayers, were sending fathers, husbands, sons, brothers and lovers to battle to save the country. Wives of Senators, Representatives, and men in high place— women of po- sition, of comfort, left their ease to sew and labor for the enlist- ing soldiers. In six days, the women of Burlington, with Mrs. Senator Grimes at their head, made three hundred soldiers' coats and haversacks. It was the same in every town and village and hamlet in the state— the " Woman's Relief Corps" being always the first and noblest organization of the place. The church, with the press, took up the patriotic song all over the state. Ringing sermons of patriotism were preached from every pulpit. Every prayer ended with a benediction on the soldiers going to the front. To serve the state, at that hour, was to serve the Lord. The patriotism of the land was the religion of the land. Sermons were preached by men like Wil- liam Salter of Burlington, Thomas Merrill of Newton, Asa Turner of Denmark, and scores of others, that made men shoul- der their muskets to fight as they had prayed. The anti-slavery clergy saw in the action of the Rebels, the doom of slavery, and thanked the Lord. The Wyoming Conference resolved:— " Whereas, Divine Providence has taken the work of emancipa- tion into His own hands- therefore resolved, that we stand still and see the salvation of God." There seemed but one sentiment abroad. '' How many of the people of your town are in sympathy with this Northern crusade on the South ?" wrote a planter to a Northern wholesale merchant; " we purchasers of your dry goods are interested in knowing." The merchant replied by expressing to the planter a copy of the / THE WAR GOVERNOR. 45 town directory. The merchant's answer would have been a true index just then to the loyalty of every town in Iowa. The first regiment was formed and ready for the march two weeks before the time designated by the Government, and many companies all over the state waited anxiously for their oppor- tunity. So far, only the one regiment had been demanded, but Grov. Kirkvvood sent Senator Grimes to Washington to urge on the President the acceptance of more Iowa troops. In the meantime, he urged the people at home to keep up their mili- tary organizations, and to form from farm and village, bodies of " minute men," as did our fathers in the Revolution — neglecting neither plough nor anvil, yet prepared to march on an hour's notice. Uniforms and even arms were impossible to obtain; nor was there even legal authority for their purchase, were they ob- tainable by borrowed money. At his own risk, the Governor sent the Hon. Ezekiel Clark, himself a most devoted pat- riot, to Chicago, to buy cloth for fifteen hundred uniforms. He reckoned on the deft hands of Iowa's loyal women for their making up for nothing. He did not reckon in vain. " Let the material be strong and durable," he added in his official note to Clark. There was to be no shoddy in the coats of Iowa soldiers, if bought by her loyal Governor, and made by her loyal women. The first regiment was ordered by the War Department to rendezvous at Keokuk. The Governor urged Davenport as the better point, as Keokuk had no direct railroad east in those days, and not even a line of telegraph . The change to Davenport was not made, however. Keokuk's proximity to the distracted, half rebel state of Missouri, made that city a near point to start from southward. It required a letter from three to five days to reach Des Moines, or the center of the state, and its lines of communi- cation were poor in all directions. To reach the interior of the state quickly, the Burlington Hawkeye Company advertised for a " pony express " to carry its papers from Eddyville to Des Moines, a distance of seventy-five miles — time to be eight hours* Never in the history of the state did a Governor have such a burden, such a variety and such a vexation of duties. All fell upon his own personal shoulders. He had no aides, no staff", — not 4b IOWA m WAR TIMES. even a private secretary, at first, — and yet the pressing business, the overwhelming correspondence, permitted of no delay. Stenog- raphers and type-writers were unknown at executive headquar- ters. Only an exceptionally strong body, and the kindness of a few friends who volunteered to help in the correspondence, made it possible for the accumulating business to be pushed along. A quiet, simple peace establishment had suddenly thrust upon it the burdens of a war footing. The cry for " muskets," "more muskets," came up from every quarter of the state, and there were no muskets to send. " For God's sake send us arms," wrote the Governor to Simon Cameron on the 29th of April, 1861. " I ask for nothing but arms and ammunition — we have the men to use them. Three regiments are waiting, and five thousand guns are required at once." The Adjutant General's office was as much overrun with the new business as was the office of the chief executive; but for- tunately it, too, was filled by a zealous patriot and a competent man. No labor was too great, no sacrifice too much, for the patriotism of Jesse Bowen, Iowa's Adjutant General at the breaking out of the battle storm. On the 6th of May, the First regiment of Iowa infantry vol- unteers was ordered into rendezvous at Keokuk, by the Governor. The Captains of the ten companies were, Matthies, Mahanna, Mason, Cummins, Streaper, Cook, Gottschalk, Wise, Wentz and Herron. Some of these names became famous as the war went on, and scores of the private soldiers comprising the regi- ment earned honorable commissions at the mouths of rebel cannon. Mr. I. K. Fuller went with the regiment as Chaplain, and Mrs. Fuller was the first regimental nurse to volunteer in the state. Tenders of volunteer companies reached the Governor daily, and the urgings for their acceptance for the country's defense were little short of angry declarations, so eager were all for the fray. The War Department thought it had no peed for more than a thousand men from Iowa, and the Governor was greatly embarrassed as to what to do with so many companies pressing for acceptance. He had not yet secured proper arms, spite of THE WAR GOVERNOR. 47 efforts made in every direction to buy in the market, or even to borrow of Illinois. The money he was borrowing of the state banks, to meet urgent expenses, was without sanction of law, leaving him personally liable for it all. All over the state, companies were kept together drilling, their subsistence fur- nished by boards of supervisors or by patriotic citizens, some of whom not only helped subsist the would-be soldiers, but fur- nished them uniforms at their own expense. Men who could not conveniently abandon business to volunteer, feared no sacri- fice of labor and money that could add to the comforts of those who could volunteer. The extent of the patriotism, the sacrifices, the courage, the great loyal-heartedness of the men at home in Iowa, who stood like a bulwark behind the soldiers, cheering and supporting them and maintaining their families, is simply beyond reckoning. Without this phenomenal support, without this loyal holding up of the arms of the soldiers, success in the war would have been impossible. There were as great patriots, as sacrificing men and women, holding the plow and threading the needle at home in Iowa, as there were facing the cannon in the South. Their names should be written in letters of gold. They bore the sacri- fice and the heart-breaks of war without the excitement and the glory of the contest as reward. Many of them impoverished themselves that our soldiers might have aid — quiet, duty-doing patriots and heroes, whose names never flamed in the bulletins, who did duty because it ivas duty. Their names in Iowa are legion, and a grateful state will think of them, as it thinks of the sons, husbands and brothers whom it sent to the field. Under the pressure of the offers of companies, the Governor accepted a second regiment, without waiting on the requisition of the Department of War. It, too, was placed in rendezvous at Keokuk, and without arms. " For God's sake, send us arms," telegraphed the Governor to Simeon Draper, President of the Union Defense Committee, at New York, on the 2d of May. '' Our First regiment has been in drill a week, a thousand strong. It has tents and blankets, but no arms. The Second regiment is full, and drilling. Send us arms. Ten thousand men can be had, if they can have arms." 48 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. By the middle of May, he had the Legislature of Towa together ill extraordinary session. Wliat a session it was! Half of its members seemed to be drunken with mere words. Most of them were patriotic, exuberantly so, but lacking in the common-sense wisdom demanded by tbe gravity of the occasion. The Gov- ernor explained to them briefly the causes of their extraordinary meeting, and in closing his address to them, begged them to be calm, though prompt and thorough. " Let us look our situa- tion squarely in the face, and address ourselves to, and do our duty like men who believe that while we hold to our fathers' faith, and tread in our fathers' steps, the God of our fathers will stand by us in the time of our trial, as he stood by them in the time of theirs." A resolution and a promise to sustain the Government to the extent of every man in the state and by the pledge of money to any extent required, passed by the unanimous voice of the Assembly. There seemed to be no end at first to the unanimous and jubilant patriotism expressed in every act, and in every resolve of those politicians. Unfortunately for certain of those pretended patriots, their first resolves were dishonest, and their loud speeches as to duty and loyalty, but empty declarations. When the important measure of the session came up, the pro- viding of a loan of $800,000, to put the state on a decent war- footing, many of the old Democrats, true to their instinct for the protection of slavery and wrong, voted against the bill. Twenty-four Democrats, and not one Republican, voted to leave the state of Iowa in a defenseless condition, when the slave-holders' Rebellion had the Government by the throat. The opponents of the loan bill were: Beal, Bracewell, Ben- nett, Campbell, Justus Clark of Des Moines, Conner, Curtis, Doggett, Dunlavey, J. C. Hall of Des Moines, Hotchkiss, Jen- nings, Jones, Lelacheur, McCullough of Jackson, Reed, Riddle, M. W. Robinson of Des Moines, Stevens, Taylor, Whitaker, Williams, and Williamson of Warren. This vote was the test of the loyalty of many of the leaders of the old democratic party in Iowa — of men who went to that Assembly under the cloak of patriotism, promising that all THE WAR GOVEKNOR. 49 issues — only duty to country — should be buried. As usual, by their votes they were misrepresenting the feeling of the people who honored them with seats in the Assembly, for at that hour the masses of the democratic people of Iowa were disposed to be loyal to their country. For seven days the members of the House kept their senses. Then commenced a series of proposi- tions looking to "conventions" — to "compromise," supported, too, by not a few loyal Republicans who forgot for the moment that there could be no compromise, no convention with traitors in arms, so long as the laws of the land were set at defiance. A treaty of peace with a band of robbers would have been as proper and just as a convention with Rebels who claimed that the Government no longer existed. Judge Hall of Burlington, though a well meaning man, sought to have a committee sent to Missouri to treat with Gov. Jackson, one of the first men to betray his own state. Hall forgot, apparently, how absolute too, is the clause in our Constitution, forbidding states to enter into treaties and alliances with one another. Senator Buncombe urged the cessa- tion of hostilities entirely, as did numerous of his associates, who lacked but the opportunity to prove that their loyalty was only feigned. The session voted the $800,000 loan, in spite of the villainous opposition. It re-organized the militia of the state, voted money for the purchase of five thousand stand of arms, five thousand dollars for the building of an arsenal at Des Moines, — and then, fortunately for its own credit, the members adjourned and went home. Its proceedings and debates had sounded more like a "peace" congress than an assembly of deputies of a people bound to preserve the dignity of the law, and the Union of the States — not by compromise, now, but by the cannon and the sword. It was not a month till the opponents of putting down the Rebellion by force, came out under their true colors in Iowa. They had been patriots none of the time. Shortly the Halls, the Masons, the Palmers, the Byingtons, the Van Bennetts, the Neguses, the Buncombes, the Johnsons, the Mahoneys, the Clag- getts and all the rest who secretly or openly sympathized with the traitors wjio were preparing to slay Iowa's brave sons in I. W. T.— 4 50 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. battle, ranked themselves in line as a wing of the democratic party in Iowa. It was not the true democratic party, for that was loyal still, spite of its suffering for the sins of its allies and bosom friends. By midsummer of 1861, the Iowa snakes com- menced to crawl out and spit their venom on the Union soldier. It was a patient, long-forbearing people in Iowa then, that did not rise in its wrath and swing these worst opponents of their country from the nearest gallows. Possibly, the ignominy that was to follow Iowa " Copperheads" (a title they were soon to be known by), through life, was a punishment worse than death. To them, however, disgrace and ignominy seemed nothing. Whatever they could do to discourage volunteering, or to crip- ple the state or general government, was done. In the very days when our armies were struggling with disaster at Bull Run, the Iowa Copperheads were in council resolving against the loyal actions of the administration. On the 22d of July, when the Bull Run cannon were not yet cool, the branch of the demo- cratic party called the " Mahoney Wing," met in convention at Des Moines, and declared the $800,000 state loan unconstitu- tional, any effort at coercion of the Rebels as little less than crime, and denounced the President. It was in proper keeping with the sentiments of this conven- tion, held in the interests of the Rebels, that a rebel flag-raising by one hundred secessionists should have taken place about the same time in the little town of Ossian. In Marion county, on the 10th of July, 1861, one of these opposition meetings resolved that: "Under the administration of President Lincoln, we " behold our beloved country distracted at home, and disgraced '' abroad. " Commerce paralyzed ! '' " Trade annihilated ! " " Coasts blockaded ! " " Rivers shut up ! " " The Constitution trampled under foot!" '' Citizens imprisoned ! " '' Laws suspended! " " Legislatures overawed hy bayonets! " THE WAE GOVERNOR. 51 ^- Debts repudiated,'' and " States invaded and dismembered T' No party in South Carolina could have passed resohitions more treasonable. The anticipated result naturally followed the expression of such sentiments by party leaders. The more ignorant of the copperhead party, for a party it had really become, now sincerely believed the administration guilty of great crimes. Obstacles were thrown in its way, and in the way of every loyal movement in the state. Disorganizers, and the discontented of every kind, vagabonds and ruffians out of the old democratic party, allied themselves with the traitors' camp, and shortly the copperhead party of Iowa became little better than a band of conspirators. Their meetings were held in secret, and their deeds were more dangerous and venomous, a hundred fold, than the open, armed relwUion in the South. No wonder the survivors of that igno- minious band, the copperhead party of Iowa, after twenty-five years, hide their faces in shame at the mention of its name. From their children's children they would ward the stigma attaching to the name of an '' Iowa Copperhead." One day only after the convention of the Copperheads at Des Moines, the so-called " Union " convention met, and proved an utter failure. The real object of this body was to try and rehabilitate the old democratic party, then in bad odor, and in fearful danger of dissolution, owing to the disloyalty of a whole wing of its organization. . The few Republicans cajoled into aiding the measure received their reward in defeat and ridicule. The republican party was "Union" enough for real, honest patriots, and the Mahoney Democrats treasonable enough for the disloyal. Only twenty counties were in any way represented at the convention. What the real intentions of the promoters of the so-called Union party were, was pointed out to the Gov- ernor in a letter from the Ho n. J. M. Beck.* ^__ *FoRT Madison, May 23d, 1861. Hon. S. J. KiRKWOOD, Des Moines: . Dear Sir: I humbly conceive that the principles of slavery restriction, which you and I, in common with all republicans, esteem of such vital impor- tance, and to sustain and establish which we have for years labored, and sev- 62 IOWA ENT WAR TIMES. While the midnight assassins of the copperhead party were holding their first secret conclaves, in July, 1861, the Governor of Iowa was in Washington City begging of the government more and better arms for his brave men. The action of the state's opponents here in Iowa, together with the outrageous ered all political connections not consistent therewith, are now in more danger of destruction and overthrow than at any time since they have become questions dividing the political parties of the country; and that if we are saved from non- intervention Crittenden Compromise or something ■worse, it must be done by the steady and firm portion of the republicans in a rigid atlherence to our platform. I am ■well satisfied that a large (very large) proportion of democratic lead- ers in Iowa are pro-slaveri/ in principle and feeling. I judge the whole mass by those around me. Their leadmg journals plainly indicate it. At this time these papers and politicians advocate a union of parties — the throwing away of party platforms and organizations, and the inauguration of a grand Union party, to embrace all of those who now support the government. Such is their talk here and they have enlisted quite a number' of -wealc, kind and aspiring republicans into their way of thinking and talking. Where this is done I am well satisfied that at the first show of a ivhiie flag, and a demand for a parley by the rebels, every prominent democrat will be for a settlement of the trouble upon any terms favorable to the extension of slavery, be they the Crittenden Compromise or anything even worse, if it can be thought of. They will carry their new formed Union party with them and the war will be ended and slaverij will be nationalized. I am brought to this way of thinking from the fact that I knoiv the hearts of prominent democrats are not in the war — they are continually talking of a humane, brotherly and defensive ivar, and wondering and surmising what will be the state of things when it is ended — they are always ready to criticise unfavor- ably the acts of the Government and her officers, as they did in the Camp Jackson affair. If a word be said against the evils of slavery, or in favor of slaveiy restriction, they throw up their hands in horror and charge Republicans with an intention of interfering with the Con- stitutional rights of the South — they are continually abusing and finding fault with republican officials and prominent republican politicians. Your own case is a fair illustration. They have more abuse for you than they have for Claib. Jackson. Such is the spirit of the papers and leaders of the democracy, and all the time they are advocating union of par- ties, and such stutt. Now many republicans have been silly enough to be caught in the trap set for them, and are aiding these pro-slavery demagogues to overthrow our party and our principles. This thing must be averted or we will end in being tied hand and foot and delivered over to the Philis- tines. If our party takes a proper stand and openly declares for the princi- ples of our platform, and that, come what may, we intend to enforce them, the greater proportion of the rank and file of the democracy will be with us, and the leaders will be left on the old rotten hulk to go to the bottom with it. But if we join in union with them our true men will be turned out of positions of public trust and then wire pullers put in, and the end of the matter will be that these pro-slavery leaders of the democracy will have the settling of the vital and most important questions which will be brought forth when the rebels are conquered. I will not be a party to any move which will give power or influence to the rotten pro-slavery politicians of the democratic party. Yours, etc., J. M. Beck. THE WAR aoVERN^OR. conduct of some of their sympathizers, led on by the New York Herald in the East, had made the sale of Iowa bonds, authorized by the Legislature, an impossibility. The Governor advertised them in all eastern markets-still sales could not be had, and the first regiments in camp were clothed and fed by money bor- rowed on the personal security of Gov. Kirkwood, the Hon Hiram Price, and the Hon. Ezekiel Clark. A trio of better pat- riots never existed. Not in years did the old soldiers in camp forget those who proved benefactors when their state and them- selves were in distress. The difficulties of organizing the new regiments, when only money borrowed on individual security could be obtained, and when the enemies of the country in Iowa were secretly hinder- ing volunteering, continued. To make the matter worse still, numerous disappointed and discontented Republicans joined in the democratic cry for the abandonment of the republican party, and the organizing of the so called "Union" party; as if the old republican party were itself not thoroughly union, and intensely loyal. " It is a dishonest cry, this ' Union ' business, and hypocritical patriotism," wrote a republican leader to the Governor. " The masses of the Democrats may be all right-their leaders are not. De Tocqueville once said; ' There is no patriotism among party leaders in America-that is all confined to the people.' The past few months prove this to be true as to the democratic party. The ungovernable loyal impulse of our whole people has com- pelled these democratic leaders to make a pretense of loyalty. It is a pretense only ; events will prove it. Republicans are now, and always were, loyal to the Union. These democratic politi- cians have professed the same feeling-yet, now the crisis comes, and they cry, ' Give us the offices; join us in a Union party, or we desert to the enemy.' Down with such hypocrisy! Let us go straight ahead in the right. Let the Democrats follow if they will; if not, let them go down." The Republicans who allowed themselves to be deceived and cajoled by this dishonest cry of a Union party, lived to see their mistake, and how very near they came to being simply disloyal. 54 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. Honest and patriotic Democrats who detested the copperhead wing of their own party, were as little to be deceived as were true Republicans, by this game to advance party hacks at the expense of honesty. They did not wait for the tried and true Republicans to come over to them in some sort of a bastard " Union," but promptly entered the republican camp by thous- ands, regardless as to party name, or no name, and by thous- ands acted with them, volunteered with them, bravely fought with them, and by thousands died with them on the field of battle. On the 4th of July the national Congress assembled in extra session. President Lincoln had delayed calling it together, prin- cipally because of vacancies that could not be filled earlier. The pitiable spectacle was soon offered of national Representa- tives at the Nation's capital, offering to trade with treason. What had been done or proposed, in the Assembly of Iowa, was repeated at Washington, on a larger and more nefarious scale. Many of the Rebels themselves dared to retain their seats in Congress for a time, the better to aid treason, and the Republi- cans of the North dared to permit the infamy. There is every reason to believe that had the Rebels delayed firing on Sumter until Congress met, there would have been no war, such a crowd of compromising conciliators had the national Representatives from the North become. With such delay, the Rebels might have received all they wished or dared to demand from the United States Congress, and have left the Union in peace. The hand of Providence was in it all — the Union ivas to he saved, and slavery was to perish. While Congress was paralyzed with fear, and offering to com- promise with traitors, the hand of the Almighty was crowding events along to the last appeal. Bull Run alarmed the North, but it also roused the people to the true and awful meaning of war. Two mighty mobs of untrained men had met, and the North had suffered ignominy and defeat. Iowa's answer to the awful tidings, was the quick assembling of more regiments of troops. Within a month from "Bull Run, Iowa had seven thousand men in the field, principally in Missouri, and some five thousand in- THE WAK GOVERNOR. 55 fantry and cavalry in rendezvous at Burlington, Iowa City, Davenport, Keokuk and Dubuque. '' This," said the Governor shortly afterward to some complainers, " is what your state au- thorities have done without money to do it with," for the bonds were still unsold. Again Gov. Kirkwood made a vain struggle to find a market for the state securities, so as to have money to pay the debts and to buy arms for those who were defending our western line from the Indians, for by that time the Indians had been instigated to border disturbances. Tired of trying to push the bonds in other markets, he made an appeal to the people of Iowa to step forward and relieve the state by buying them themselves. On the very day of the battle of Bull Run he was writing to Col. John Edwards, to urge the people of his part of the state to buy as many bonds as their means would allow, and so relieve the difficulty. The bonds offered were of the $800,000 authorized by the Legislature, bore seven per cent in- terest, and were good; but men seemed more ready to offer their lives to the service of the state, than to lend money. Hence, the embarassment continued, relieved only by the quick acceptance of the Iowa troops on the part of the General Government, and its assumption of expenses. CHAPTER TV. THE WAR GOVERNOR— MUSTERING FOR THE CONFLICT— Continued. It was shortly after the Bull Run days, July 25th, that an appointment was made in Iowa that was to reflect honor on the State, and to be of immense bearing on the interests and the happiness of Iowa volunteers. It was Gov. Kirkwood's appointment of Nathaniel B. Baker to the position of Adjutant General of the State. Like Kirkwood, General Baker seemed born for the important place he was about to fill; and his patri- otism, and the importance of his career were scarcely second to that of the Governor himself. Adjutant General Bo wen had resigned, with the thanks of the Executive for his patriotism, zeal and ability. From the hour of Baker's entrance to the office till the day of his death, long years afterward, every pulsation of his heart was in unison with the interests of the soldiers of the state. Of his wonderful executive ability, his zeal, his patience, his love of the Iowa soldiers, his fitness for the place, too much could not be written, and his history becomes linked with that of the War Governor and the Iowa soldiers from that day forth. His watch- fulness for every single interest of the Iowa men in the war became proverbial. He called the Iowa soldiers his " boys,'' and no sacrifice of his own, of time, of labor, or thoughtful inge- nuity to make their welfare better, was ever spared. What a blessing it was for the men of Iowa in the field, that just such a man, with such a heart, had charge of their interests at home. While the soldiers were in rendezvous, and, to a large extent while at the front, his vigilance seemed endless, for their welfare. Many a field officer has been quickly led to repeal some arbitrary rule affecting, unjustly, some Iowa regiment or soldier. Many a military martinet, mistreating some volunteer, has felt the quick, hot anger of General Baker. Many an Iowa officer, forgetting that among Iowa troops a private soldier was as good as an offi- (56) THE WAR GOVERISrOR. 57 cer, has been forced by General Baker to drop his arrogance, born of his petty authority, and to treat his soldiers like men and patriots. Many a field general has quaked at the red hot words, the prompt demand for justice to Baker's " boys," tele- graphed whenever an injustice or a wrong was heard of. Hun- dreds of letters on file show that the War Department itself was more than once forced to alter the course of the Department, or of its officers in the field, toward Iowa soldiers. Baker was a hater of wroag and of injustice, and immeasurably more so if exercised toward an Iowa soldier. Thousands of these soldiers he knew personally, followed them with his heart to the field of battle, cheered them in distress or defeat, applauded them in victory, and, in a hundred directions, strove to alleviate the wants of the loved ones they had left behind. The sons and daughters of the veterans of that war can scarcely realize what a friend their fathers had in him who mustered and sent them forth to the field of battle. His zeal for the soldiers' interests was so great, his heart so warm for them and their cause, his ability for the duties of the post he filled so immense, no failure followed any efforts of his, made for the well-being of an Iowa volunteer. He succeeded always in what he undertook. In the regiments, in the army, in the departments at Washington — everywhere, he was considered the ideal of an Adjutant General; and his business methods and his office were by the War Depart- ment itself, pronounced about the most thorough and complete of any managed during that four years' war in the United States. He was not a tyro in executive affairs, when the war broke out. He had been a man of experience. As a boy of seventeen, he had entered Harvard College, in his native State, and gradu- ated with honor. He had studied law in the office of Franklin Pierce, afterward President of the United States. He had been a successful journalist, a Clerk of the Courts, a Representative in the Legislature, and twice Speaker of the House, by the time he was thirty-three years of age. Before another four years he was Governor of the state of New Hampshire; and a mere polit- ical accident, or rather a feeling of high honor, prevented his securing the democratic nomination for President of the United 58 IOWA IN WAR TIMES, States. The Presidency, it was decided, should go to New Hampshire. In a state nominating caucus, the ballots were almost a tie between him and Pierce. Baker held the deciding vote, and cast it against himself. This was the man whom good fortune gave to Iowa to fill her second most important post in the days of peril. No soldier in Iowa ever doubted how well that post was tilled. His strong hand was shown in every Iowa event connected with the war. The military generals com- manded the Iowa soldiers at the front. Gov. Kirkwood and Gen. Baker held the reserves — supplied the front, and made Iowa's success and honor in the war a possibility. Baker resolved to have, as far as possible, only fit men in the Iowa regiments — men good and brave, as well as patriotic. About his first telegram to the Secretary of War was a tender of the Second Iowa cavalry. '' Do you officer this regiment?" he telegraphed, '' If so, send us good men." The request was complied with, for some of the gallant Second cavalry became distinguished officers, and three of them left the army with stars on their shoulders. Baker watched even the smallest details concerning Iowa troops going to the front. A Mississippi steamboat company carrying soldiers under contract, wished also to take on freight. "Yes," telegraphed Baker, ''take the freight on if you wish to, but if you do, you take no Iowa soldiers." It was the middle of July, 1861, before the military men of the North seemed to be commencing the war in earnest. The authorities had been driven and stung by patriotic clamor of press and people to "do something." There had been little engagements with varying results, in West Virginia, at Romney, Fairfax Court House, Palling Waters, Laurel Hill, Carrick's Ford and other points; and slight encounters at Booneville, Fulton and Carthage, Missouri; but none of these would have been called battles a year later. Not battles, and yet such encounters made history in the days of the Revolution. In the cival war they were swallowed up in the greater events to follow. Then came Bull Run. Iowa had not a single soldier in the battle. In two days, Baker stepped into the Adjutant General's THE W.IR GOVERNOR. 59 oflSce, and the war tocsin souaded louder aad louder over every prairie, farm and hillside in the state. What if Bull Run were a disaster? Even disaster was better than the humiliating, cow- ardly attitude the Government had been so long pursuing. Its hands had been tied; there was no alternative, no policy.* Now, it was going to fight. Talk of compromise was ended, and the battle brought ten times as many volunteers to the front as had been lost in the defeat. Baker's first official letter but one was to Col. Add. Sanders, directing him to hurry together the companies then forming in the river counties near Davenport — to consolidate and organize them at once, to meet the President's new call for 300,000 men. At the same time, Wm. B. Allison, then an aide on the staff of Gov. Kirkwood, was ordered by Baker to organize and accept companies as rapidly as possible in all the counties north of Dubuque. The Hon. Caleb Baldwin was aiding loyally and energetically in a similar capacity in the counties along the Missouri river. Sanders's, Baldwin's and Allison's duties were important, and energetically performed. A little trouble was had by Mr. Alli- son in buying blankets with Iowa bonds, for use of the men so rapidly volunteering. There was no other money to buy with, but somehow the cold-blooded patriots of a part of the north part of the state declined to act. Possibly they were raising liberty poles at Ossian. Mr. Allison had very good backing, however. His chief, Adjt. Genl. Baker, sent him word to ask once more for blankets, and if not forthcoming, some troops would be sent „ . , *DUBUQUE. Friend Kirkwood: I think you should have no hesitancy in allowing your name to be used (for Governor) on our state ticket. I am satisfied no one will so well meet the public expectation as yourself, and we may need aJl the strength possi- ble this fall to carry the election, especially if the administration continues m its present do-notliing policy. The despatches for a few days past seem to indicate that our friends at Washington will do something to stem the tide of dissolution and save us, if not from ruin, from demoralization in the estimation of om- own loyal people, and from absolute disgrace in the eyes of the civilized world. We must have a policy of some kind soon, or our party and our country will go down together. Sincerely, your friend, Wm. B. Allison. 60 IOWA IN WAK TIMES. at once to that part of Iowa, and " the reason found out." The blankets were soon bought now, in abundance. By the end of July, 1861, nine Iowa regiments, infantry and cavalry, were either in the field, or in rendezvous ready for going. Many of the companies had been mustered in as early as May, and, indeed, the time of the First infantry regiment of " three-months '' men was about expired — its brave men want- ing to have a good bout with the enemy in Missouri, before com- ing home to disband and enter other regiments. The Second and Third regiments were also marching up and down Missouri, skirmishing with the Rebels as often as they could overtake them. The Second regiment had, in fact, been the first to leave the state for the seat of war, though the First left Keokuk and followed to Missouri on the very next day, June 13, 1861, and the Third started from Iowa on the 29th of the same month. Col. John F. Bates commanded the First regiment at this time, Hon. S. R. Curtis, member of Congress, the Second, and Nelson G. Williams, the Third. The Fourth, with Col. Dodge, although scarcely organized, was already chasing Rebels over the line, not far from Council Bluffs, while the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh reg- iments were drilling in Camp Warren, at Burlington. Spite of the new call, too many companies were offering. The Governor addressed the volunteers a circular, explaining how Iowa patriotism was overflowing, and begged the unaccepted companies to have patience and only wait. " This war," he wrote to them on the 24th of June, " cannot be put down by passion or excitement, or unreasonable and blind haste, but by patience, calmness, organized preparation and cool, fierce determination. The man who to-day is at home waiting willingly, and prepared to march when ordered, is doing his duty to his country as well as he who, more fortunate, is already in the field." Wilson's Creek had not yet been fought. Iowa patriotism had been tried, but not the heroism of her men. To Simon Cameron the Governor wrote on the 12th of June, tendering the Second regiment of cavalry. '' Iowa is now ready with applications of companies for admission into the national service. Our people are loyal, patriotic and devoted. Their THE WAR GOVEENOB. 61 hearts are with you. Their prayers daily ascend for the Presi- dent, the Cabinet and glorious Gen. Scott." Company by company and regiment by regiment, the young men of the state left for the war. There was many a pathetic scene as they left their homes and went forth to encounter the perils of the battle field. Everywhere hearts were wrung and homes left desolate. This picture from the Burlington Hawk- eye, May 8th, 1861, is not more touching than scenes that occur- red every day all over the loyal state: '"' Yesterday morning, a little after 9 o'clock, the whistle of the Kate Cassel was heard as she neared our levee, and, at the tap of the drum, the ' Rifles ' were ready, and issued from their armory, to give a last parade on the streets before they left. As the company passed along, they were lustily cheered. When they turned to the levee, the people hurried on before them, and some thousands must have occupied the spacious landing. A passage was opened, and amid deafening hurras, they marched to the water's edge and along the plank, every foot in time, every face sober, as if each was engaged in a struggle with his emotions, and wished to play the man. By order of the Captain, they drew up in double file on the hurricane deck, and as he led, gave cheer after cheer, which was taken up and answered by the thousands on the shore. The feeling was intense, and still repressed; but when silence was restored, and the band poured forth the thrilling notes of ' Home, Sweet Home,' emotions strong and hardly controlled before, could be restrained no longer. Sobs broke from men as well as women, and tears flowed freely, as the thought presented itself to each that per- haps these brave fellows would never again enjoy the endear- ments of ' Home, Sweet Home.' May the arm of the Highest protect them, and in His shadow may they trust! And if they return, may it be as victors, to receive the laurels which respect and affection will weave. " So many of the men are young, and closely related to our citizens, that it was impossible to keep the ranks. The hand extended to one was seized by a dozen, and at last soldiers and citizens mingled in that brief, sad parting. We saw many a 62 IOWA IN WAK TIMES. mother attempt to say ' good bye,' but the result was a burst- ing cry of anguish, and a bowed head upon the brave boy's shoulder. The scene was only terminated by the imperative signal to cast off. The men hurried on board, pressed by their enthusiastic friends, some of whom waded to the side of the boat, to shake the hand that love might clasp no more. " As the Kate Cassel moved off, cheer after cheer broke forth again, mingled with the cries of the wives and mothers. One poor creature who had looked long and sadly at the boat as she lay to at the landing, so soon as the ropes were cast off and the boat swung round to the stream, uttered the most piteous cries of ' Oh, my Charley, my child, my child ! ' But her voice was soon drowned by that of thousands round her who were giving their last adieus and blessings to those on board." What man or woman then in the state does not call up sim- ilar scenes that took place in Iowa in those days of the war- Who does not recall the little grass plot of his native town, and the line of brave boys standing there, mustered to say farewell to motlier, father, sweet-heart and wife — while the village pastor reverently invoked God's blessing on their heads. Oh! the pain and the anguish. The fleeting years have left them unassuaged. That was the coin of heart blood, Iowa paid to preserve the Union. May that one be doubly cursed who now by act or word endangers the ark saved by sacrifice of the anguished hearts of women, and the life's blood of men. What the anguish of Iowa women was who saw their loved ones pass to the field of battle, and the prison pen, will never be realized; their tears are registered in heaven. The excite- ment and the glory that hung about the battle like a halo, as their dear ones rushed to their death, was not theirs; but the sorrow, and the pain, as they silently took their dead bodies and embalmed them with their tears. CHAPTER Y. IOWA AT WILSON'S CREEK — THE STATE'S FIRST BATTLE, August 10, 1861. The time had come for Iowa soldiers to receive their baptism of fire. So far, no Iowa man had met a foeman in battle. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon had chased the rebel Gen. Jackson out of the little town of Booneville on the Missouri river, and had pursued him in a southwesterly direction almost across the turbulent, guerilla-tortured state of Missouri. Gen. Franz Sigel had been ordered to RoUa by rail, with directions to march and intercept the rebel Jackson, if possible, somewhere in the neigh- borhood of Springfield, and crush him before reinforcements could reach him from the Ozark mountains. Gen. Sigel met Jackson at the village of Carthage and, after a most spirited engagement on the open prairie, was defeated and fell back to Springfield. Here, his column was joined to the command of Gen. Lyon, who, with his First Iowa boys. First Kansas, First Missouri, a couple of battalions of reg- ulars, and two regular batteries, had been pursuing Jackson across the state, in forced marches. Sigel's defeat at Carthage had made possible a junction with Jackson of some ten thousand Arkansas and Texas troops, under Generals Price, McCulloch and Pearce. Undaunted by the increased numbers of the enemy, Lyon hurried forward on the first of August and dispersed one of the detached columns of the enemy at Dug Springs, seventeen miles south of Springfield. Returning with his troops to Springfield, he paused to con-i sider the dangerous dilemma in which his army had been placed by Gen. Fremont's neglect to re-enforce him from the surplus troops at St. Louis and the four regiments or more camped at Rolla. The danger of the situation had of course been aggra- vated by the defeat of Gen. Sigel at Carthage. Gen. Fre- (63) 64 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. mont's staff at St. Louis, possessed of more gilt epaulettes than military wisdom, seemed quite unconcerned as to the fate of the unsupported columns they had pushed into the interior of a state filled with secessionists and guerrillas and partially occupied by a large army. Possibly Gen. Fremont, so recently placed in command of the district, with headquarters at St. Louis, was not altogether responsible for the dangerous situation. Certainly he was a patriot, if not a tried general. But the troops about the city, or arriving, were only half organized, and very imperfectly armed. The city was a city of secessionists, spies, and rebel sympathizers. Chaos reigned, and army headquarters were sur- rounded and apparently controlled by a species of army robbers and cormorants who thought more of a fat contract tlian of Gen. Lyon's devoted little army. Lyon's repeated appeals for re-enforcements had been in vain. No help was even attempted. And yet there were in front of him, and preparing to overwhelm him, three different columns, numbering not less than twenty thousand troops. His own little army numbered, all told, sick and wounded included, but five thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight men. RoUa, the nearest point for help, was one hundred and fiftj' miles away. Should he retreat there at once, sacrificiag without a blow the immense stores, and the specie piled together in Springfield, for what purpose, no one knew? Should he sacrifice the whole state of Missouri after driving the Rebels so far before him ? Or should he deliver battle, and by hard fight make at least retreat possible? He trusted in the heroism and patriotism of his men. What if the time of service of the Iowa men had expired ? One appeal to them and they were ready. It was not a question of time or pay with them, but country. " Will your First Iowa men stay and fight with me?" said Lyon to Lt.-Col. Merritt, in a private interview of the ninth of August. '^ Every man of them," replied Merritt. That very day the order for the battle was arranged. The doubting officers who feared the policy of attacking numbers so IOWA AT WILSON'S CKBEK. 65 BATTIiS: OF WILSOX'S CBEEK., EXPLANATIONS. A. Captain Totten's Battery. I. S. Dubois' Battery. K, C. Log House. li. P. Cornfield. M. E, FiBHT Iowa VoLtiNTEEBS. N. F. Second Missouri Volunteere. 0. G, Second Kansas Volunteers. X. H. First Kansas, First Missouri, and Y. Captain Shaler's Battalion. z. Captain Plummer's Battalion. Rebel Batteries Masked. Colonel Sigel's &.rtillery. Sigel's Brigade. Third and Fifth Missoori, N. Fart of Rebel Train. Concealed Rebel Batteries. Road through Rebel Camp, McCuUoch'B Head-Quarters. Z. Rains' Head-Quarters. I. W. T.— 5 66 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. overwhelming, yielded to the prompt spirit, the recognized cour- age, the positive character of their leader. It was but for Lyon to say the word, and every man in that little army became a hero. The united rebel army was on Wilson's Creek, but ten miles away. They looked upon Lyon's destruction or capture as but a question of hours. The order to attack him had already been given, but was countermanded, because of rain. Had it been carried out, the two armies would have met in the prairie, between Wilson's Creek and Springfield. Lyon determined to be ahead, and to surprise the Rebels that very night or by day- light of the morrow. He marched at sundown. Contrary to the original plan of Gen. Lyon, and contrary to the advice of many of the field officers, Gen. Sigel received permission to take his brigade of some two thousand men, mounted and unmounted, with six pieces of artillery, and march for the enemy's rear right flank by way of the road to Fayette- ville. This divided the union forces, already too small. Sigel alone was responsible for this mistake. Gen. Lyon was to march with the rest of the army, including the First Iowa, and attack the enemy directly in front. Quietly, and with muffled drums, the soldiers marched through the darkness. At midnight, Lyon's advance saw the fires of the enemy's pickets. The order to halt was given, and the soldiers stretched themselves on the wet prairie grass to sleep — to many, their last night's rest— and to dream of the combat of the morrow. The first streaks of dawn were ushered in with the rattle of musketry. Our lines were moving forward, driving the enemy's advance skirmishers before them. In an hour, the rising sun was greeted with the roar of Lyon's artillery. The first real battle, in the West, for the preservation of the Union, had begun, and the forces were as five to one against us. The First Missouri infantry was immediately pushed forward in line of battle on the crest of a small hill or elevated plateau. To its left, in line, stood the men of the First Kansas, fighting like hardened veterans, while the batteries of Totten and Dubois IOWA AT Wilson's creek. 67 hurled twelve shells a minute into the thick ranks of the enemy charging the union lines. For an hour the First Iowa stood in support of Dubois's bat- tery on the left, but early in the engagement it was hurried to the help of the First Kansas, now being overpowered by superior numbers. The regiment was under command of Lt.-Col. Mer- ritt, Col. Bates being incapacitated by illness. In this move forward, two companies of the regiment were separated from the command by the retreat of troops breaking through their ranks. Two other companies had been left with Dubois's bat- tery, and the remaining six, led by Lt.-Col. Merritt, now entered a storm of battle that lasted for five hours. The main force of the Rebels occupied the broad valley of the stream, and still others a ridge beyond, running at right angles to the union line of battle. From this ridge and valley poured the masses of troops that charged and re-charged the union lines, hoping by sheer force of numbers to overwhelm and drive back flanks and center. It mattered little that the ground was strewn with their dead— ten times they charged that forenoon, and ten times they were driven back from the position held by the Iowa and Kansas soldiers and the two batteries. Further to the left, Capt. Plummer, of the First regulars, with a bare handful of men, two hundred and fifty in number, contested hotly for two hours with a force five times as strong as his own. To right and left and front, the Iowa and Kansas regi- ments, the men of Missouri and the trained regulars contended desperately with masses of fresh troops hurled upon them after every defeated charge. Sigel's column, at the rear of the enemy, had been ignomini- ously defeated early in the morning. His guns were captured, his troops scattered, and he himself in flight for Springfield. Unknown to Lyon, Sigel had ceased to be a factor in the contest. Gen. Lyon was everywhere along his own line, fearless but calm. •' Where is Sigel? Why does not Sigel come? " was only answered by the shells of Sigel's captured cannon screaming into the union ranks. Everywhere there was death. Ofiicer after officer fell, the ranks were growing '.thinner, and not once 68 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. was the word retreat even thought of. At nine o'clock, brave Lyon fell, a bullet through his heart just as he was urging a terrific counter charge. Twice before, during the combat, he had received the enemy's bullets in his body, and given no sign of yielding. The fight went on. Still the Rebels charged, and still were driven back. Then came a lull of battle. There was a hurried consultation of officers on the union line. The gallant Maj. Sturgis had assumed control, and it was now a question if retreat were not only honorable, but imperative. For fifteen hours the union soldiers had not tasted a drop of water. That moment a force of infantry bearing the American flag was seen coming down the hill from the direction where Sigel should have been. Was it help at last? Sigel's utter rout was not suspected. Could this be he? Closer and closer the column came, and then showing its true colors, it fired a blast of mus- ketry in the very faces of the silent, waiting union line. Then commenced again an encounter more deadly than at any hour of the day. The batteries, the regulars, the First Missourians, the First lowans and the Kansas regiments, hurled into the rebel lines a most terrific fire. There was no retreat now — only death seemed possible. Fear vanished, and desperation seized on every soldier present, till at last, routed and driven, the enemy abandoned the field. There was a time of silence. The union army, what was left alive of it, gathered up its wounded, and, perfectly unmolested, retired to Springfield. Every man in its ranks had been a hero. It was twelve o'clock when the union lines retired, and not till three days afterward, when they had fallen back to Rolla, did the crippled rebel hosts dare to come in and occupy the abandoned town. As our troops fell back from the battle field, tired, parched with the hot August sun, wounded and bleeding, they stopped on the way, greeted each other and sang a song of the Union. That night, while the soldiers slept upon their arms in Springfield, a melancholy scene was passing at the headquarters of the commanding officer. It was a council to decide as to what they should next do. On a table beside them, draped IOWA AT Wilson's creek. 69 in a military blanket, lay the bleeding body of Gen. Lyon. It was a scene for a tragic artist. When killed in the field, the body had been placed on an ambulance, but on returning, some soldiers gathering up the wounded, not recognizing the body of their dead commander, threw it to the ground, and filled the ambulance with the living. Missing it, on reaching Springfield, the officers sent an escort for it back to the battle-field. It was delivered to them by the enemy, and now, like the dead body of Hector, lay calm in death, while the comrades of the morning stood wondering what next to do when such a man was dead. The body was buried that night in the private yard of Mrs. ex-Gov. Phelps, a union citizen of the town. Long before day-light, the little army, unpursued, was on its way to RoUa, carrying with it in perfect safety an enormous wagon train with stores and specie. Shortly, the First Iowa, the first heroic defenders of the state, the heroes of Wilson's Creek, went home and were mustered out. In the battle they had lost 160 men, nearly twenty of whom were killed, and all the remainder, wounded. The terribleness of the battle was shown by the list of casualties. Out of about 5,000 men engaged, the Union army lost 1,235, without counting but a corporal's guard of Sigel's men. The Rebel loss equaled 3,000 men. ''Probably no two forces ever fought with greater desperation," says the rebel commander, writing to his chief at Richmond. The rebel loss in officers was very great. Generals, colonels, and other field officers, led their commands in person, and fell in the midst of charges. The rebel Col. Clark's little battalion of 200 men had eighty-eight of them killed and wounded. Col. Hughes, with only 650 men had 112 killed or wounded and thirty missing. Cawthorne's brigade of 1,200 men lost ninety-six in dead and wounded. Of 5,221 Missourians engaged on the rebel side, 673 were left on the field wounded or dead. The First Missouri regiment on the union side lost 295 men and the First Kansas infantry, 284. There was a moment in the battle when less than 3,000 men 70 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. were resisting the attack of the whole rebel army, and there was a time when, for the First Iowa to have faltered five minutes, would have lost the day. All the soldiers in the union army recognized the supreme heroism of the First Iowa. The state and general government rivaled each other in honoring the regiment. Lt.-Col. Merritt, Maj. Potter and Capt. Herron were complimented in general orders, and almost hundreds of the regiment received later com- missions in other commands. The President of the United States ordered a special proclamation of thanks for the heroism of the men at Wilson's Creek to be read before every regiment in the service. " Remember Wilson's Creek ! Remember the deeds of the First Iowa! " wrote Gov. Kirkwood to almost every Iowa regiment in the service. And they were remembered. In the four long, bloody years, no Iowa soldier who fought, but remembered and emulated his comrades, who fought in the first battle of the West. Six hundred of that gallant band, on being mustered out, re-entered the service in other regiments. Many who served in the line or carried muskets on that day of Wilson's Creek, achieved high rank and military distinction. Five of them became colonels; five became brigadier generals, and three who were captains in the line, became full major generals. The day was an epoch in the history of a state. CHAPTER YI. AFFAIRS IN IOWA. The news of the battle of Wilson's Creek produced a great sensation in Iowa. The question as to whether Iowa men could be heroes, was settled; but there was mourning in many homes. Shortly, the survivors of the First regiment came marching back to the state, and with an ardor and patriotism as great as when they were mustered in. Their tales of real battle— their reception as heroes— their unabated loyalty, soon led other thousands to volunteer. As for themselves, scores of them re- ceived commissions in other regiments, then forming. As an organization, the First regiment passed from history. Gov. Kirkwood declined to allow its reorganization— its glory was too great to risk on the chance of new recruits. Its time was out — its history was written in blood. Gov. Kirkwood was in Washington City asking for arms to defend Iowa's border, when the news of the battle in which her soldiers had so signalized themselves, reached there. " That day in Washington, it was an honor to be an Iowa man," said the Governor in a speech at Des Moines, afterward. " I tell you, my friends, that was a proud day for Iowa in Washington. It was glory enough for any man there to hail from Iowa." "The First — the glorious First," became a common phrase in execu- tive dispatches to other regiments, in those days. Iowa's first honors were fairly won. Before going to Washington, early in August, the Governor had been besieged by companies all over the state for arms — especially by companies on the threatened southern border. And still there were neither arms nor money. Col. Dodge's regiment in camp at Council Bluffs was even without shoes, and not a penny in the treasury. Col. John Edwards, then an (71) 72 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. aide of the Governor on the southern border of the state, had called troops into the state service to defend it against Rebels daily threatening the peace of the border. They, too, were with- out arms and supplies, while still other state troops in the north- west border, watching the Indians, were but half armed. ''What can be done?" the Governor wrote Col. Edwards, August 3d. " I have not a dollar to pay even expressage on arms, if I had them. Can't the people in your vicinity buy some of our state bonds, and thus furnish means to get arms? My contract for rifles and revolvers failed, because 1 had no money to pay for them. Unless I can get some, I don't know what I shall do. Your people will have to furnish supplies to the camp on credit of the state, and wait for their pay, as must the men of the reg- iment. Let the soldiers know fully how the matter stands — that the money is not at hand, and can't be had until bonds are sold. Our people must buy the bonds of the state. What can be done? I go to Washington on Monday, to try to get arms, and make arrangements for the peace of our border. You can get powder at Keokuk, and perhaps lead, on credit," This financial diflSculty, so hard for our soldiers and the state, was caused principally by the unpatriotic, if not treasonable conduct of the Mahoney wing of the democratic party — a class of men who decried the war, discouraged enlistments, and by false representations as to the war loan, injured the credit of the state. Men were afraid to buy bonds pronounced by agitators in the state Assembly and by certain newspapers, as unconstitu- tional. Confidence in the state's ever paying these bonds was lost, and the secession sympathizers in the state were to blame for it, as they were for the blood of many an Iowa patriot. All through the autumn months, the organization of compa- nies and regiments for the war went on in Iowa, The Adjutant General's ofiice was the busiest office in the state. Its corres- pondence, to this day recorded and kept, was immense. Much of the labor was caused by the total inexperience and ignorance of regimental and field officers. The art of the business part of war was naturally not understood by many of the mere political hacks who had wired themselves into the confidence of the COLONEL W. H. MERRITT. APFAIRS IN IOWA. 73 Governor, and secured commissions they were not fitted to hold. Of the art of war proper — of commanding troops — of tactics — of maneuvers — of discipline — of even the subsistence of soldiers, these gentlemen too frequently knew little or nothing. The real patriotism, too, of the state, like its heroic courage, was of- tenest in the ranks of the common soldier. The privates had volunteered out of pure patriotism, not to get commissions and glory. Mistakes as to military appointments were made by the Governor constantly. It could not be otherwise. Usually the field officers of a regiment were appointed bj' him on the recom- mendation of some prominent man or men acquainted with the applicant, but who could give little further guarantee than that he wanted the office very badly. Many of these unfit officers, by bitter experience learned their trade of war, and at last won deserved promotion. A few were promoted as the war proceeded, spite of continued unfitness. Some were gradually dismissed the service, and very many were compelled to resign the com- missions they had only disgraced. The evils came of a bad system, in the first instance, of com- missioning men whose only prominence was iu local politics, — and in permitting companies and line officers to elect their fav- orites to commands just as they elected men at home to the Leg- islature or Congress, regardless of special fitness. The system was very democratic, but pernicious and unheard of in military selections. The Governor required a certificate as to the sober habits of all officers elected — but spite of this, drunkenness was not less common among officers than was incompetency. Still, as a rule, drunken officers also fell out of the service long before the war ended. The list of Iowa officers suspended, dismissed, re- signed, or forced to go home, is discreditable. Some of these dismissed officers were wrongly charged, or put out of the service for infractions of petty orders that in common sense were not applicable to volunteers. Many thus dismissed for trivial offenses or for unintended violation of any regulations, were restored to position; but when so, it was always a result of the most zealous urging and demanding on the 74 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. part of Gen. Baker and the Governor, whose constant struggle was to keep Iowa's honor bright in the war days. Numerous officers who came home with leaves of gold or sil- ver, or eagles on their shoulders, had it not been for the enor- mous zeal of Baker in their behalf, would have had "dismissed and unworthy" written against them on the record. Though absolute disloyalty could seldom be charged to an Iowa officer, the actions of some of them not infrequently led their men to conclude that the rights of traitors were occasion- ally held in higher esteem than the rights of private soldiers in the union ranks. Putting loyal soldiers on guard over rebel property was not an uncommon thing, nor the punishment of loyal volunteers for the least infringement of petty rules pro- tecting Rebels against the taking of their forage or food by union soldiers. Officers guilty of such friendliness for Rebels became extremely unpopular with their regiments, and lost repu- tation at home. As for Gov. Kirkwood, he would not bear that Iowa officers should so mistake their duties, and fiercer letters than the one sent to Col. * served to bring certain commanders to a realization of what the terms loyalty and pat- riotism really meant. The following letter to another Iowa officer of whom com- plaints had been made, hints at what many of the boys in blue were being used for in Missouri in 1861-2: " Our volunteer soldiers have not any very high regard for men of known secession antecedents or sympathies. They do and will make a distinction between men who are loyal and men who are *ToCoL. Sir: Your recent letter reminds me of a matter that justice to you re- quires I shall mention. Rumors have spread widely through this state, prejudicial to your loyalty. It is said freely that in Missouri, you prefer for associates, men of known secession proclivities— that at one or more places. yoQ have been refused admission to Union clubs for this reason; that upon one occasion when your regiment was on dress parade, a knot of persons hurrahed for JeflF Davis; that after the regiment was dismissed, you went up to this knot of men, asked an acquaintance among them how he liked vour regiment; that he replied, " very well, but not the fla^ it marched under"— that he would "mucb like to see it under the Co»>/"ef7«oefore the battle. Gen. Sherman sent word of this to Grant on Saturday, the 5th. and that he " believed the enemy to be in force five miles to his front, on the Corinth road, with a brigade of infantry, a regiment of cavalry and a field battery." That they really proposed battle could not be known, for the rebel army, strangely enough, halted out there a whole day. McDowell's brigade, however, took it for granted that the Rebels meant to Ji(fht. and stood to arms at 4 o'clock on Sun- day morning. As McDowell, the colonel of the regiment, was in command of the brigade, the lieutenant colonel under arrest, and the major, J. M. Corse, absent on Pope's stafi". the command of the Sixth Iowa devolved on Capt. Iseminger. With the rising sun. their ears were greeted with the roar of musketry and artillery far to the left of the brigade. They flew into line, but no enemy appeared in their front, where they were so ready to receive them. Nearer and nearer to them came the clash of battle at their left, a line of skirmishers was thrown out, but no enemy came on. Then, suddenly, as the battle sounds grew louder and nearer, they learned that our lines had given way. and the brigade was cut off from the main army. The men were quickly alx)ut-faced, and their chosen position abandoned. IOWA AT SHILOH. 139 A move to the rear and by the left flank, for a circuit of a mile or more, brought them face to face with the enemy, who had broken through Sherman's lines and were in force at an open field. Here, between nine and ten o'clock, they charged across the field, drove the enemy into the woods, fighting them and hold- ing them there for three long hours. Capt. Isemiuger, the com- mander, was soon killed, as were many men. The next to assume command, Capt. Williams, was severely wounded; but the regi- ment, almost without leaders, fought on. Once, McDowell rode up to the Sixth to give an order, but just as he would speak, his horse plunged from under him, and he fell to the ground, injured and almost senseless. The position of the line was becoming critical; the enemy were trying to flank it on the right, and the regiment was suffering terribly. Then Gen. Sherman rode up and ordered the men, now nearly surrounded, to save themselves as best they could. The firing was already in the rear as the men broke to the left, and saved the remainder of the regiment by grace of good running for half a mile. Safe to the rear, re-collected and organized a little, under Captains Waldeu and Saunders— the former officer took command and IM the regi- ment into the new line forming to support Col. Webster's artll- lery at the landing. Col. Webster rode down the line and requested the Sixth Iowa to move up closer to the support of the guns. Two regiments had refused the duty. " I pledge you my men at the guns will do their duty," said Webster, "and if the Rebels come on, I want you to meet them with the cold steel." On the Rebels did come, in serried lines, in front of one of the most death-dealing cannonades from artillery and gunboats of the war, but only to reel back, leaving the ground strewn with their dead. It was almost dark. " Now, boys," said Gen. Grant, slowly riding up behind the Sixth Iowa, "put a little more musketry down in there." As he said this, he pointed down into the ravine where the Rebels were last seen. A volley was sent as directed. " Now, that's all right," he continued. '• Now give them another one." And our commander rode away as quietly as he had come. His presence re-assured the line. 140 IOWA IN WAE TIMES. At the same moment, Nelson's division of Buell's army had crossed the river and passed to our front. We gave them a cheer, and behind us a band played " Hail Columbia." We were re-enforced, and darkness had come to help us. All that night the army lay in bivouac under a fearful rainstorm, with the fed- eral gunboats furnishing thunder. Monday morning late found the Sixth Iowa at the siege guns, but toward noon it was led to the front — first by Col. Oglesby, and then by Col. James A. Gar- field, afterward President of the United States. It passed the Shiloh Church, passed the cavalry, and once, with Garfield direct- ing it, chased a battery that had unlimbered at its front. That battery fired against the Sixth Iowa the last rebel shot at Shiloh. The regiment had fought in the battle with unsurpassed bravery. It had lost 183 men killed, wounded and missing, out of 650 engaged. Among the killed were Captains R. E. White and Daniel Isemiuger, while Capt. F. Brydolf and Lieutenants J. S. Halliday, John T. Grimes and John 11. Orman were wounded. No record of any regiment was more honorable at Shiloh. On another part of the battle field, to shift the scene, amid the fierce fighting of that Sunday, no troops were more con- spicuous than the Thirteenth Iowa, under Col. M. M. Crocker. His regiment, with the Eleventh Iowa, was in Oglesby's brigade of McClernand's division. As Oglesby was absent, Col. Abra- ham Hare, of the Iowa Eleventh, led the brigade until he was wounded at 4:30 o'clock, when Col. Crocker took command. Lt.-Col. William Hall led Hare's Eleventh regiment. The two regiments were separated some distance on the line, and did not fight together. The Thirteenth Iowa regiment entered the fight with 717 men, rank and file, and they were among the best drilled and disciplined men at Shiloh. The command sprang to the front when the alarm sounded that morning, but, owing to the giving away of other troops, it was flanked by the enemy early in the engagement, and compelled to fall back in disorder. A new line was formed, and fronting to the foe, the regiment, with two Illinois regiments, stood its ground under a heavy fire of cannon GENERAL M. M. CROCKER. IOWA AT SHILOH. 141 and musketry till noon. Again, by orders, the line fell back, and again turned and fought incessantly till half past four, hurl- ing back repeated charges of the enemy and inflicting on him severe loss. Now, Col. Hare, the leader of the brigade, fell wounded, and was carried from the field, and Col. Crocker took command. Once more, by orders, the line fell back, and once more, rallied by Crocker, the men maintained their position under constant and galling fire of the enemy's artillery, till darkness ended the conflict. The regiment had been under fire for ten consecutive hours, and had lost 162 men, nearly all killed or wounded. Among the killed were Lieutenants Erasmus D. Duncan and John H. Watson. Lt.-Col. Price was wounded, as was Maj. Shane, Capt. T. H. Miller and Lieutenants Elliott Shurtz and Geo. S. Hamp- ton, Jr. Lieut. Buren R. Sherman, afterward Governor of Iowa, was most conspicuous for his gallantry, and was very severely wounded. Col. Crocker made honorable mention of Lt.-Col. Price, of Maj. Shane, and of his adjutant, Lieut. Wilson, whom Col. Hare called in his report, " the bravest of the brave." Col. Crocker himself made on that day the foundation for his mili- tary fame, by extraordinary courage and cool skill manifested under trial and danger. While the Thirteenth Iowa was fighting so gallantly in the line, its sister regiment, the Eleventh Iowa, was engaged as bit- terly in the contest some distance to the right. There, with its right resting on a pond, and supporting Dresser's battery, the regiment fought heroically against overpowering numbers for over two hours, when it, too, was ordered to retire. In front of its own parade ground, the line about-faced and poured a hot fire into the enemy, causing them to fly, leaving one of their flags in the regiment's hands as a trophy of its heroism. Out of ammunition, later, the regiment again fell back, but, on the order of Gen. Grant, again advanced at a new front on the line. After skirmishing with the enemy, it moved to the support of the batteries that were to play such an important role in hurling back the last charge of the rebel host that Sun- day night. Twelve of the Iowa Eleventh worked some of the 142 IOWA IN" WAR TIMES. guns that evening, and with good effect. Lt.-Col. Hall's gallan- try in the battle was much praised. He had his horse shot under him and was slightly wounded. Maj. John C Abercrombie and Col. A. M. Hare were wounded. Lieut. John F. Compton was killed, and Capt. Charles Foster wounded. The total of killed and wounded numbered 193. This regiment and the fighting Thirteenth formed the nucleus, shortly after the battle, for Crocker's famous "' Iowa Brigade." On that bloody field the Eleventh Iowa fought a part of the time under the direct orders of Gren. Grant, and its awful losses show with what gallantry it advanced, and with what fierceness it resisted the many charges made on its line. There were no braver regiments at Shiloh than the Eleventh Iowa, and no Iowa regiment lost so many officers and men slain on the field. Two other Iowa regiments, the Fifteenth and Sixteenth, fought at Shiloh, and lost severely in officers -and men. Unlike the Second, Seventh, Fourteenth and others, these two commands had neither discipline nor experience. Rawer recruits never entered battle. Scarcely a man of the two regiments had ever loaded a musket, and yet they had scarcely set foot on the river bank until they were picked up and hurried into desperate battle. The Fifteenth regiment was led that day by Col. Hugh T. Ried. Its major was W. W. Belknap, later of military fame and secretary of war. The Sixteenth regiment was led by Col. Chambers, who had been an officer in the regular army, and the mustering officer for most of the Iowa troops. At nine o'clock that morning, the two regiments, unassigned as to brigade and division, were thrown across the path of the fugitives flying from the battle at the front. By 10:30 A. m. they had themselves been hurried to the right front in support of the weakening division of McClernand. " On our way to the front," says Chambers, " we met more numbers of men of all arms return- ing than belonged to the Fifteenth and Sixteenth regiments; but, for the credit of the state of Iowa, not one of her quota did Lmeety On reaching the battle front, the two regiments were unfortunately led into a death trap. In front of them was an open field surrounded by woods — these filled with victorious IOWA AT SHILOH. 143 rebel regiments and artillery. Once, the little line of raw soldiers was deliberately marched into this open field as if on parade, and in full range of the blasts of musketry and cannon that raked them with appalling severity. A new order took the line closer to the enemy and to the wood, where a hard conflict raged for nearly two hours. The loss was extremely severe. The Sixteenth had 131, and the Fifteenth 185, mostly killed and wounded. Officers as well as privates were rapidly falling, and at the critical moment, an Ohio regiment, supporting the right, gave way. The line was now being flanked, and there was nothing to do but retreat or surrender. In some disorder and confusion the line gave way, and was soon in the rear, mixed with other regiments that had been likewise driven back. Officers and men had done their best. Maj. Belknap of the Fifteenth had been wounded, but kept in the front, cool as a veteran. Col. Ried was wounded, and, like Belknap, unhorsed. Lieutenants Jesse B. Penneyraan and Robert W. Hamilton were killed. Adjt. Pomutz was wounded, as were Captains R, W. Hutchcraft, James G. Day and E. C. Blackmar, together with Lieutenants James S. Porter, P. H. Goode, S. W. King, John A. Danielson and J. M. Ried. Special mention was made by Col. Ried, in his report, of the gallant conduct of Lieutenants Studer, Craig, Hanks, Ried, Eldridge, Landstrum, Brown and Herbert; of Sergt.-Maj. Brown, and of Color Sergt. Rogers. The Sixteenth regiment had lost Capt. John Ruehl and Lieut. Frank N. Doyle, killed, and Capt. Michael Zettler mortally wounded. Captains Alpheus Palmer, E. M. Newcomb, E. S. Frasier, and Lieutenants J. H. Lucas, Geo. H. Holcomb, P. Mil- ler, Louis Bunde and Henry Meyer were wounded. Col. Cham- bers had also been wounded. Lt.-Col. Saunders rallied a part of the Sixteenth regiment after it fell back, and this, as well as fragments of the Fifteenth regiment, joined with the forces supporting the batteries in the evening. When the sun set on that Sabbath evening at Shiloh, our army, though defeated, was not hopeless. Had Gen. Lew Wal- 144 IOWA IlSr WAR TIMES. lace's division, which had been aimlessly moving about all day, come up with its 10,000 men, all might have been different when the sun went down. Gen. Buell's advanced division had been all day marching twelve miles, and all day heard the cannon that were slaughtering their comrades. They came in time to fire a few shots with the setting sun, and sleep on the battle field. " Night came, Buell came, Wallace came," says Grant, '' but except night, all too late to help at Shiloh." So little did Buell help that night, that only three men of his ichole command were hurt. Gen. Grant's army had all done honorable and hard fight- ing that day, on every part of the fierce field, and the regiments of Iowa fought with a valor that history will not forget. Their heroism at the Peach Orchard, and with Tuttle's and Geddes's men, doubtless saved the army from disaster. The Rebels claimed a victory, but their only gain was the privilege of sleep- ing one night in the tents of the union soldiers. That Sunday night, in the awful storm and darkness that fell on the field. Grant resolved to attack the enemy at daylight. Buell's fresh army was pushed to the front, and fought glori- ously, as did many of the tired regiments of Grant's command, till the Rebels, leaving their dead and many of their wounded, fled from the field in dismay. Shiloh was won. Buell, with his fresh troops, might have pursued the demoral- ized Rebels and destroyed them. 'He did nothing of the kind, though Grant suggested it. Buell had done for a rival com- mander all he cared to do. The night before, when the conflict ceased, he had not even gone to see Grant, or asked him for advice or orders. "In fact," he says, "I did not regard Gen. Grant as my commander," and this, in spite of the fact that Gen. Halleck had ordered Grant to take command in case of a battle. The ease with which the rebel army might have been pursued and destroyed is a lamentable history. " Our condition is horri- ble^'' writes Gen, Bragg to the commander-in-chief the next day, " our troops utterly disorganized and demoralized^ " It is," he IOWA AT SHILOH. 145 continues in his letter to Beauregard, " most lamentable to see the state of affairs. The whole road presents the scene of a rout, and no mortal could restrain it.''' What a situation ! And Buell, with a fresh army, lies down to rest in his quiet camp ! No wonder the War of the Rebellion was prolonged. No wonder that at last an indignant people dragged such soldiers from their high commands. The losses on both sides at Shiloh, on the first day's battle, amounted to about 20,000 men. The Union array lost 10,944. Of these 2,381, or nearly one-fourth of the whole battle, came from Iowa.* It is an honorable record. In the battle of the 7th, the Iowa troops took no important part, being mostly in reserve, though several regiments sup- ported batteries or skirmished at the front — the Sixth, as already mentioned, receiving the last rebel shots on the field of Shiloh.f The total union losses of both days at Shiloh, according to Gen. Grant, were 13,047. J *Not less than five Iowa men led brigades at Shiloh. They were Tuttle, McDowell, Hare, Williams and Lauman. Lauman led with gallantry a brigade of Kentucky and Indiana troops. The losses show that some of the very hardest fighting was done by their commands. fWhat the rebel commanders thought of the fighting at the *' Hornets' Nest" may be gleaned from their reports. Gen. Gibson, speaking of the assaults by his own brigade, says: "Four times the position was charged, and four times the assault proved unavailing." "Our brigade,"' says the rebel Col. Pugh, " repeatedly led to the charge, each time bravely breasting a storm of musketry and canister, were com- pelled to retire." Col. Fagan called his command at the "Hornets' Nest'' "A Forlorn Hope." " We three times braved a perfect rain of bullets, shot and shell — endured a murderous fire until endurance ceased to be a virtue." * * * "Three different times did we go into that valley of death, and as often were forced bank." " That all was done that could possibly be done, the heaps of killed and wounded left there, give ample evidence." Jthe hornets' nest. The Rebels designated a portion of that fierce field the " Hornets' Nest." The exact locality styled so, may never be definitely known. Gen. Tuttle believed that the line of his brigade was the Hornets' Nest, and he was so informed by a rebel officer who had been in some of the charges. Col. Shaw, an earnest student of the battle field, and an ofiBcer of Tuttle's com- mand, asserts that the right of Tuttle's brigade was not at the Hornets' Nest, at all, but that the " Nest " included the line of the Twelfth and Four- teenth Iowa, at left of brigade, and hne of Eighth Iowa, of Prentiss's divis- ion. The officers of Col. Pugh's brigade (including the Third Iowa) of Hurlburt's division, fighting fiercely farther to the left than Tuttle, are I. W. T.— 10 146 IOWA IN WAE TIMES. NEW MADRID AND ISLAND NO. 10. Early in the spring of 1862, and just about the time that the union army started up the Tennessee river to what proved to be the battle ground of Shiloh, another army, under Maj.-Gen. John Pope, was sent down to operate against New Madrid and Island No. 10. in the Mississippi river. Pope, with the aid of a fleet of gunboats, was able to achieve a brilliant victory. When Grant's capture of Fort Donelson positive their position was the dreaded " Hornets' Nest." Col. Bell, at that time a Captain of tbe Eighth Iowa, and others with him, locate the " Nest " at the point where the Eighth. Twelfth and Fourteenth Iowa, and Twenty- third Missoari, Eighteenth Wisconsin and Fifty-eighth Illinois, made Iheir last terrible struggle and were captured. This was near the Peach Orchard. Col. Beaham, oae of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston's aides de camp, places the " Hornets' Nest" at the point where W. H. L. Wallace and Prentiss made their last stand, and near where the one was killed and the other captured. If union losses were to indicate the locality, the order would be as fol- lows: Right of Tuttle's brigade (Second and Seventh Iowa), 106. Shaw's position (line of Eighth, Twelfth and Fourteenth Iowa), 329. Pugh's position (line of Third Iowa, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second and Forty-first Illinois), 644. Bell's position : (point of capture of Eighth, Twelfth, Fourteenth Iowa, Twenty-third Missouri, Eighteenth Wisconsin and Fifty-eighth Illinois), 588. The number of wouiided who were captured of the last three regiments is not known. These would increase the losses- considerably. It is possible that the " Hornets' Nest," so feared by the Rebels, included the whole line from the Peach Orchard up to and including the leltof Tuttle's brigade. The son of Albert Sidney Johnston, the rebel commander at Shiloh, refers to the Hornets' Nest as at the federal left center — the position held by the divisions of W. H. L. Wallace, Hurlbutand Prentiss. This very nearly cor- responds witii the line I have suggested above. It was all hot enough, according to rebel reports, and locate it where we will on that line, Iowa soldiers were in it. The losses in the Iowa regiments engaged at Shiloh, were as follows : KEGIMENT. Second Third Sixth.... Seventh. . . Eighth . . . Eleventh. . Twelfth... Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth . Sixteenth . r3 1/ O) rs '« ■TD -W^rS g t» P -H fi^ 5 S ^^ O iS 3 a-TS M ^ o o 4 8 60 68 23 134 157 80 52 94 146 37 10 17 27 6 34 112 146 370 33 160 193 1 24 103 127 320 20 139 159 3 9 38 47 226 21 156 177 8 17 101 118 13 Total. 72 187 183 33 516 194 447 162 273 185 131 IOWA AT SHILOH. 147 made the evacuation of Columbus a necessity, the Rebels resolved to contest the possession of the Mississippi river at the stray position of Island No. 10, sixty miles below. The point was splendidly fortified and defended by 9,000 men, with one hundred and fifty pieces of heavy artillery. New Madrid, a few miles below^, was a part of the defensive chain, and was itself strongly fortified and supported by a number of rebel gunboats. Gen. Pope determined to march his army against New Madrid, while the fleet of gunboats should pound away at Island No. 10. Some twenty-six thousand troops were sent to Pope's rendezvous at Cairo, and, by March the 1st, they were transported to the village of Commerce, thirty miles above Cairo. The plan was to march through the great Mingo Swamp and attack New Madrid from the rear. The troops were re-organized at Com- merce and formed what was afterwards known as the famous Army of the Mississippi. Iowa sent two regiments of infantry, a regiment of cavalry and a battery, with this army of Pope's: the Fifth and Tenth infantry. Second cavalry and Sands's bat- tery. In all the operations that followed for the reduction of New Madrid, they bore an honorable part. Under considerable hardships from bad weather, deficient roads, and floods of water, the passage of the Mingo swamp was made, and the siege of New Madrid begun. In that siege the two Iowa infantry regi- ments were repeatedly under a heavy fire of artillery. This was especially true of a part of the Fifth regiment. The country all about New Madrid was perfectly level, and as the water was high in the river the rebel gunboats had a full sweep of the union position. Skirmishing, reconnoissances, artil- lery duels and all the operations of a siege were carried on daily with the greatest enthusiasm. The Iowa troops were compli- mented by Gen. Pope for their excellent bearing under fire, as were the gallant Col. Worthington and Maj. Robertson, of the Fifth, and Col. Perczel of the Tenth. On the dark and stormy night of March the 13th, at midnight, the troops were led into the advanced trenches, with a view to assault at daylight. Worthington led a brigade. There was a terrific thunderstorm, 148 IOWA IN WAB TIMES. and the darkness, said Gen. Hamilton, " was palpable." The water in the trenches was knee deep, but the men bore the dis- comfort without a murmur. At last, daylight came, but instead of battle, a flag of truce. Expecting the assault, the enemy had fled in the darkness over the river and away. Without waiting to count the enormous war stores captured, the scores of heavy cannon, and all the belongings of an army. Pope, too, crossed the river, and pursued. Near Tiptonville, the whole force, including the troops that had run away from Island No. 10 at the same time, was captured. To that point at least, the great river was free. The taking of three generals, with 273 oflScers, nearly 7,000 men, and 158 cannon, made a victory of immense consequence at that early period of the war. On the banners of all the army, including the Fifth and Tenth Iowa, were inscribed New Madrid and Island No. 10. The victory, great as it was, had been achieved with trifling loss. Gen. Pope's casualties were only half a hundred men; the fact made the victory more complete. The Iowa regiments lost but half a dozen, but the experience of the siege, and the glory of the victory were incentives to their valor on later and bloodier fields. These two regiments formed next a part of Pope's re-enforc- ing troops, sent by transports from New Madrid to the army under Gen. Grant, on the battle ground of Shiloh. The great battle was over — the siege of Corinth had begun, and the regi- ments that had found war but a play-spell at New Madrid, were that summer to wade in their comrades' blood at the fierce battle of luka. OHAPTEK XIII. IOWA AT THE BATTLE OF lUKA. Sept. 19, 1862. In the month of September, 1862, the rebel army under Gen. Bragg, and the union army under Gen. Buell, were having a race northward for the Ohio river. Lee had whipped Pope in Virginia, and now the rebel army, under Price and Van Dorn, hoped to destroy Gen. Grant at or near Corinth, or else flank him and march to the rear of Buell on his race with Bragg. The advantage of early victories to the Union had about been lost by the dispersion, by Gen. Halleck, of our great western army after the siege of Corinth. An army of one hundred and seventy-three thousand well-equipped soldiers, capable in a body of marching anywhere in Rebeldom, was scattered to the four points of the compass. Gen. Halleck went to Washington as commander-in-chief, and left Gen. Grant with less than forty thousand men to defend western Tennessee, northern Mississippi, two hundred miles of railroad, and the rear of Buell's army. Gen. Grant's line thus had to reach from Florence, on the Ten- nessee, to Memphis, on the Mississippi. His army fronted to the southwest, with Sherman holding his extreme right at Mem- phis, and Rosecrans his left near Corinth and the Tennessee. It was a front line, a hundred and fifty miles long to guard, besides a supply line to keep open clear north to Cairo. In front of Grant's lines, at Tupelo and Holly Springs, and not fifty miles away, lay the rebel armies of Price and Van Dorn, prepared to pounce upon detached portions of Grant's ri49) 150 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. army and destroy them, or flaok him and get north. It was a gloomy period for the country. Many loyal people, in the time before that battle of September, 1862, believed the Union to be lost. Only the faith of the patient President remained supreme. He saw God's hand helping where the courage of men faltered. To have crushed Grant's lines at that time would have brought about a disgraceful ending of the war. The rebel leaders saw their opportunity, and Price and Van Dorn moved out their columns for the attack. Price moved up to Grant's left flank at luka, hoping to crush him there, and then follow him and Buell north, or else hurry back to Rienzi, join Van Dorn's column there, and make a combined attack on Corinth. Documents show that Price was not quite determined as to what he should do on September 13th, the day he drove the little union garrison out of luka. Grant and Rosecrans had been watching him closer than he knew, and his every movement was reported immediately by energetic union scouts. In marching into luka with a river east of him, and union columns west and north of him, he did not realize the sort of a net he was entering. In fact. Gen. Price did not even know of the position of the union forces. Rosecrans and Grant saw the position Price was in, and marched with a view to capturing his army. Some unexpected delay of Rosecrans's division, and an unlucky wind that prevented Grant hearing the signal guns of Rose- crans, interfered with a well laid plan. Price ought to have been captured. Grant, whose headquarters were at Jackson, pushed a column of 8,000 men under Ord out in front of the little village of Burnsville, seven miles northwest of luka, with orders to attack Price the moment he should hear the guns of Rose- crans, who was marching from Jacinto to attack the Rebels from the west and south. Grant accompanied Ord's column in person, making his headquarters at Burnsville. Ord was in posi- tion on the 18th, between Burnsville and luka, ready to attack at daybreak of the 19th. Unexpectedly on that day a courier GENERAL C. L. MATTHIES. IOWA AT THE BATTLE OF lUKA. 151 from Rosecrans brought news of some delay occurring to one of his divisions. He could not be up to attack on the west before 2 p. M. of the morrow. So Grant, who was near Ord's column, ordered his troops to bivouac and wait. From early daylight of the 19th, Rosecrans's forces marched for luka, and at two in the afternoon suddenly ran into the enemy's pickets a few miles out of town. The Fifth Iowa infantry was in advance. In five minutes, skirmish lines were formed, and the men of Iowa were forcing back the rebel veterans of Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. Five Iowa regi- ments, the Fifth, Tenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth infantry, and Second cavalry, took part in the battle that raged till dark of that afternoon. It was one of the battles that made Iowa famous in the annals of the war. Rosecrans's force consisted of Hamilton's and Stanley's divis- ions, with some cavalry of the Second Iowa, Third Michigan and Seventh Kansas. Hamilton was in the front at noon, and remained in the front through the battle. Unfortunately, a dense wood, with swamps, and without a road of any kind, lay between the forces of Rosecrans and Grant, making any com- munication whatever impossible, except by a circuitous route of some twenty miles, ridden by couriers. In fact, a column would have had to march back nearly to Jacinto, to reach Grant from Rosecrans, or Rosecrans from Grant. This was one of the fatal- ities of the position, not made use of, either, by the rebel com- mander. His army lay in front of Ord's column, north of the town. Had he been aware of the real situation, he might have overwhelmed Ord, and by a quick move hurried south of the town, and destroyed Rosecrans. He had double the troops of either of them. Learning of Rosecrans's approach up the Bay Springs road, he simply divided his force in front of Ord, and sent half of it to attack the new enemy. Then was Ord's chance, alike unseen by him or Grant. Of course. Grant, with Ord, was waiting to hear the sound of Rosecrans's cannon. That sound never reached him. An unlucky wind kept him and Ord and his 152 IOWA IN WAB, TIMES. whole army resting in complete ignorance of a severe battle raging within a dozen miles of them— a battle in which their comrades were being slaughtered for want of help so near — a battle where was wasted one of the opportunities of the war. Slowly the rebel skirmish line in front of Rosecrans was driven back and back that afternoon. The first Federal killed was a brilliant young officer of Hamilton's staff. The deployed line of the Fifth Iowa kept on its march through the woods for miles, still skirmishing. Here and there a wounded man fell to the rear, and here and there lay the body of some dead Rebel, whose blood added crimson to the beautiful autumn leaves. The woods and the day seemed too beautiful for war. By half past four o'clock our troops, marching in column, close behind the advancing skirmishers, came to a little country church at the forks of the road, and here halted a little as if to listen, and for breath. We were only two miles from luka. Rosecrans rode up to the front, put his hand to his ear and listened, hoping for the sound of battle to the north of town. No signs of Ord were noticeable. Again our little line moved quietly forward, and in a few minutes we were greeted with a blast of musketry. Instantly the Fifth Iowa was thrown across the road in line of battle, and a battery, the Eleventh Ohio, was placed in position on its left. After all, the enemy, not we, were making the attack. In five minutes, one of his batteries was hurling grape and canister through the trees above our heads. "They are flanking you on the right," cried an excited officer, running back from the skirmish line to Col. Matthies of the Fifth. " Veil, I sees about dat," said our good and brave old German colonel, " 1 sees." A glance over the ground, and our regi- ment is wheeled and faced nearly to the north. To the left of the Ohio battery, which unlimbered at the roadside by us, and which we proposed protecting, stood in line the Forty-eighth Indiana infantry, and to the left of it, the Fourth Minnesota. On the right of all was our own Fifth Iowa. This was our line of battle. Not one of us had ever been in real conflict before. We fixed our sword-bayonets on our good Whitney rifles, and IOWA AT THE BATTLE OF lUKA. 163 knelt down in line to await the coming foe. The woods and the hill sloping down from our front almost hid us from view. Shortly, we knew the moment of fierce trial was at hand, for we heard the lines of the enemy advancing toward us. We heard the commands of their officers, "Steady, boys, steady! Back in the center; steady; slow!" Those were awful moments, waiting that advance. Nearer they came; we hear their very tramp — and then, there rings out on the air, so that even they hear it, the voice of our own commander, "Attention, battalion!" We spring to our feet and grasp our rifles. " Ready, aim, fire!" and a sheet of deadly flame flashes to the faces of the foe, not fifty steps away. Instantly they reply, and the battle is begun. From left to right, and right to left, goes the crash of musketry along our lines. In a minute, every man is conducting war on his own method, by loading and firing as fast as he can. No or- ders can be heard — none are given. It is simply fire and load, load and fire, and never yield your ground. We have in mind the men of Wilson's Creek. We'll be as brave as they. We think of Iowa. She shall not be dishon- ored; rather every man in luka die than that. What if we are outnumbered? It is death to them to hurry on these ^words of ours. These Whitney rifles carry the messages of fate to all in front. The Rebels find that out— the Texans, the Louisianians, the Mississippians, veterans of bloody fields, find that out, and falter in the blast— falter, but only to catch new courage, and charge again. Our own men are falling all about us. Our mess-mates, our bunk-mates of the morning, dead and torn and bleeding, drop un- heeded beside us. There is no time for heeding. Their blood crimsons the grass and the leaves as they lie there, but their groans are unheard in the crash of the guns. Poor Shelly of Jasper fell first, and then another and another, till their falling is not noticed. We only close up, touch elbows, and with grim faces fire and fire until we too shall drop in the leaves and blood of that afternoon. There is no one to carry us to the rear. Burning heads and crushed bones must only wait. No man can be spared for helping wounded now. Even the wounded who can stand up at all, stay on the line and tear cai-tridges for their 154 IOWA LN WAJa TIMES, firing comrades. Every man seems to feel that the fate of the battle and the honor of Iowa is in his single hands, and spite of repeated assaults and terrific charges, no man of the Fifth Iowa leaves that burning line, or yields one foot of ground. " Don't yield that ground ! Keep your position at every haz- ard!" cries a staff officer from Rosecrans to our good colonel. ''Dat's just vot I calculate to do," is the answer, and the firing and the charging and the deafening roar of the battle go on for an hour and a half. And what an hour and a half! with the lines thinning, the men falling, the cannon crashing! /The Blue and the Grray never, in all the bloody war, had a contest more bitter, where lines of musketry stood up within fifty yards of each other and poured a constant flame of battle in each other's faces. Charge is met by counter-charge. We hear a yell. They are coming on us, on the run ! "Charge, double-quick, charge !" cries our colonel. Down go our bayonets — forward, with a cheer, and we drive the Rebels in retreat. It is only for a moment. Our battery at our side is pouring into them double shots of canister. In a slight depression, hidden at the front, the rebel ranks re- form, and in double lines charge the battery. Still it vomits its bags of shot and canister into the coming line. On they come, spite of the death-dealing missiles. Every horse and almost ev- ery man at the battery is shot down, as the enemy swarms over the guns, and for a moment captures them. A sudden move of four companies of the Twenty-sixth Mis- souri, to the left of the Fifth Iowa, and right behind the cap- tured battery, drives the Rebels from the guns. Their charge, except to silence the guns, has been in vain. They have man- aged to carry back but a single gun with them. The Twenty-sixth Missouri has saved most of the battery, disabled though it is, and prevented the Rebels from cutting our line in two and getting in behind the Fifth. While this charging and storming is going on at the right, a terrific assault is being made on the left of the union battery. The assault, a terrible one, is checked for a moment under an awful fire from the Sixteenth Iowa and Forty-eighth Indiana; IOWA AT THE BATTLE OF lUKA. 155 but re-enforced, the Rebels storm on, and partially succeed. For a short distance the Forty-eighth Indiana and its support, the Sixteenth Iowa, fall back, but still fight on. Col. Chambers of the Sixteenth is badly wounded, and some 70 of the regiment are killed, Avounded and missing. " In the storm of grape, canister and musketry, the Sixteenth Iowa stood like a rock," said Rosecrans in his report. Adjt. Lawrence, a gallant officer, was killed. Capt. Palmer and Lieutenants Alcorn, Williams and Lucas, were all wounded. Capt. Smith of Company A, and Capt. Fraser of Company B, were both mentioned for special gallantry. The colonel, after his severe wound, was captured, but afterward left on the battle field. The Fourth Minnesota has also been overwhelmed and falls back a little, but from its new position fights on bravely. The situation for the regiments farthest at the front, is a des- perate one. In the words of the brigade commander, '" There was no alternative but for the battery, the Fifth Iowa, and the four companies of the Twenty-sixth Missouri, to fight the battle out; and nobly did they do it." l*^ot a battery in all the war held out better than did the Eleventh Ohio under Lieut. Sears at luka. Spite of the re-enforcements to the enemy, and spite of re- newed charges, the Fifth Iowa preserves every inch of its battle line. A full regiment of Alabamians is brought fresh on the field to charge the position of the Fifth, but is hurled back as the others have been. A hand to hand encounter, one of the few of the war, ensues. A big, red-shirted Alabamian breaks through our ranks, attempts to seize the colors of the Fifth, and is bayoneted. At the range of but a few feet, the lines fire vol- leys in each other's faces. Then the Alabamians fall back and continue the fire from the little ridge in front. So the regiment fought until the sun went down and dark- ness settled on the battle field, when, with ammunition boxes empty, and half its numbers killed or wounded, it was replaced by the Eleventh Missouri, which had now come up to its sup- port, and which fought till after dark with the greatest valor, on the ground the Fifth had stood on. 156 IOWA IS" "WAR TIMES. Meanwhile, across the road, and on the left of our line, the Rebels are also charging. But the Tenth Iowa infantry and the Twelfth Wisconsin battery happen to be posted at right angles to, and a little in advance of our line, and as two Missis- sippi regiments charge on the Fourth Minnesota, they receive a raking flank fire from the Tenth Iowa and the battery, that stretches 40 of them on the field in almost as many seconds. Gen. Little, their commander, has just been killed, and the Mis- sissippians leave the field in disorder. Night has closed the bat- tle, and Price's army prepares to bury its dead and retreat before daylight of the morrow. In a few days he will join Van Dorn. and the two march on Corinth, to meet further disaster. All that night the union surgeons, among whom was Surgeon F. Lloyd, of Iowa City, later medical director on McPherson's staff, with their assistants, carrying candles, might have been seen attending to the wounded and the dying. The field hos- pital and the yards about were filled with these, while many still lay in their agony where they fell in the afternoon. The sor- row of the tragedy was upon the scene. " In the hush of that night," writes a participant, " as the prayers of mothers, brothers, sisters and fathers were going up to Heaven from far-away homes, for the dear ones who had gone to battle for their country, the spirits of these brave ones for whom they prayed, mingling with their ascending prayers, took their flight from friends and earthly scenes forever. The smoke of the battle was the smoke of the evening sacrifice ascending from the altar of our country, upon which our dearest friends were the willing victims." The burden of the fight had been borne mostly by one small brigade of 2,800 men. The union loss was 144 killed, 598 wounded, and 40 missing, probably dead. The Fifth Iowa lost the most of any regiment engaged. Ttco hundred and seventeen of the 482 engaged were killed or wounded, among them 15 officers. This was an appalling loss. Lieutenants Shawl and Holcomb were both kiUed, while Captains Albaugh and Brown, with Lieutenants Patterson, Casad, Matter, Ellis, Page, IOWA AT THE BATTLE OF IIJKA. 157 Jarvis, Lewis, Pangborn, Sample, Huber and Colton were wounded; Mateer, mortally. The rebel loss fell little less than 1,700 in killed, wounded and missing. Two hundred and sixty-five of his dead were left in the Union hands, while 120 men died in luka after his retreat. Three hundred and seventy-one of. his wounded were also left in luka. Three hundred and sixty-one prisoners were taken from him, and Price states in his report that " many of the wounded were safely brought away." They had fought in the battle in double line, thus accounting for many dead or wounded. In one spot, covered by a tarpaulin, we found 162 rebel corpses laid in a row for burial; in another spot, 19. Our own dead were from among the best in any land — men of intelligence and character, rich and poor, who had left happy homes to die in defense of principle and country. Many towns and counties were put in mourning by the dreadful list of killed. Of the 782 union men lost in battle, 693 were of Hamilton's division— 608 of these in Sanborn's single brigade. Of these, 217 fell in the Fifth Iowa. There were few battles where so many fell in proportion to the number engaged. Many of the veteran Rebels have since pronounced luka the hardest fight they were in during the war. " It was the hardest fought battle I have ever witnessed," wrote Gen. Price, and the rebel general Maury, pronounced it " one of the fiercest and bloodiest combats of the war." " The battle was fought along the road," writes Gen. Hamilton, " by the Fifth Iowa, the Twenty-Sixth Missouri, and the Eleventh Missouri and the battery, with a bravery that scarcely permits parallel." That night, the fame and the glory of the Fifth Iowa were made, and its survivors of luka kept the record untarnished in later battles of the war. Note— Rosecraus won a star for Iiika, but Gen. Grant reported officially that a part of Hamilton's division, including the Iowa regiments, did all the fighting, directed wholly by Hamilton in person. " I commend Hamilton to the president," wrote Gen. Grant. Rosecrans had twenty regiments and thirty cannon near the field, and yet allowed three or four regiments to do 158 ' IOWA IN WAE TIMES. all the fighting, and left open the only single road by which Price could escape. Stars were easily earned in those days. Hamilton's men won a victory that day that afterward made the capture of Vicksburg a possibility. It left Grant's hands free to act in Mississippi, and Iowa valor on that luka field saved a national disgrace. The awful list of dead and wounded showed that Iowa men held the post of danger and of honor. Owing to its position, as well as its heroic fighting, the Ffth Iowa bore off the greatest meed of honor from luka, but the other Iowa regiments engaged had shortly the oppor- tunity to win as great honor on other bloody fields. CHAPTER XIV. THE BATTLE OF CORINTH AND THE HATCHIE. Oct. 3 and 4, 1862. At a little after midnight of OctobeK 2d, 1862, there was great stir at the union camp in Corinth. At that still hour of the night, a staff officer was noticed going from brigade to brigade, ordering the officers to have their men "fall in." The roll was scarcely over before it was whispered about that a rebel army 40,000 strong was marching on the place, and that daylight would find the forces in line of battle. [n truth, Gren. Van Dorn's whole army was at that very moment rising from its bivouac, only ten miles away, to come and assault the position. Tents were struck in the anion camp, haversacks and cartridge boxes speedily filled, and wagons were loaded and packed, with the sick of the regiments appointed as guards. The surgeons looked into their medicine chests again; the hos- pital stewards prepared extra supplies of bandages, and the drummers and fifers, laying their drums and their fifes aside, were told off as litter bearers. Shortly, in the magnificent moon- light of that October night, regiments, and brigades and divis- ions were marching from their camps at the south of the town, to new positions, out past the village to the north, the northeast, and the west. Out there in the woods, three miles from the town stretched the long line of earth defenses built by Gren. Beaure- gard, when the Rebels held Corinth after the battle of Shiloh. Along these lines Gen. Rosecrans now placed his army of 23,000 men. Behind them, and close to the town, the clay on them still fresh, frowned the redoubts and breastworks, built as an inner defense by the soldiers of Rosecrans. (159) 160 -■ IOWA IN- WAR TIMES. Marching up and down there in the moonlight were not less than thirteen regiments of soldiers from Iowa. They formed a strong part of the army that was to defend Corinth against one of the most desperate assaults ever made on the American con- tinent. Gen. Rosecrans scarcely expected to hold the long line of out- side earthworks against the rebel army. They were built on too extensive a scale, Beauregard having intended them for an army of a hundred thousand men. They would answer Rosecrans as foils, however, and behind them and masked by them, he could prepare for the real defense. The Columbus railroad entered these fortifications from the north, and the Memphis railroad came in from the west, though inclining south near Corinth. The two roads formed a great triangle out there in the woods, and in this triangle the main part of the rebel army was to concentrate for the battle. Only in the night of October the 2d, did Rosecrans learn for a certainty that the rebel army was marching on Corinth. Scouts and reconnoitering parties informed him two days before, of large masses of troops in motion. They were coming from Rip- ley north; but whether to attack Corinth, or to flank the place by crossing the Memphis railroad west of it, and march on Boli- var, held by a union garrison, could not be known. Van Dorn kept his movements well masked. Price's army, after its defeat at luka, united with Van Dorn at Ripley, thirty miles south of Corinth, and on the 29th of Sep- tember broke camp and marched north. " No army," says Van Dorn, " ever marched to battle with prouder steps, more hopeful countenances, nor with more courage than marched the army of West Tennessee out of Ripley on the morning of September 29th, on its way to Corinth." The greatest importance was attached to the attempt on Corinth by the Rebels. Its capture would re- deem West Tennessee from the Federals. It must be taken at whatever sacrifice. "The attack on Corinth," says Van Dorn, " was a military necessity.'^ Earl Van Dorn marched his army quickly and straight north, till he struck the Memphis railroad at Pocahontas, twenty miles BATTLE OF CORINTH AND THE HATCHIE. 161 west and north of Corinth — then he suddenly turned east, and marched for Corinth itself. The night of October 2d, his army slept at the village of Chewalla, ten miles away, and long before daylight of the 3d, he was approaching the outer works at Cor- inth. Gen. Sterling Price, whom the Iowa soldiers had defeated at Wilson's Creek, and again at luka, commanded Van Dorn's left wing, while Van Dorn, leading the right, commanded the whole. Gren. Rosecrans's troops were little more than in position, when stiff fighting had commenced by detachments under Col. Oliver and Gen. McArthur, far out on the left and toward Che- walla. Nine o'clock found Rosecrans's army lying in a semi- circle, reaching from the west around north and northeast of the town, with C. S. Hamilton's division on the right across the Purdy road, Davies's division in the center, McKean's division on the left and Stanley's division back in reserve. All of these divisions except Stanley's included Iowa troops, and even that had with it the Second Iowa battery of light ar- tillery. The Fifth Iowa infantry was in Buford's brigade of Hamilton's division. The Tenth and Seventeenth were in Sul- livan's brigade of the same division. The Second and Seventh Iowa and the " Union brigade"* were in Hackleman's brigade of Davies's division, — while Crocker's whole brigade, comprising the Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa regiments was in McKean's division on the left. The Second Iowa cav- alry was also on the ground, under Maj. Coon and Col. Hatch, while the Third Iowa infantry, under Hurlbut at the Hatchie, gallantly fought the enemy later on his retreat. There were some fifty regiments or parts of regiments in the battle of Cor- inth. Of these, thirteen and a battery, or nearly one-third, were from Iowa. Ten o'clock found heavy fighting going on in front of the di- vision of Davies, near the Columbia railroad, where the Second and Seventh Iowa and the " Union brigade" were hotly contest- *The detachment known as the" Union brigade" consisted of such frag- ments of the Eighth, Twelfth and Fourteenth Iowa, and the Fifty-eighth Illi- nois regiments, as had not been captured at Shiloh. They fought well at Corinth, and lost heavily considering the number engaged. I. W. T.-ll 162 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. ing the Held. Just at their right, were fighting the Tenth and Seventeenth Iowa in Hamilton's division. It was a hard battle day. The rays of an almost tropical sun poured an intense heat straight down on the unprotected heads of the soldiers. Scarcely a breath of air moved. The thermom- eter registered 108 degrees in the shade. Water was scarce, and almost too hot to drink from the tin canteens. Added to all, were the heat and the smoke of tons and tons of burning powder, the awful explosions of massed artillery, the heated crash of m'usketry, men and horses crushed and bleeding and dying — mangled human beings begging for a drop of water, and no one to hear. But that was war, and this was a battle! At the hour mentioned, the whole rebel army was trying to drive Rosecrans's division out of the advanced breastworks. Many of the Rebels charging on these works knew them perfectly. They had helped to build them — now, they would take them. The Seventh Iowa had been out feeling for the enemy in the swamp beyond the breastworks in front of Sullivan's brigade, and it had scarcely gotten back in line when solid columns of Rebels came charging out of the woods and on to the breast- works. The principal storm of the moment was against Oglesby's brigade at Hackleman's left. The double-shotted discharges of grape and canister from the artillery and the blasts of union musketry never checked the charging columns. On they came, and with a yell were inside the works in front of Oglesby. His brigade gave way. Sullivan's line, with the Iowa men, was in- stantly flanked, and Davies's whole division fell back half a mile. A new line of battle was scarcely formed when again it was flanked, and again the division retired to a point known as the "' White House." Here the Second and Seventh Iowa, with the Union brigade, formed the center and left of Sullivan's brigade. In this position the men lay down, waiting another onslaught of the enemy. At two and a half o'clock the shock came. In front of the White House was an open field, and into this, in grand style, in columns of divisions, the Rebels moved in solid mass. Fairly BATTLE OF CORIiTTH AND THE HATCHIE. 163 in the field, and in the face of a deadly fire of artillery, the rebel columns deployed in line and dashed swiftly forward into full range of the union musketry. At this instant the federal line rose, and, as one man, poured a deadly blast into their faces. The Rebels reeled and fled, but only to renew courage and advance again. Again they reeled and were followed and forced back into the woods at the point of the* bayonet. In this charge of our men fell Col. Baker, gloriously leading the Second Iowa. " I die content," he cried: " I have seen my regiment victoriously charging the enemy." What soldier would not die as Baker died! But the field was not won. Re-enforced with fresh troops, the Rebels returned instantly to the conflict. The Second and the Seventh Iowa, with their comrades of Illinois in the same brigade, fought fiercely, and lost many officers and men. The Union brigade, on the left, gave way— so, too, did Mower's brigade just as it was brought up to the rescue. In trying to rally them, the gallant Gen. Oglesby was shot down with an almost mortal wound— and Hackleman, the brave and loved commander of the brigade, laid down his life. " I am dying for my country," were his last words on the battlefield. "If we are victorious, send my remains home; if not, bury me on the field." Heroic heart ! The command of the brigade immediately fell to Gen. Sweeny. Shortly the order came to fall back, and the division retired at five in the evening to a position at the right of " Fort Robinett/' one of the redoubts to become famous on the morrow. Many brave officers and men of Iowa, in the division of Davies, had fallen during the day, but Corinth was still ours. The Tenth and the Seventeenth Iowa in Hamilton's division just to the right, but fronting the other way, had been only lis- teners during the day to this combat of their comrades, under Davies. Toward evening, however, when Davies was driven back so far, came Hamilton's opportunity. The Rebels were now past his left, and his whole division commenced a grand wheel on its center fronting the line west instead of east and directly on to the left flank of the rebel columns. Thick brush 164 IOWA IN WAB TIMES. and timber made the movement difficult and hazardous. Ham- ilton's right brigade, under Buford, shot off at a tangent, got out of place, too far to the right, and the movement nearly failed. Successful, it would have resulted in the destruction of the rebel left wing and ended the battle in an hour. Even as it was, it checked the rebel pursuit to the town, and shortly brought the battle to a close for the day. Hamilton's left brigade, in the move, threw forward the Seventeenth and Tenth Iowa and attacked the Rebels, doing some harm and capturing a lot of prisoners; but lacking support from their right, they fell back and bivouacked in the darkness. At the very hour that day that the Rebels attacked Davies so hotly in the center, they marched against McKean's division on the left. The attack was equally severe — the result much the same as in front of Davies; the union forces gallantly fighting most of the day, but falling back from position to position. In the forenoon, a very severe conflict took place at the front of this division, at the point where the Memphis railroad crosses the outer fortifications. Many men were lost on both sides. Gen. Mc Arthur commanded the brigades fighting so gallantly at this point. So far, no Iowa troops had been engaged at the left, but at 3 p. M. the Crocker brigade was ordered to cover another move- ment to the rear. Col. Crocker commanded the brigade, Lt.- Col. Belknap the Fifteenth Iowa, Col. Reid, being sick; Lt.-Col. Sanders the Sixteenth, Lt.-Col. Hall the Eleventh, and Lt.- Col. John Shane the Thfi-teenth. Crocker was directed to attack the Rebels and drive them back, while the rest of our line should retire. " He executed the order in fine style," said the division commander. " The brigade con- ducted itself with conspicuous gallantry, and maneuvered with all the coolness and precision of an ODdinary drill." It was fine praise for gallant regiments. Belknap and Sanders were especially mentioned in the report. The prompt military action of the brigade enabled the new line to be formed with success, and sundown saw the whole division of our left grouped about the breastworks at College Hill in the west edge of the town. BATTLE OF CORINTH AND THE HATCHIE. 165 166 IOWA IN WAE TIMES. The Rebels had not pursued. The firing had ceased. The battle for that day was done, and Corinth was barely ours. The union army was driven into the inner breastworks, and with the early morning they, too, would be assaulted. That night, the two armies lay under arms in the bright moon- light within six hundred yards of each other. The Rebels believed Corinth already won. In the town, the houses, the hospitals and the two hotels were filled with the union wounded. Many were dying. The writer will not forget leaving the bivouac in the moonlight that night, to soothe, for an hour, a friend lying in the little Tishimingo hotel with a rebel bullet in his breast — nor the horrible scenes by the dim light in the room, where the surgeons' knives were busy cutting away the arms and legs of the poor victims of the day — nor the groans and cries of men mangled beyond help of knife or medicine. The scene was worse than the battle, and it was a relief to get out into the peaceful moonlight where lay other thousands only waiting the daybreak to rush together and come from the deadly conflict mangled and torn like these. Tired and exhausted as the army was, the moon shone so brightly that the men lying in the long lines of the bivouac could scarcely sleep. Many hearts there in the lines turned to northern homes that night, feeling it was the last time their thoughts could ever be turned to them, as with a prayer they bade them a silent farewell. And the brave soldiers of the South, lying there in lines but six hundred yards away, and in the same peaceful moonlight, had they no hearts, no homes, mothers, fathers, sweethearts, wives and sisters, toward whom they, too, were silently wafting prayers and farewells? Ah! cruel, cruel war! All the night long the pickets and sentries paced their beats. Not a shot was fired, scarcely a loud word spoken, but in the quiet was heard, far on the flanks, the rumbling of artillery wheels and the tramp of regiments getting into position for the morrow. Rosecrans's lines had all been drawn in to correspond with the semi-circle of the inner forts. Hamilton's division still held the right, with its left at Fort Powell. Stanley was now at the BATTLE OF CORINTH AND THE HATCHIE. 167 center, holding Forts Williams and Robinett, and the Memphis railroad. McKean's division was at the left about College Hill and Davies's men were between Stanley's and Hamilton's divisions. The whole battle line was a mile long. The forts were rather strong, protected by abatis. They were well armed and their defenders were brave men accustomed to battle. The Rebels were not less brave — and their numbers that night were as two to one. So far, they had been victorious at Corinth. Van Dorn arranged his lines to assault in three columns. Lovell was to charge in on Rosecrans's left, Maury at the center, and Hebert on Rosecrans's right. Hebert was to attack first and give the signal for the others, while artillery in abundance was placed to fire at short distance. Maury was to charge straight into Corinth from between the two railroads where so much of the rebel army was now massed At three o'clock in the morning, Rosecrans lay down for an hour's rest, but the first morning twilight brought with it the boom of rebel cannon planted in the night close to the union lines. The great moon went down, and the red battle sun rose on Corinth. Hasty and last breakfasts were snatched from haversacks, canteens were filled with water and the union lines fell in; but there was a halt. The rebel commander at the left was sick — his division did not move as ordered at daylight, and the signal was not given. The rebel center, however, advanced and became engaged, and by nine the whole rebel army was moving, and the battle of Corinth was again in progress. The thundering of the artillery of the two armies was terrific. In the smoke about the redoubts and the batteries, the white tongued flames could be seen spitefully darting, while the sound of many metals and many calibered guns drowning the crashes of musketry, seemed for moments like the clanging of a thou- sand great bells. Then there would be a momentary hush, only to be followed by the sudden thunder of some fierce battery whose guns, fired in concert, were as suddenly answered by others fiercer and louder still. In the midst of the awful cannonade, the rebel columns were massing and moving to the charge. The first shock struck the 168 IOWA m WAR TIMES. division of Gen. Davies and the left of the line of Gen. Hamil- ton. The Rebels, four brigades of them, had come in solid columns from the woods, deploying and lengthening their line, as with bowed heads they advanced in the storm of bullets. Most of Davies's division gave way in confusion, and the bat- teries and redoubts they were supporting were captured by the enemy. Only Sullivan's brigade, in which was the Tenth Iowa, stood its ground and poured a fierce fire into the assaulting col- umn. The union line retiring for two or three hundred yards, the contest with the Rebels, now in possession of the redoubts, was continued under a heavy fire, until the Seventeenth Iowa and other regiments, also of Sullivan's brigade, rose from where they had been lying in line, advanced, and with a charge and a yell drove the Rebels back. It was in this charge that the Sev- enteenth Iowa captured the flag of the Fortieth Mississippi. Corporal King, of Company "G," captured the flag, and its bearer. This flag was sent to the Governor of Iowa, and is one of the proud trophies of the state. The Tenth Iowa received for its gallantry in this crisis of the battle the honorable mention of the commander of the brigade, as did the Seventeenth. The Fifth Iowa, the heroes of luka, also fought that day in Hamilton's division, but farther to the right and with trifling loss. Maj. Banbury of the Fifth led the Seventeenth in its splendid charge. None of the regiments of Davies's division fought better under the fierce assaults of the enemy than did the Second and Seventh lo^a— the latter commanded by Col. Elliott W. Rice, and the former by Lt.-Col. Mills. Both regiments stood their ground when others were flying, and for a time held their line without support. " Brave men " — said the commander of the brigade— " I could not bear to see them slaughtered, and so ordered them to fall back." Even then they rallied again, charged the enemy, and the victory, on their part of the line, was won. In this charge the brave Col. Mills of the Second received a wound that cost him his life. A nobler man Iowa never lost in battle. A brave soldier, a Christian gentleman, and one of the BATTLE OF COKINTH AND THE HATCH IE. 169 sincerest patriots that ever lived, his loss was universally lamented in his command and among the thousands who loved him at home.* While the terrible assault was going on in front of the divisions of Davies and Hamilton, the union center, under Stan- ley, was repelling a still fiercer storm. Some of the rebel Maury's troops in the first onslaught toward the right had not only taken Battery Powell, but had charged into the town itself- They were as quickly driven out by the left of Hamilton's division and put in retreat with terrible loss. Two of Maury's regiments stormed straight against Battery Robinett, where Stanley's men defended. They not only stormed against it — they gallantly went into it, when a desperate hand to hand conflict ensued for its possession. Such fighting scarcely took place elsewhere during the war as was witnessed inside and around Battery Robinett. The rebel Gen. Rogers, his flag in one hand, his revolver in the other, leaped the ditch and was shot dead, calling for his brave men to follow. They did follow, and the parapet, the ditch, and the ground about the breastwork, were covered with their slain. Brave Ohio troops rose up from behind the works as one man, and with hot volleys and piercing bayonets drove the Rebels out of the fort down through the abatis, trampling their own dead as they ran' pursued by the crashing cannon balls that followed them into the woods. The terrific assaults had failed, and the battle of Corinth was won to the union armies. The losses of the Rebels had been very great, numbering not less than 6,000 killed and wounded, and over 2,000 prisoners. They lost besides some 3,000 stand of arms, 2 cannon and 14 battle flags. The union army had 27 officers and 328 enlisted men killed, 1,841 officers and men wounded, 324 missing. The state of Iowa lost in the battle of Corinth 531 officers and men, mostly killed and wounded. Of these losses, 40 fell to the *Mrs. Col. Mills's was one of the most pathetic cases of the war. Gen. Hackleman, commandino^ the brigade, was her father, and the message that Corinth brought to her was that her father, her brother and her husband had fallen in the battle. 170 IOWA 'IN WAR TIMES. Tenth regiment, to the Seventeenth 22, to the Second LOl, to the Seventh 122, to the Eighth 37, to the Twelfth 39, to the Four- teenth 14, to the Eleventh 21, to the Thirteenth 15, to the Fif- teenth 86, to the Sixteenth 27, to the Second battery 6, and 1 to the Second cavalry. The Second Iowa battery commanded by Capt. N. T. Spoor, with Lieutenants Walling and Reed in charge of sections, did splendid service, firing the last ball of ammunition in the chests. The Second cavalry was everywhere about Corinth in every con- ceivable sort of service. " Hatch's cavalry is the eye of our army," said Rosecrans. By night and by day they were in the saddle. It was a trusted regiment, with energetic ofiScers and dashing men. Once they had been brigaded with the gallant Sheridan. Perhaps they took on his dash and his vigor. Many Iowa officers fell at Corinth. Many, for heroic action, received honorable mention in the reports of commanders. The Second infantry not only lost Colonels Baker and Mills; Lieu- tenants Huntington, Snowden, Bing, and Neal, were also left cold in death on the battle field. Lieutenants Parker, Blake, Twombly and Suiter and Capt. Howard were wounded. So too was every member of the color guard — Doolittle, Norris, Phillips, Seiberlich, Wise and Stewart. Col. Weaver complimented in high terms Lieutenants Parker, Duffield, Marsh, Wilson, Tisdale, Suter, Hamill, Hall, Blake, Duckworth, Ballinger, Twombly and McCord; and Captains Cowles, McCullough, Mastic, Howard, Ensign and Davis; Surgeon Pyle, Sergt. Campbell and Lieut. Lynde. Capt. Ensign captured a battle flag, and was the first to reach a battery captured in a charge. Adjt. Geo. L. Godfrey received especial praise from Col. Weaver for gallantry. Sergt. Lewis, in charge of his company, rendered good service, as did Sergt. James Terry. The losses in the Seventh Iowa were severe. The men, as ever, had fought as heroes. Lt.-Col. Parrott, who received the highest praise from his commander for coolness and bravery, was wounded. So too were sturdy, gallant Maj. McMullin, Capt. C. F. Conn, and Lieutenants B. B. Gale, J. B. Morrison, J. B. Hope, Frank A. Irvin and Geo. J. Bennett. Capt. Benton K. BATTLE OF CORINTH AND THE HATCHIE. 171 Smith, a gallant and noble young man, was killed in the last hour of the battle. Many of the officers received the special mention of Col. Rice. Among them were Captains Hedges, Mahon, Irvin and Reineger, as well as Lieutenants Dillin, Sergent, Hope, Lough- ridge, Irwin, McCormick, Bennett, Bess, Grale and Morrison. Sergt. Maj. Cameron also received special notice for bravery, being wounded, and Color Sergt. Aleck Field, and Akers and Craig of the color guard. All of the color guard, with a single excep- tion, were either killed or wounded. The competent surgeon of the regiment. Lake, was also praised in the report of the battle for having nobly done his duty, helping the wounded, with his assistant, day and night. " More than one-third of those taken into action, " says the colonel in his report, " are wounded, or lie dead beneath the battle field." A noble record! Among the wounded in the " Union brigade," were Capt. A. E. Webb, and Lieuts. J. R. C. Hunter and A. L. Palmer of the Twelfth Iowa. Lt. Tichenor, a meritorious officer of the Eighth, was killed. Adjt D. B. Henderson, later colonel of the Forty-sixth Iowa, was distinguished for his bravery at Corinth, and lost a leg in the battle. The Tenth Iowa lost no officers at Corinth, though it had fought bravely. Acting Lt.-Col. Holson, Acting Maj. Jackson Orr, and Adjt. Manning, received especial mention from the com- mander of the regiment, Maj. McCalla, for gallantry, and the men of the regiment were much praised. Lieutenants Garrett and Morris of the Seventeenth Iowa were wounded. Lieut. Hall was complimented by his commander, and the whole regiment received just praise from Gen. Rosecrans himself. Maj. Banbury of the Fifth, who led the Seventeenth Iowa in the battle, was highly complimented. Crocker's Iowa brigade lost 149 officers and men, 86 of whom were from the gallant Fifteenth, under Lt.-Col. Belknap. Of 11 killed in the regiment, 3 were officers — Lieutenants John D. Kinsman, Wm. Cathcart and Ruf us H. Eldridge— gal- lant officers and good men. Better young officers were not in the service. Lt.-Col. Belknap mentioned for gallant conduct the names of Captains Kittle, Hanks, Madison, and Seevers;also 172 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. Adjt. Pomutz, Lieutenants Wilkins, Whitenack, Porter, Rogers, Throckmorton, Miller and King. Maj. Cunningham, wounded, received especial mention, as did Corp. Black, who was wounded while bravely clinging to the colors, and Color Corporal Wells, Surgeon Gribbon, Quartermaster Higley and Sergeants Brown (wounded) and Elliot, were likewise mentioned by Lt.-Col. Bel- knap. Lt.-Col. Sanders, of the Sixteenth Iowa, was badly wounded while most gallantly leading his command, and was succeeded by Maj. Purcell. Color Sergt. Samuel Duffin was honorably mentioned for great gallantry in saving the flag, as were Color Corporals McElhany, Eighnoy and Kuhn. One lieutenant, in striking contrast to the bravery of his regiment, was seized with a panic, deserted his company and ran from the field. The Eleventh Iowa did its duty under fire, though only a part of the regiment was actively engaged. Captains Kennedy and Walker, with their companies of the Thirteenth, were praised for gallant fighting. Gen. McKean gave high praise to Lt.-Col. Belknap of the Fifteenth, Lt.-Col. Hall and Maj. Abercrombie of the Eleventh, the latter a hero of the Mexican war, and of Wilson's Creek; to Lt.-Col. Shaw, commanding the Thirteenth, Maj. Van Haseo, of the same regiment, and Col. Ried, of the Fifteenth, who left a sick bed to be with his regiment. He also complimented for special service Capt. W. T. Clark, assistant adjutant general. Lieutenants M. A. Higley and G. S. Hampton. The Crocker brigade lost 146. Col. Crocker, commander of the brigade, spoke in the highest praise of Lt.-Col. Belknap, always brave and always competent to command. Crocker also complimented Col. Sanders in high terms, as well as Majors Cunningham of the Fifteenth and Purcell of the Sixteenth regiments, for gallantry and duty well done. Adjt. James Wilson and Lieut. Lanstrum received especial mention. The division commander reported Crocker himself as entitled to the highest credit for skill and bravery, and for the splendid discipline in battle of the Crocker brigade. The battle made Crocker a brigadier general. BATTLE OF CORINTH AND THE HATCHIE. 173 That night, among the dead and dying, the union soldiers kept watch over the battle field. Early on the 5th the pursuit of the Rebels commenced. Owing to McKean's division taking the wrong road, and overburdening itself with trains, delays occurred that were fatal to perfect success, though the roads were strewn with deserted arms, ammunition wagons and guns of the flying army. Gen. Hurlbut hurried from Bolivar with a large force of troops to head the Rebels off at the crossing of the Hatchie river. A seven hours' battle was fought at the bridge. The Rebels were driven back, but by quick marching escaped over the river at another point. It was the old story of our war- somebody had blundered. With a victorious army on its heels— a fresh army, and a deep river at its front, why were not the demoralized and flying Rebels captured or destroyed? As it was, the fierce battle at the Hatchie had been in vain. Among the heroic regiments that had marched from Bolivar to the battle at the river, was the Third Iowa— heroes of Blue Mills and Shiloh, now fighting in the brigade of Gen. Lauman, of Iowa.. The noble regiment with its ranks thinned down to three hundred men on duty, was commanded by Capt. Trumbull For its heroism in the battle it received the warmest praise of brigade and division commanders. Once during the conflict it charged across the Hatchie bridge under a terrific fire from the enemy on the opposite bluffs. Once it was led just over the river into a small crowded space swept by the fire of the enemy— without room to deploy, or opportu- nity to defend from the raking, enfilading fire over, around and about. Yet the heroes bravely held their ground, and suffered rather than retreat. No cavalry charging at Balaklava did duty more nobly, knowing that some one had blundered, than did the Third Iowa at the Hatchie river. Once out of the death-trap and deployed, the little line flanked the bluffs and charging the enemy, shared in the victory. Had Rosecrans's pursuing troops been properly up at that moment, the rebel army would have been lost. 174 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. } In the charge over the Hatchie bridge, many were shot down; among them, one, a friend of the writer, the memory of whom long years and change and circumstance and death have not been able to obliterate. Noble, chivalrous. Christian soldier, falling at the very cannon's mouth on the Hatchie river ! * Like other thousands of the subordinate officers and soldiers of the union army whose names the trump of fame may never sound, he was a hero — bravely dying because it was his duty. Let a saved country cherish the memory of them all ! The Third regiment lost in a few minutes 60 killed and wounded — including more than half the commissioned officers. Though it had but few killed, many were badly wounded. Among the latter were Capt. E. J. Weiser, Capt. Kostman of Company C, Lieutenants D. W. Foote, W. B. Hamill, C. L. Anderson and Simon Gary. Lieutenants McMurtrie, Burdick and Cushman, with Sergt.-Maj. Montague and Color Bearer Edwards, received honorable mention from the regimental com- mander, as did also Lieutenants Scobey, Grarey, Lakin and Aber- nethy. The struggle on the Hatchie river was the closing scene of the battle of Corinth. " The history of this war," said Gen. Ster- ling Price, the commander of the rebel left wing, "contains no bloodier page, perhaps, than that which will record this fiercely contested battle of Corinth." *Lieut. Wm .Dodd was killed by a cannon ball striking him on the head just as the regiment was charging at the bridge. CHAPTER XY. THANKSGIVING DAY. 1862. " Thank God, and hurrah for Gen. Burnside ! " wrote the Governor of Iowa to Asst. P. M. Genl. John A. Kasson, on November 12th, 1862. Gen. McClellau was at last removed from command in Virginia, and that was something to be thank- ful for, though Burnside himself within a month laid down his command, after signal defeat and appalling losses. But Gen. McClellan was no longer to lead the eastern armies to defeat — and this the North and the state of Iowa especially, regarded with sincere thanksgiving. The splendid victories in the West, of Ft. Henry, Donelson, Pea Ridge aad Island No. 10, were almost overlooked in the presence of continued disasters in Virginia. It seemed that all progress made with the war in the West was to be overbalanced by defeats in the East. No wonder that in the West, and espe- cially among western soldiers in the field, the feeling against Geo. B. McClellan ran high and bitter. He had, in their opin- ion, been guilty of delays — of procrastinations unbearable, in the face of an enemy. When chided by the President for his delays, his answers had been insubordinate. " I tell you plainly," he dared write to the War Department, " if I save this army now, I owe no thanks to you, nor to any person in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army." It seemed as if the government feared the man who was lead- ing its armies to disaster in the East. Private (?itizens saw the rocks ahead, but the administration seemed paralyzed. The soldiers of the West looked on in astonishment. Why was such a colossal failure left in command? (175) 176 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. '' There is an impression abroad out West, Mr. President, that you do not dare to remove Gen. McClellan." This was said to Mr. Lincoln by Gov. Kirkwood of Iowa, at the time of the Altoona meeting of governors. ''I would remove him to-mor- row, if convinced it were for the good of the service," responded the President. Mr. Lincoln would not act on mere clamor for the removal of even an extremely unpopular man. He wished sincerely to do justice. Later, he too saw, and was convinced of the unfitness of McClellan to command. It was an October midnight of 1862, that McClellan was wak- ened from his sleep, and by the light of the dim candle in his tent read the letter from the President ordering him to turn his command over to Gen. Burnside and to report himself at Tren- ton, New Jersey. He was virtually under arrest. That mid- night ended Gen. McClellan's career Avith the army of the United States, and no wonder the Governor of Iowa thanked God and that the people of Iowa were glad. Now victory at both ends of the line was hoped for. So far there had been little in the East but discouragements. Great battles there had been — but small vic- tories. In the West with leaders like Rosecrans,* Grant, Pope and Curtis, the tide flowed steadily to victory for the North. Political feeling was changing. Not a few genuine war democrats began to realize, as Col. Crocker had, that, after all, *Gov. Kirkwood had great confidence in the star of Rosecrans. On Novem- ber 4th, of 1862, he wrote: General: I have heard so much of you from the Iowa bo^'s you led so bravely and so successfully at luka and Corinth, and from my old friend Maj. Hepburn, I scarcely realize that we are strangers, and that it is neces- sary I shall apologize for the liberty I have taken in addressing you. Please accept the fact for the apology. The eyes of the people of Iowa, General, are upon you, and their hearts are with you. They believe and they rejoice in the belief that in you they have an active, earnest fighting soldier. They know that the salvation of the country depends upon having such at the head of our armies. They confidently trust that your glorious and gallant deeds at luka and Corinth will be equalled (they cannot be surpassed) in your new command, and that your example will stimulate others to like action. Never in the history of our people have they so prayed for the " coming man " as they have for many months past, and now, as they have found bim, I ardently wish you had with you, to share your dangers and your glory, the Iowa boys who have just left, and the many thousands more as good as they, just marching to the field. Your obdt. servant, Samuel J. Kirkwood. Maj. Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, Louisoille, Kentucky. THANKSaiVIN^G DAY, 1862. 177 slavery was the cause of the war, and as such should be put. for- ever beyond doing harm. It was the words and the encourage- ment of brave, true conservatives like Crocker,* not less than the patriotism of his own party, that helped sustain the hands of the governor. The time was rapidly coming when he could turn for help to every man in the state, provided that man were loyal. In Iowa, the fires of patriotism still burned, if not quite with the zeal of the Sumter days, yet with a faith and a fervor that were willing to bide their time. The leading men of the state labored with but one thought — the upholding of the hands of Abraham Lincoln in his effort to save the government of the United States. Almost every public act related in some way to the war. Almost every individual act, if of a patriot, had in its bearings something to do with the welfare of the soldiers in the field or with the regiments marching to quarters in the state. Iowa had already furnished more men — many more, than its quota for the new regiments; but soldiers were called for to fill up the old regiments now depleted by battle. On this call, the state *Camp of the 13th Regiment Iowa Vol's, Jefferson City. Dear Governor: I have received your " Inaugural " and while I may not from my standpoint altogether agree with you in regard to the causes imme- diately producing this war, I certainly do agree with you fully in respect to the objects to be attained and the manner of conducting it. I do not think that the restoration of the Union as it has existed since 1854, is at all desirable. And unless the slavery question can be "forever placed at rest" so that it cannot be the subject of legislation, or the theme for speech making in the national congress tve had better have no Union. Men who claim to be conservative, talk about the easy restoration of the government as it was before the revolt of the South. And I suppose by that they mean that all the parties shall lay down their arms, and that the old congress, composed of Jeff. Davis, Toombs, Slidell, Benjamin, WigfaU & Co., shall resume the discussion of the Dred 8cott decision, and the right of the South to carry their slaves into the territories. If such a peace was possi- ble I do not regard it at all desirable. Such a peace could not be permanent, and the scenes of the present crisis would soon be re-enacted. The govern- ment must adopt some policy in conducting this war that will accomplish the end of placing the slavery question where there can be no apprehension felt about it, so that it may be emphatically a domestic and not a national institution. Anything short of this will be a failure. The reyiment is now in fine condition; the boys have about recovered from the measles and mumps, and consider themselves ready for service. We do not wish the people of Iowa to understand or believe that we are at aU uncomfortable or unhappy. Certainly we are not. If they will visit our camp of an evening they will find as jolly a crowd as they ever visited and will be astonished at the immense amount of music and fun. * * • Your friend, M. M. Crocker. I. W. T.— 12 178 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. was behind, owing to the unpatriotic action of certain counties and precincts in not having furnished their proper number. In these laggard districts, many men were staying at home reaping the advantages that came of inflated values and new competition — their loyal competitors being mostly at the front with guns on their shoulders. Some of these laggards, too, were disloyal. It scarcely requires saying to recall that the precincts so backward in volunteering were usually politically democratic. It was an un- pleasant comment on democratic loyalty that so few proportion- ately of the party were in the army from the state of Iowa.* At an election held in November, 1862, the Iowa -soldiers voting in the army, cast 14,874 ballots on the republican ticket, and only 4,115 on the democratic ticket. At the election a year later, 16,791 republican soldiers voted, to 2,904 democratic. The figures are startling and speak for themselves. Gov. Kirkwood determined to compel such districts to furnish their quota of men by volunteering, or else enforce the draft law by the first day of the new year. It was not fair that the pat- riotic should bear all the state's burdens of the war, and the disloyal reap all its advantages. ''The matter now rests with your own people," wrote the governor to the dilatory districts, Nov. 19, 1862. " All and every means have been exhausted to avert conscription." For the sake of the state's honor, the governor hoped that all *Maquoketa, August 7, 1861. Hon. S. J. Kikkwood: Dear Sir: * * * During my whole political life 1 have never before now felt like being disheartened in the cause. I have just returned from Dubuque and Linn counties. The people are excited to the highest pitch on the war, and enlistments by scores are being made every day. By a careful ex- amination of the roll compared with the poll book, as far as we could do it, we find ninetjf per cent republican. And if these regiments leave the state before our election, I have fears that the legislature will be democratic. Already the democrats are boasting that the republicans are leaving the field open for them, and should they be so fortunate as to get a majority in the next legislature, I fear we cannot gain the position we now occupy for twelve years. They will have the next senator, and what will be still worse they will squander the appropriation made by our last legislature * * and the republicans will have to bear all of the responsibility of issuing the bonds. I am still of the opinion that if we can keep those regiments at home till after election, and Mr. Harlan and Grimes will take the stump, all is right; but if otherwise, we must depend on the south part of the state to gain the victory. Yours truly, Joseph P. Eaton. THANKSGIVING DAY, 1862. 179 quotas would be filled by volunteering — but 7,000 men were still wanting for the old regiments. The various calls on the state up to this date made a total of 49,405 men. By an earnest effort in the districts that were backward, the 7,000 volunteers were partly raised. It transpired, too, as has been said, that the state had been ahead on its former quota of troops; hence Iowa was, for the the time at least, excused from the draft.* It was probably fortunate that it was so, for by this time the disloyal of the state were thoroughly organized into associations known as " Knights of the Golden Circle," as well as into other bands.' Their purpose was to oppose the war, to resist the draft, to encourage desertion, and to prevent volunteering. They rapidly became secret assassins and were despised, hated, and feared. There was nothing fair or honorable in their pur- poses, their methods, or their history, and they did great harm by their secret and venomous ways of discouraging the war. Not a single noble impulse stirred among them, nor a loyal heart-throb. They were not only traitors to their country and to their neighbors — they were destroyers of order — and, when opportunitj- offered, were murderers. That they acted in secret, made them ten times more dangerous. Though the state had furnished more men than were required up to 1863, technically she was a little behind and a draft was still possible. This, the disloyal element secretly resolved to prevent, and armed for the purpose. Its designs were well known by the governor, through the department of H. M. Hoxie, the efficient provost marshal of the state, by whose zeal and patriotism, more than by that of any other man's, the base designs of these secret assassins were frustrated. He was as hon- orable as zealous, and as able as patriotic. By him and his agents, every move of the secret conclave of state scoundrels was watched and usually check-mated. Spite of it all, a feverish dangerous excitement was kept up. The compromising letters of the " Knights of the Golden Circle" fell into the hands of the executive. The names and deeds of many of its members were matters of record, and the affidavits as to their baseness are still *At a later date. 180 IOWA IN WAK TIMES. in the state's archives. A full knowledge of their intentions did not make them less dangerous to good order and peace. " If a draft is to be ordered in this state," wrote the governor to the authorities, " there should, as a precaution, be arms in the hands of all loyal men." The governor not only asked for arms, he demanded regiments — so great in his opinion was the peril to which Iowa was subjected by these treasonable assassins, while her loyal soldiers were absent, fighting for their country. Many of these " Knights" were the paid agents of the Rebels in the South. Many were simply desperadoes seeking adventure. Many were broken down political aspirants who were no longer trusted by their neighbors, and many were the ignorant scum of the dem- ocratic party, misled into wrong doing. But all were Democrats. There was not aRepublican among them. Gov. Kirkwood not only demanded arms and permission to organize special regiments to meet these miscreants in case of resistance and collision; he begged that the United States laws might be enforced in Iowa — that men should be arrested for treasonable conduct and, if guilty, quickly and severely punished. He protested vigorously against the arbitrary arrest of men, if only to be followed by sudden dismissal without conviction or trial. Such indecision had been common, as in the case of Mahoney. But protests by the governor never thoroughly awakened the government at Washington into a full knowledge that bands of traitors hung like a pest over some of the counties of loyal Iowa. The people of Iowa in general were so devoted, so patriotic, so loyal, it seemed impossible. Not the strong, prompt hand of the government at last made Iowa traitors hide away in fear and shame — but the victories of her soldiers in the field. In the roar of the victorious guns of Vicksburg and Gettysburg that coming summer, the Iowa trait- ors began to look for a day of reckoning. That Thanksgiving day of 1862, saw forty Iowa regiments of infantry either in the field or preparing to march. There were besides, five regiments of cavalry and three batteries of artillery. For all this the state gave thanks, for better soldiers never marched to the sound of drum and bugle. THANKSGIVING DAY, 1862. 181 As in the year before, all the loyal men in the state were bending their energies to the aid of the soldiers at the front or their families left at home. Counties, towns, townships and villages levied taxes to raise funds for bounties and aid. Socie- ties for the relief of soldiers^ families existed everywhere in the state. Private men and women strained every nerve and econo- mized in every direction, to help the soldiers. Many a soldier's widow's flour-barrel was filled by invisible hands. Many an soldier's orphan's feet were clad, and no one knew by whom. All loyal men gave of all they had. The state officers knew no limits of time or labor of their own that could advance the good of the common cause. " 1 will do all I can so long as my life lasts for our Iowa soldiers," wrote Adjt. Gen. Baker to Hon. James Harlan. His was the noble spirit animating every loyal heart in the state. Gov. Kirkwood's sympathies for the soldiers were unbounded. Their interests were ahvays preferred to his own. Once the governor of Wisconsin started a movement for doubling the pay of the hard working war governors. "But," said Kirkwood in a note to Senator Grimes on the subject, " though we have all been doing labor as great as belongs to officers much better paid, and our work is as important as any done for the government, yet I know that our regiments require more medical aid. I much prefer that Congress should give an additional surgeon to each Iowa regiment than any pay to its governors." Again writing to Capt. S. M. Archer, referring to certain injustice and wrongs done himself, he says: "I shall bear it — and you should bear yours. Captain, there are thousands of men in the ranks as good as either of us, and when I am dis- posed to complain of the extent of my labors and the injustice I at times receive, I think of these poor fellows, and try to bear all cheerfully." The labors of the executive's and adjutant general's offices were as astounding in those days as after Wilson's Creek, and were increased as then by the ignorance and neglect of many officers. To this day, proper reports of some of the regiments and of many events are wanting. To one of the colonels. Gen. 182 IOWA IN" WAR TIMES. Baker wrote: "I have no official information of even the exist- ence of your command " — so seldom and so imperfectly had this officer reported. Descriptions of certain battles were disposed of by certain officers in less space than is usually required for depicting a cock fight. One colonel leporting a battle for- got mention of all participants except himself. Another, depict- ing an insignificant skirmish to the governor, mentioned as worthy of distinguished honor the name of every single officer in his command. " They were all heroes." His list of casualties, how- ever, showed but four men injured. Many of these reports, blameless of discrimination or sense, or justice to subordinate officers and soldiers, filled the office of the adjutant general, and had to be amended and added to from other sources in order to make a record. This and the endless questioning for instruc- tions and interpretations of rules, and the constant letters asking for favor and promotion, made the chief offices anything but beds of roses. But Baker and the governor bore it all, with the added re- proaches for things that nobody understood, with perfect suavity, great patience and patriotism.* The governor arranged a set of rules for promotion to office. They were just and simple, but pleased nobody. Politicians in shoulder-straps, who had never in their lives been bound by a rule, and seldom by a principle, -saw no sense in doing things un- der order, and chafed under the restraint.f Some wanted their commissions dated away back, to outrank their comrades. Some wanted to name all the officers themselves, when they had no right to name any. Some " pocketed*' the commissions sent them for their subordinates, and some used old grudges against fellow-officers to warrant themselves in defeating such comrades *Speaking of his own labors and anxieties, Kirkwood writes to a private in Company H, of the Second Iowa: " I would be content if I could earn, as a result of it all, a name as honored as that of the humblest member of the gallant Iowa Second." fThe Governor sought to carry out these rules in good faith, though pro- motions under them often annoyed others and embarrassed him. His own plan was to do as he directed Gen. Bussey to do in case of a certain promo- tion: "The position, you find, is a delicate one, but do just what you think is right, and let the consequences take care of themselves.'' THANKSGIVING TDAY, 1862. 183 for place. Men who were heroes in battle, were often entirely ignored, while favorites would figure in the reports as deserving honor and promotion. The governor's ''rules" tended to check some of these evils; but they made their violators his enemies. He was accused of favoritism himself. He had numerous rel- atives. Some of them were fit for office; but for granting them place, he was accused of nepotism. Mistakes of all kinds oc- curred as to original appointments, because, of necessity, the governor, in his selections, relied largely on the judgment of others.* All the little politicians wanted to be brigadiers. They could not be— and they blamed the governor for hopes blasted, and plans short of fruition. While the greatest efforts to sustain the government were progressing in 1862, business in the state fell behind. Iowa then, as now, was eminently an agricultural and grazing state. The crops were good, but the markets were very low, and cur- rency scarce. Eastern manufacturers were growing rich by the war, while Iowa farmers were compelled to accept for their prod- ucts such prices as were dictated in other states. There were few railroads, and freights were dear, and, though the harvests yielded extremely well, the strain of the war was being visibly felt. Few in the state were prospering. Adjt.-Gen. Baker hoped to relieve the situation somewhat by demanding some of the army contracts for people in the state. Beef, porlv, wool, flour, corn, oats and hay, Iowa had in surplus. " Why not let our citizens furnish part of these,'' wrote Baker. " We -are furnishing as many men, and as good men, to fight our country's battles, as any state in the Union; why not let Iowa have some of the contracts? We can fill them as well and as cheaply as others. This is a matter of importance to the government itself, and of vast importance to every man, woman and child in Iowa." Somebody wrote urging the governor to promote some boy in the cav- alry— asking him to remember the mother of the boy of Athens. " It's all right replied the governor, "only I have neglected the classics so long, 1 ?!.?= t.f ^^'"l^er who in the -'the mother of the boy of Athens' was, or who this boy was either. Please enlighten me all around." 184 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. Few army contracts, however, came to Iowa's citizens, spite of her ability to supply the country cheaply. Rings of politicians and eastern hangers-on about Washington usually secured the government's wasted millions for bad supplies and shoddy cloth- ing. Iowa farmers were not tricksters enough to get fat army contracts. That autumn of 1862, for the first time, saw Iowa grain fields reaped by women, and her broad meadows mown by girls whose brothers and lovers were in the war. It was a primitive age again, with women in the fields and the men off fighting their country's battles. The old men were in the companies of the home guards, and drilled on the village green — the very green on which their sons were mustered before going to battle. Those sons! Many of them were heroes already, leading battal- ions to the mouths of rebel cannon — charging squadrons — storming forts — marching through swamps and over plains, bearing aloft the starry banner. But many, ah, how many! were already in soldiers' graves. Thousands lingered their lives out in southern prisons — thousands sickened and died in hospi- tals, and thousands left their life blood on the red battle field. They were worthy of their country — worthy of their gray- haired patriot sires drilling there on the village green. What recollections spring up to him who was sometimes in an Iowa town or village in those War Times! Who will not instantly recall the relief corps, the sewing circle, the home guards, the martial band, the girls working in the fields, the gray-haired men who gave all they had and talked only of their hero sons, the village post when the mail came in, the letters from the battle field — the eager, waiting people and the mes- sages quickly opened? and ah, how often the dim eyes, the tears, the broken heart — for some one dead in battle. Who will not recall the furloughed soldier, fresh from war — the hero of the hour? There's nothing in the town that is not his. Every voice greets him, every hand is in his own. What a hero the lowest private in the ranks has become when home on a f ulough ! His experiences are all detailed to eager listeners. What dangers he has seen! How he is loved for hav- THANKSGIVING DAY, 1862. 185 ing seen them ! Each listening maid's a Desdemona, and he who talks a greater than Othello. The canteen he wears was taken from a Rebel at luka, and the pin on bis breast is a piece of Shiloh church. That sabre, bent and scarred, talks aloud of the Hatchie Bridge, and the piece of a rebel flag was taken from a battery where every horse was dead, and every cannoneer shot down or wounded. And that bible— his mother gave it to him on the village green, with her blessing. There it is, indented and torn by the ball that, but for it, would have pierced his heart. Look at that furlough, signed by Gen. Grant himself, and dated before the battle— and the hero had fought with it in his pocket, because he would not leave his comrades in a crisis. No wonder he is a hero! No wonder that when his twenty days are up, the people go with him to the depot, and with cheers, kisses, good byes and blessings send him back again to war! And that other scene, who will not recall?— the plain pine coffin coming on the cars— the solitary guard; some soldier boy killed in battle— sent home to sleep in the little grave yard behind the village. The gray-haired home guards' steady line falls in. There are the muffled drum, the shrill fife, the droop- ing flag, the open grave— the broken hearts. The hero soldier sleeps — and this is war! When in the future the children of Iowa shall stand by these green graves, marked with the names of Iowa soldiers, let them reverently recall the sacrifices of that day— the patriotism, the broken hearts, the noble dead— and thank God that in such an hour, Iowa had such men ready. Let these sacrifices, these heart-breaks, these graves inspire them to stand by our common country in whatever peril may come. CHAPTER XYI. BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE. Dec. 7, 1862. There were few severer struggles in the war than the hotly contested field of Prairie Grove. It was fought, on the union side, against great odds. The battle was directed by an Iowa general, and two Iowa regiments, the Nineteenth and Twentieth, won lasting renown there by splendid heroism. With a com- mand numbering less than 5,000 men. Gen. Herron left 1,000 dead Rebels on the field. The battle took place on the 7th day of December, 1862, and the Iowa regiments engaged had not been six months in the field. All of that autumn of 1862 the union troops of southwest Missouri, led by Generals Schofield, Blunt and Herron, had been chasing the Rebels up and down the wide mountainous stretch of country between Springfield, in Missouri, and the Boston mountains in Arkansas. There had been many and many a hard, forced march by day and by night, over execrable roads, the soldiers on short rations, and, at times, almost without shoes. The hardships of that autumn and early winter campaigning can hardly be over-estimated. The result was much sickness and many deaths, and yet the two Iowa regiments, participating in the worst of it all, had scarcely seen a battle. Their expos- ures and their hardships seemed almost in vain. During the last of November, Gen. Blunt defeated the Rebels at Cane Hill, and their army fell back southward. A time of rest and peace having apparently come, the union troops com- menced preparing to enjoy it. Gen. Schofield was oalled to another field of duty. Gen. Blunt succeeded to the command, (186) GENERAL F. J. HEREON. BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE. 187 and with a division of troops camped near Cane Hill, the place of the recent victory. Gen. Herrou, with two divisions, includ- ing the Nineteenth and the Twentieth Iowa among his other troops, marched all the way back to ''Camp Curtis," twelve miles south of Springfield. This put the command of Blunt at the front and Herron at the rear, 125 miles apart. Herron's soldiers were barely settled down to the routine of camp life up there by Springfield, when the sudden and unex- pected news came that a large rebel army, variously estimated at from 20,000 to 30,000 men in numbers, had been organized beyond the Boston mountains and was rapidly marching against Gen. Blunt's single division in his camp at Cane Hill. Gen. Blunt's appeal to Gen. Herron and his two divisions for imme- diate help was not in vain. Instantly Herron's. command was on the rapid march. Cane Hill is eighteen miles southwest of the town of Fayette- ville and ten miles northwest of Van Buren, the point where the rebel army. Gen. Hiudman in command, was crossing the Arkansas river. Hindman's forces had approached Gen. Blunt's position, and, by skirmishing with his advance a couple of days, misled that general iuto supposing that he was about to give him battle. The astute Rebel knew, however, that Herron was a hard marcher and would soon join his column to that of Gen. Blunt. He determined to flank Blunt's little army, move past its left, rush on to Herron, overwhelm and defeat him, and then turn and serve Blunt in a similar way. It was a neat little military plan, but it was not a new one, and, besides, the rebel general was, as often happened in those Arkansas days, reckoning with- out his host. That host was Gen. Herron, of Iowa, formerly a young captain of militia in the city of Dubuque. Herron's soldiers did some incredible marching, in hopes of reaching Cane Hill in time to save Blunt's army. Soldiers, guns and trains pushed along day and night twenty to thirty miles a day. They entered Fayetteville before daylight of the morning of December 7th, 1862. Herron had, from a point farther back, sent some cavalry across the country to Blunt's aid. Very great was his surprise that morning, a few miles out of Fayetteville, 188 IOWA IN WAE TIMES. to meet some of this same cavalry coming back on the run, panic-stricken and dismayed. These valiant horsemen had run into the advance guard of Hindman's rebel army, and had apparently got the worst of it. Gen. Herron at once brought his men in order, got his regiments well in hand, and for a few miles drove back the rebel cavalry. At last, approaching a little stream known as the Illinois river, he discovered the infantry and the artillery of Hindman's army. They were drawn up in battle array along a heavily wooded ridge beyond the opposite bank of the stream. The position was a strong one, and Gen. Herron's little army was out-num- bered as four to one.* He was not long, however, in deciding what to do. In fact there was but one choice: either to retreat and lose his trains, leaving Blunt's division ten miles away to be destroyed, or take the chances of a battle with the odds all against him. His command numbered less than 5,000 men. The enemy on the hills beyond the stream had possibly 25,000. Gen. Herron at once pushed a regiment of infantry and a battery across the stream, to feel the enemy's position. These were immediately driven back. His next move was to cut a way through the timber to the river at a point half a mile off, and there, under an artillery fire, make a feint of crossing. The ruse succeeded. The enemy's attention being attracted to this new point, Herron seized the opportunity and dashed over the river at the ford with both his divisions. Protected by his massed artillery, he placed his command in line of battle and was charg- ing the rebel lines almost before they were sure of his being over the river. This movement had been extremely audacious — perhaps unwise *Gen. Herron, in a private letter, said: " For four miles we fought their cavalry, driving them back to Illinois creek, where I found their whole force strongly posted on a long ridge, with magnificent positions for batteries. For one mile ia front it was clear ground, and my road lay right in the center of their line. From a prisoner taken, I learned that Hindman was on the ridge, with his whole force, and intended to whip me out before Blunt could get up — in other words, to take us one at a time. The case looked tough, with Blunt ten miles away, and 25,000 men between us; but I saw at a glance there were just two things that could be done; namely, fight them without delay, and depend on the chance of Blunt's hearing me and coming up, or retreat and lose my whole train. It required no time to make a decision." BATTLE OF PEAIEIE GROVE. 189 and unsafe. He had put his army in a critical position with a stream and a single crossing behind him, and a powerful, well posted enemy, greatly exceeding him in numbers, at his front. The least mishap, and his army would be captured or destroyed. However, once over, he was there to fight. It is said that he purposed relying for safety and success on his good artillery. However that may be, certain it is his excellently manned batteries served him well. They kept up an extraordinary and galling cannonade on the enemy's position. To silence these massed guns and to avoid their fire, the Rebels made a charge against his division on the left. He instantly sent Orme's brigade to meet this attack, and at the same time charged heavily on the rebel center. His batteries moved forward over the open slope, supported by the Nineteenth Iowa and the Twentieth Wisconsin, pouring a flood of shell and canister into the rebel lines. They were met by a fire from opposing batteries and a heavy mus- ketry fire of infantry. Suddenly, the advancing union batteries halted and the Nineteenth Iowa, led by Lt.-Col. McFarland, and the Twenti- eth Wisconsin, rushed forward in one of the very fiercest charges of the war. The line was to take a battery that from its posi- tion just back of an orchard and farther up the hill was pouring destruction into the union ranks. On and forward the two regiments went under a terrible fire, took the battery, and plunged, with fixed bayonets, into Pagan's rebel brigade, that ^as supporting it. Suddenly from their concealed position, and three ranks deep, the Rebels rise, and from three difierent direc- tians pour an increased and awful fire into the gallant regiment. It wavered and fell back down the slope, its course covered with its dead and wounded. It had been a gallant, though a fatal charge. Its leader, the brave McFarland, was shot dead, as were other good officers and not less than forty of its men. Five of its daring officers and 140 of the little line, only 500 strong, were wounded. Two were missing — probably dead — making a total loss in the regiment of one hundred and ninety-two. Beside the lieutenant colonel, Lieutenants Smith and Johnson were killed. Captains Jordan, 190 IOWA Ilir WAR TIMES. Wright and Paine, and Lieutenants Brooks and Harrison Smith were wounded. Capt. Richmond was captured. Yet the regiment's fighting was not over. Col. Orme, com- mander of brigade, rode up shortly after the charge, and rallying the shattered remnants of the regiment, led it and the Ninety- fourth Illinois once more against the enemy. Once more the Nineteenth Iowa did some gallant fighting, until ordered to fall back and re-form. After the death of the noble McFarland, a man loved not only by his soldiers, but by all Iowa, Maj. D. Kent took command. In the report on the battle, Maj. Kent mentions for gallantry the names of Captains Roderick, Richmond, Bruce and Taylor, and Lieut. Brooks. Lieut. Brooks was badly wounded in saving the colors, and Lieut. Root and Capt. Bruce led on one of the hottest skirmish lines of the war. The Twentieth Iowa also had its full share of battling against odds, that at different periods in the battle seemed overpower- ing. For hours the conflict raged with charges and counter- charges, and the union artillery in the battle of Prairie Grove accomplished as much as the infantry. Possibly in no conflict had cannon been so skillfully manned, so constantly used, or with such results. At times, as the brave lines advanced or were driven back, it seemed as if the odds were too great. The posi- tion at last became extremely critical and in the pauses of the battle, the officers vainly listened for the sound of Blunt's cannon. At two o'clock the rebel left wing prepared for a charge on Herron's right and an attempt to flank him. Scarcely were their lines advancing, when to their astonishment they ran into fresh troops and well posted batteries. Blunt had arrived. The almost disheartened soldiers of Herron's division took cheer and the battle was renewed. By a forced march Blunt's division had hurried from Cane Hill to the sound of Herron's artillery, and now were in position in front of the strongly posted rebel left. They hurriedly con- nected with Herron's extreme right, held by the Twentieth Iowa, and sixteen of Blunt's cannon poured shell, ball and canister into the rebel line at short range, shortly driving two rebel bat- ^^1 / /\Y ) • • / I BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE. 191 teries and the infantry supports into the edge of the woods. "Charge them," was the order to the union infantry, and the brigade, which included the Twentieth Iowa, under Lt.-Col. Leake, moved to the assault. It was led by Col. Dye of the Twentieth. Under a severe fire, they rapidly crossed up the slope through an open field and as rapidly drove the rebel line through the orchard beyond, and into the woods. Once a body of the enemy, wearing blue overcoats, deceived a part of the line who supposed they were firing on their friends. A sudden volley from the same force, however, soon undeceived them and created a little confusion in the left of the union line. Some of the supports having fallen back, the Twentieth Iowa was also directed to retire to the lower fence of the orchard and to hold the position. This was done under a galling fire, the men lying down behind the fence and pouring a flame of musketrj' between the rails. Again the concentrated fire of the union artillery did its fatal work, and when night came the rebel army wrapped its wagon and artillery wheels with blankets and retired from the battle field.* Prairie Grove was won — and Iowa courage and Iowa blood had helped to win it. In the charge by the Twentieth Iowa, Lt.-Col. Leake, one of the bravest men on the field, had led the regiment. Forty-seven men of the Twentieth were lost in the action. Lieut. Harrison Oliver was killed. Leiutenants R. M. Lytle, J. G. G. Cavendish, P. E. Starck and E. Stone, were wounded. So, too, was Maj. Thompson, who had acted on the field with exceptional valor. Sergt. Maj. G. A. Gray and Acting Adjt. J. C. McClelland were complimented for gallantry. Col. Mc. E. Dye, who had led the brigade in the memorable action, was always competent and courageous, — in short, all the Iowa men in that battle, from Gen. Herron down to the humblest private, did the state of Iowa honor. *One of Gen. Hir.dmau's orders to his troops reads as follows: "Do not break ranks to plunder. If we whip the enemy, all will be ours ; if not. the spoils will be of no benefit to us. Plunderers and stragglers will be put to death on the spot. Remember that the enemy has no feelings of mercy or kindness towards you: his ranks are made up of Pin Indians, free negroes, northern traitors, Kansas jayhawhers, Dutch cut-throats and bloody ruffians, who have invaded your country, stolen and destroyed your property, murdered your neighbors, outraged your women, driven your children from their homes and defiled the graves of your kindred. " 192 lOTVA IN WAR TIMES. The federal loss at Prairie Grove was 1148. The rebel losses, though never definitely known, were probably not less than 3,000. Whatever the odds against Herron and Blunt may have been, there was no question as to where the victory belonged. Iowa was very proud of her two regiments in that battle, and in his words of praise the governor echoed the feelings of the whole state.* PARKER'S CROSS ROADS. The year 1862 closed in the West with a little battle in which an Iowa regiment took a conspicuous and heroic part. The Thir- ty-ninth Iowa was on its way to join Gen. G. M. Dodge at Corinth, and had only reached the town of Jackson, when the post com- mander there in great alarm ordered the regiment to dismount from the railway train and help defend the city against For- rest's cavalry. Forrest was not near Jackson, as it transpired, and so after some days' delay, and frequent false alarms, the Thirty-ninth Iowa, the Fiftieth Indiana and the One-hundred-and-twenty- *ExECOTivE Office, Iowa, / Iowa City, January 5th, 1863. J Colonel: In the hard fought battle at Prairie Grove, the Nineteenth regi- ment Iowa Volunteer infantry did nobly. It fully sustained and added to the honored and well earned fame of the soldiers of Iowa. I mourn with you for the brave men who died there, and sympathize with you for those suffering from wounds received there, to sustain the flag and the cause of the Union ! Please convey to the gallant men of your command my thanks and the thanks of the people of Iowa for their good conduct and their devotion to the cause of our country. Very respectfully your ob't serv't, Samuel J. Kirkwood. Col. B. Crabb, 19th Reg't. Iowa Vol. Inf., Springfield, Mo. Executive Office, Iowa. f lowA City, January 5th, 1863. j Colonel: — I have learned with pride and pleasure the good conduct of the Twentieth Regiment Iowa Volunteer infantry in the hard fought battle of Prairie Grove. They have nobly sustained the good name of the Iowa troops and have given earnest that the record of the Twentieth shall be as proud a one as that of any other Iowa regiment. Please convey to them my thanks and the thanks of the people of Iowa for their gallantry and good conduct. Very respectfully your ob't serv't, Samuel J. Kirkwood. Col. Wm. M. E. Dye, Twentieth Reg't Iowa Vol. Inf. BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE. 193 second Illinois, all under Col. Dunham, were marched off in the direction of Red Mound, to hunt Forrest up. They found him with 5,000 men, well posted in timber, not far from a place known as Parker's Cross Roads. This was just at the time that Van Dorn was riding around the rear of Grant's army and destroying his depot of supplies at Holly Springs, Gen. Forrest had proposed destroying some railroads and towns in another direction, but his plans must have been materially interfered with by what occurred to him at Parker's Cross Roads. Had Van Dorn met such a foe as Col. Redfield and the Thir- ty-ninth Iowa at Holly Springs, instead of Col. Murphy, that town would not have been taken. Grant's army would have marched straight on to Vicksburg in 1862, and thousands of human lives would have been saved. Col. Redfield was shot and badly wounded, leading his regi- ment at Parker's Cross Roads, but from the hospital, later, he was able to tell Gov. Kirkwood some interesting details of the battle. " December 31st, at 4 o'clock, we resumed our march toward Lexington," says Gol. Redfield. " At 8 o'clock we came within a mile of Parker's Cross Roads. Our advance had a sharp skir- mish with a body of the Rebels and drove them off. Our regi- ment was ordered to take position in the road on the east of the field, where the skirmishing took place. Col. Dunham advanced to the Cross Roads, and drove a body of the enemy back on the road leading west. Our artillery, two guns of the Wisconsin battery, were planted on a knoll near the corner, and felt of the woods toward the west with shells. This scattered all the Rebels in sight. Our artillery was then moved west about half a mile, on a ridge near the edge of the woods, and the whole brigade moved up to support it. The first fire from the rebel battery, stationed about half a mile north, killed five horses and one man belonging to one of our guns. " Our commander concluded to change his position and marched us back east to the Cross Roads, and thence south on the Lex- ington road, a little over a mile. Oar regiment took the extreme left and was stationed on the east side of the road on a high 1. W. T.— 13 194 IOWA IN" WAK TIMES. piece o£ ground and in front of a house occupied by a Mrs. Small. " Soon the rebel cavalry made its appearance, emerging from the woods. On they came in a string that seemed to have no end. Our artillery played upon them and produced some scattering in their ranks, but without impeding their progress. " A portion of them came up the road, but were kept in check, and finally driven back by two companies stationed behind a rail barricade. The main body moved to the left and took possession of a piece of woods, which it seems to me we ought to have occupied before then. But I will not criticise. I will simply relate facts. "They formed line on the south side of these woods, adjoining a field, and planted their cannon in several places along the line. We were ordered up on the double quick and formed line on the south side of the above mentioned field behind a rail fence, and also in the edge of a piece of woods. Their cannon played on us at a fearful rate, and it seemed for a while we would be cut to pieces. But our men fired with such precision with their Enfields, that it soon became quite difficult for them to manage their artillery. The distance across the field was from 600 to 700 yards. Their infantry (dismounted cavalry of course) was stationed along their regular line and also in the field behind a knoll a little to our left. Other bodies or detachments were sent to our right and a large force came up on our rear almost sur- rounding us, and exposing us to a galling fire from the front flanks and rear. I shall not attempt a description of the scream- ing of shells and the deafening roar of artillery and the furious discharges of the small arms. I can only say it was a hot place; only 1,500 men with 2 pieces of artillery, not very well handled, fighting at least 7,000 with 12 pieces of artillery. But our men fought bravely and stood up like veterans, with perhaps a few exceptions. " While rallying our men to resist the attack on our rear, I was wounded, and fell, but got up after a little and did what I could, until the loss of blood rendered me too weak for further effort. BATTLE OF PRAIEIE GEOVB. 195 " The tide of battle seemed to be turning strongly against us, and then Gen. Sullivan came up with the brigade of Col. Fuller, and, after a very short engagement the Rebels broke and the victory was ours. We took 6 pieces of artillery and something over 400 prisoners, 500 horses, many wagons, etc. " The real, solid, fiercfe battle rnged for about two to three hours. Our regiment lost 3 killed and 37 wounded." CHAPTER XVII. ATTEMPTS ON VICKSBURG— ARKANSAS POST. Winter of 1862-3. COMBINED MOVEMENTS OF GRANT AND SHERMAN— CHICKA- SAW BAYOU. ViOKSBURG was the Richmond of the Southwest, Its natural position and its splendid fortifications made it the key to the Mississippi river. Its importance was appreciated in the South as well as in the North. It was, in the words of Horace Greeley, the natural center and chief citadel of the slaveholders' confed- eracy. On the 2d of November, 1862, Gen. Grant, at Jackson, Ten- nessee, commenced a grand movement against Vicksburg, by land, marching with a well organized army by way of Holly Springs. Shortly afterward, December 8th, he ordered Geu. Sherman to co-operate with him by starting a force of 30,000 men down the Mississippi river in steamers; these to be sup- ported by the entire federal flotilla of gunboats on the river. It was intended by the government that Gen. McClernand should command this river expedition. 'To add to his river force, Gen. McClernand was himself in Iowa and Illinois, seek- ing, with the aid of the governors, to raise additional troops for this purpose. Grant, however, had prejudices against McCler- nand, and without waiting for his coming, hurried to place Sher- man in command. There were many Iowa troops with the river expedition and there were quite a number of regiments marching with Grant, (196) ATTEMPTS ON VICKSBURG. 197 by land. Grant pushed his own army down the great southern railroad from Grand Junction through Holly Springs and to Oxford, repairing the road as he went. Holly Springs he made his base of supplies, and he accumulated there vast stores for his commissary and quartermaster departments. His advance cavalry, 2,000 strong, pushed on to Coffeeville, and was there met and defeated by a large force of rebel infantry. Just before Christmas Grant's advancing columns were brought to a sudden halt. Gen. Van Dorn, with a large force of rebel cavalry, rode around the flanks of Grant's army to his rear, crossed the railroad at Holly Springs, captured the town with its garrison, and destroyed its vast stores of supplies. This single blow ruined the whole campaign, and Grant's army was compelled to make a forced march on half rations clear back to the Mississippi river. The expedition had proved hard and use- less and six months' time was lost. The Iowa regiments patiently took part through the long marches in mud and rain. On the very day after the capture of Holly Springs, Sherman, not knowing of the disaster to the co-operating array, boarded his steamers and started for Vicksburg, Grant's failure by land had released the rebel army in his front, and it was hurried on to join the confederate forces waiting to receive Sherman at Vicksburg. Now followed the short but disastrous campaign of Chickasaw Bayou. By the 27th of the month the federal army, consisting wholly of western troops, was landed on the south side of the Yazoo river. In his front, and to contend with, Sherman had not only the wU-manned batteries and forts of Vicksburg, but deep lagoons, bayous and swamps— all protected by rifle pits, trenches and batteries. Chickasaw Bayou, encircling and protecting the rebel front, was passable but at two places, and these two thoroughly defended by rifle pits and bluffs. Vicksburg, from the direction in which it was now being attacked, was simply impregnable. It was, as the Rebels had boasted, the Gibraltar of the West. Spite of it all, Sherman, still trusting that Grant's army was coming up in the rebel rear, hurled his devoted divisions on the enemy. Greater heroism or severer fighting are seldom seen in 198 IOWA IN WAE TIMES. war, than followed in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou. In mid- winter, men waded through water waist deep, to storm rifle pits and trenches that scarcely could have been entered had no enemy been there to protect them. At noon of Dec. 29th Chickasaw Bayou was crossed at two points, a mile apart, under a terrific fire from rifle pits and earthworks. It was an heroic undertak- ing, but the positions gained by our storming battalions could not be held, and in the night the federal forces were withdrawn to the transports. It was surely time. Another enemy had that day re-enforced the Rebels at Chickasaw Bayou. It was the heavy rains that in twenty-four hours could have made fifteen feet of flood on the very ground where the union troops stood firing. The army would in all probability have been compelled to surrender or drown. It escaped without either. All of the Iowa troops at the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, were attached to the division of Brig. Gen. F. Steele. Gen. Thayer of Nebraska commanded the brigade (the Third) that did the hardest fighting among them. His command consisted of the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-fourth Iowa regiments and the First Iowa battery of light artillery. Gen. Hovey commanded the brigade that included the Twenty- fifth and the Thirty-first regiments. This brigade did not take part in the assault. Gen. Thayer's regiment, however, crossed the big bayou, and joined the other troops in the storming of the works. They fought gallantly and received the thanks of their superior officers. Especially conspicuous was the Fourth Iowa, under Col. Williamson. No other regiment on the field occupied so perilous a position on that day. The brigade led by Thayer, the Fourth Iowa ahead, crossed the bayou over a nar- row crossway, exposed to a concentrated fire of musketry and cannon, and stormed into the enemy's works. By some blun- der during this charge, or right at its beginning, three regiments of the brigade had been ordered to move to the right.* Thayer, leading the charge, looked back and saw his regiments all gone but the Fourth Iowa, which was in the works unsupported and *The Twenty-sixth had previously been detached. ATTEMPTS ON VICK8BURQ. 199 SIEOE OK ^ICKSBTJI^G. 200 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. alone. Other troops, that had stormed into the left of the Fourth, were overwhelmed and falling back, and the concen- trated fire of the enemy was now directed on this devoted regi- ment. In thirty minutes the little command of 480 men lost 7 men killed, and 104 wounded.* Among the killed was Lieut. E. C. Miller. " No braver offi- cer," said Col. Williamson, " has fallen in his country's cause." Lieut. Leander Pitzer was mortally wounded, and Capt. R. A. Still severely, as was the gallant Col. Williamson himself. Later, Gen. Grant, in appreciation of the gallant conduct of the Fourth Iowa in this assault, ordered that the regiment place on its colors the words " First at Chickasaw Bayou." All the other Iowa regiments and the Iowa battery at Chickasaw, did their duty, but to none as to the Fourth fell the opportunity of writing its name in the blood of so many of its gallant men. The war department record shows the Iowa losses at Chicka- saw Bayou to have been in killed and wounded as follows: The Fourth Iowa, 112; the Ninth, 8; the Twenty-fifth, 10; the Thirtieth, 4; and the Thirty-first, 2. Gen. Sherman promptly withdrew hie army to the transports. If the assaults had been a failure, neither he nor the brave men he led to battle were to blame. He had obeyed his orders. The fault lay in the cowardly surrender of Holly Springs, behind Grant's co-operating army. Some day it will be asked, how did Grant, the astute general, happen to leave his base of supplies, of immense value and untold importance, in the hands of only 1,000 volunteer recruits, commanded by an officer of no experi- ence—a man who had failed in duty once before, and who was, as it turned out, a coward ? Gen. McClernand, who was to have commanded the river expe- dition originally, now appeared at Sherman's headquarters and took supreme command. It was a strange sight— a great mili- tary genius being relieved of his command by Gen. J. A. McClernand! *Rebellion Records. ATTEMPTS ON VICKSBURG. 201 CAPTURE OF ARKANSAS POST. The river array now, at Gen. Sh^^-man's suggestion, was car- ried by steamers up the White and Arkansas rivers, to attack Fort Hindman, or Arkansas Post, fifty miles from the mouth of the river. All the Iowa regiments then near Vicksburg went along. Fort Hindman, or Arkansas Post, was a strong, star-shaped fort on the left bank of the Arkansas river, forty miles above its mouth. It was solidly built, well armed, and situated in a position naturally strong. Its commander, on the approach of the Federals, received from headquarters the order to " hold out till the last man was dead." The defense made by its 5,000 gar- rison was a gallant one. On the evening of the 9th of January the federal army landed from the transports and proceeded to surround the forti- fications from the land side. The flotilla of gunboats under Admiral Porter took position on the river and cannonaded the fort most furiously until dark. The investment was not com- plete before 10 a. m. of the 11th. Gen. Steele's division, con- taining the Iowa troops, took position on the extreme right of the army. At one o'clock the grand assault was to commence. The gunboats opened a terrific fire, soon followed by the fire of artillery of the entire right and left wings of the investing army. At half past one, Hovey's and Thaj-^er's brigades, the latter all Iowa men, and the brigades of Giles A. and T. K, Smith charged over the open ground to their front. They were supported by Blair's brigade as a reserve, and all advanced under a fire of musketry and artillery. In the advance. which was at first made in column of regiments, Gen. Hovey and many officers and men were wounded. In the battle line, as it now deployed, the Twenty-sixth Iowa, under Col. Milo Smith, occu- pied the left', suffered much and did very great execution. " No officer or regiment behaved better, or did better fighting on that battle field, than Col. Milo Smith and his regiment," wrote the brigade commander to Gov. Kirkwood. " They advanced to the front under a most galling fire," he continues, " and in the most 202 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. exposed part of the field, and held it till the action was over. Col. Smith remained at his post till carried wounded from the field." Lieutenants P. S. Hyde and J. S. Patterson, with 17 men of the regiment, were killed, and 98 officers and men were wounded. Among them were Lieut. James McDill, mortally; Adjt. Thos. Gr. Ferreby, Capt. N. A. Merrell and Lieutenants Edward Svens- den and W. R. Ward.* The Thirtieth Iowa, led by Lt.-Col. Torrence, Col. Abbot being ill, was also well advanced and warmly engaged. It was gal- lantly supported by the Thirty-fourth Iowa under Col. Clark, while the Fourth and Ninth Iowa, though under fire, were held in reserve. In Hovey's brigade on the extreme right, the Twenty-fifth Iowa, under Col. Stone, and the Thirty-first Iowa, under Col. Smyth, marched with the Missouri and Ohio regiments to the assault. The Twenty-fifth Iowa gallantly supported the Sev- enty-sixth *Ohio, and the Thirty-first Iowa the Third Missouri. "This column," says Gen. Hovey, "moving over open ground, and in advance of all others, drew the concentrated fire of the enemy's artillery and rifle pits." At Hovey's right flank, a charge was ordered by the Third Missouri, supported by the Thirty-first Iowa, under a galling cross-fire of infantry and artillery. The charge was gallantly made, but failed. At other points along the line, especially in front of the divis- ion of A. J. Smith, the union troops were meeting with better success. Smith had advanced with twelve regiments, and stead- ily drove the enemy into his intrenchments. Led by Smith personally, the regiments advanced almost close enough to shake hands with the enemy across the rifle pits. Burb ridge's, Land- rum's and Sheldon's brigades dashed forward under a deadly fire almost into the enemy's works. All along the line the union troops were successfully assaulting. At 4:30 o'clock, and after three hours of hard fighting, the white flag was run up on the fort, and the loyal troops of the Northwest marched into Arkansas Post. Five thousand pris- *Rebellion Records. ATTEMPTS ON VICKSBURG. 203 oners and large stores of arms and supplies were captured, and 200 Rebels had been killed or wounded. The federal loss vras 1,061 officers and men killed, wounded and missing.* Sixty-five officers were wounded, and 6 killed. The Thirtieth Iowa fought hard and lost severely. It lay in one position for three hours, successfully silencing some field- artillery, supported by musketry from rifle pits. James M. Smith, a private of the Thirtieth, was complimented for gallan- try by his commander. The loss of the regiment was 43 killed and wounded — among the latter. Captains Creamer and Burk, and Lieutenants Creighton and Alexander. Col. Stone, of the Twenty-fifth, was complimented by Gen. Hovey, as was his regiment, with the exception of its major, who was accused of " leaving the field in the face of the enemy." The loss of the Twenty-fifth regiment was 61 killed and wounded, showing the severity of the fighting. Adjt. Samuel Kirkwood Clarke, one of the most esteemed young officers, was mortally wounded. Less wounded were Captains Palmer and Bell, and Lieutenants Stark and Orr. Capt. Dan. H. Lyons, of the Thirty-fourth Iowa, was mor- tally wounded, and 15 others were slightly wounded. THE YAZOO PASS EXPEDITION. The capture of Arkansas Post had been but an interlude in the various vain efforts to reduce Vicksburg. These efforts had been by gunboats, by " cut ofts," by bayous, canals, and assaults. Many weary months had passed with armies marching hither and thither, trying this thing and that, and yet Vicksburg was not ours. Most unique and most picturesque of all the vain attempts to capture the coveted city, and with it the key to the mighty Father of Waters, was the expedition to the " Yazoo Pass." Gen. Grant cut the great levee of the Mississippi at a point near Helena.f The river was very high, and shortly the low lands, *Rebellion Records. t.Much of the severe labor of clearing Yazoo Pass was performed by the rhirty-tbird Iowa Infantry, and the privations and fatigue of the labor will never be forgotten by the men of that regiment. 204 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. the little streams, the plantations and the woods, for a hundred miles, were flooded so deep as to look like a vast inland sea. Here and there, high ground and houses and tree tops stood above the water, as reminders that here in times of peace, had been the homes and habitations of men. Grant's plan now was to reach the rear of Vicksburg, trans- porting a small army escorted by gun boats through the Yazoo Pass, via Moon Lake, and thence down the Coldwater and Talla- hatchie rivers toward Yazoo City and Haines Bluff, north of Vicksburg. February 24, under Gren. Ross, seven gunboats and eighteen transports, bearing soldiers, many of them from Iowa, entered the sea of swamp and flood and forest. The descent into Moon Lake was rapid and dangerous, and the boats, loaded to the water's edge with the cheering soldiers, dashed on and were whirled about like toys. Slowly the little fleet now picked its way down the deepest streams, along bayous and swamps, across fields, wherever the obstructions of the forest trees might prove the least. It was a strange spectacle — this fleet of steamers and gun- boats and cheering soldiers among the forests, swamps and plantations of the Coldwater. At night, the boats were tied to the trees, and the men left their cracker boxes, with novel inscriptions and bits of canteens and broken swords, far up in the tree tops. The darkeys, left on the plantations here and there above water, thought the Year of Jubilee had come. Some, seeing the rising waters, looked for another flood, and regarded the gunboats as possible arks of safety. At the junction of the Tallahatchie and the Yallabusha rivers the expedition came to a sudden halt. The Rebels had built a fort and obstructed the stream with rafts so completely as to make further advance impossible. The gunboats tried it and were badly crippled. So too did some batteries. The rebel posi- tion was too strong, and there was nothing for Ross to do but to return, if he could. On his way back from the remarkable voyage, he met Gen. Quinby's division, including more Iowa troops, crossing to aid him. ATTEMPTS ON VICKSBURG. 205 Quinby assumed command, and the expedition was sent for- ward again to the rebel front. It was of no avail, and shortly the whole command slowly steamed back through the woods to the Mississippi, its commanders thankful that the whole force had been neither captured nor drowned. The men of the Iowa regiments, and they included the Fifth, Tenth, Seventeenth and Thirty-third, will never forget the days when they were all mariners in the Yazoo Pass, nor the adven- tures of a campaign the most novel of the war. CHAPTER XVIII. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. May-July, 1863. At last, Vicksburg's hour was comino^. The great Missis- sippi river was subsiding, and the endless and tortuous bayous, creeks and lagoons through which Grant's army had been wading and swimming in mid-winter — they, too, were subsiding, and dry land was to be found about Yicksburg. The army infantry were to be mariners no longer. The crocodiles and the alligators of the swamps and the lagoons were to have a rest. Gen. Grant's army was to be marched down the west side of the Mississippi to a point below Vicksburg, and there, under the protection of the gunboats, cross over and attack the rebel stronghold from the rear. Gunboats and transports, manned mostly by volunteers from the army, some of them from Iowa, ran past the fierce line of batteries in the night. That was one of the great scenes of the war. " It was a magnificent sight," said Gen. Grant, " but terrible." At ten o'clock at night on the 16th of April, eight gunboats and three transports, their boilers and decks protected by bales of cotton and thousands of sacks of grain, started on the perilous undertaking. Each vessel dragged at its side barges laden with bales of hay and army supplies, all to be used when the fleet and the army should meet below. In the dark holds of each vessel stood volunteers, ready to stop with cotton and boards any holes made in the sides by the cannon balls of the enemy. Gen. Grant, from a tug in the river, watched the brave men start. At a point farther down, right opposite the batteries and among the swamps, Gen. Sherman, with a yawl and a few sol- (206) IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 207 diers, awaited their coming, determined to aid tlie wrecked, if the boats should sink. The upper levees toward Milliken's Bend were thronged with soldiers eagerly listening for the shots that would tell that the danger was on. Prompt at the signal from the shore, the fleet started into the darkness, the flag ship Benton ahead, and the brave Porter com- manding. Sullenly and slowly, with lights hidden, and as quietly as possible, the boats drifted down the mighty river. Sullenly they slipped along the river's bend, till suddenly the watchful pickets of the foe sent up a burning rocket, and that moment came the boom of mighty cannon. All the shore sud- denly blazed with torches and burning houses,* Grun after gun, battery after battery, let loose a thunder of explosions and bursting missiles. Every boat in the floating line was hit, and the iron sides of the gunboats rattled and shivered with the awful hail that struck them. The roaring cannon, and the shells bursting like balls of fire in the air, one of the boats on fire and sinking, and the Rebels running and yelling on the half lighted shore, made a terrific spectacle. All this time the soldiers, in the dark holds of the boats, stood waiting with the cotton in their hands. It took two hours for the boats to pass the awful storm of all the batteries. What hours for the men down in tbe holds! One boat only was lost. The fleet was below Vicksburg and the army could cross the river. A similar feat with the batteries at Grand Gulf, and daylight of April 30th saw 10,000 union soldiers landed on the east side of the river, ready for battle. Other thousands were hurrying across, and all now in full view of the amazed defenders of the fortb at Grand Gulf. Only yesterday, these same forts, after an awful bombardment, had driven back the federal gunboats and prevented a landing above the position. That night while they were loading their guns and preparing for the morrow, the " Yankee" boats passed their batteries and were now ferrying their thousands across the river.f *The Rebels made bonfires and fired the building's alon^ the levee, to light up the nver and enable their artillery to attack the gunboats 01 the t When the troops got over the river," says Gen. Grant, " I felt a degree rehef scarcely ever equaled since." * * * " I was on dry ground, on e same side of the river with the enemy." 208 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. Among those thousands now marching on Vicksburg from the rear, were twenty-nine regiments and batteries from Iowa. It was to be another great Iowa victory. Again Iowa troops were to hold key positions, and Iowa blood was to again seal her peo- ple's devotion to the Union. The honor to be achieved by these Iowa regiments, crossing over the river on the gunboats that bright morning, was not the same to all. Some were placed in unimportant or subordinate positions — some in reserve — some were hurled into the hottest vortex of the battle; but, in its place, each and every Iowa regiment at Vicksburg did its duty. Two hundred miles were to be marched by day and by night, on short rations, and five battles were to be fought in almost the same number of days. A letter received by Grant from Gen. Banks led him to change the plan ol his campaign the moment he was over the river. Banks was to have co-operated with Grant from Port Hudson; New Orleans, instead of Milli ken's Bend, was to have been the base of supply. Banks could not act with the required celerity, and Grant, regardless of war department wishes, abandoned the plan, cut loose and entered the enemy's country determined by quick marches and fierce battles to whip the rebel armies in detail and as suddenly march on the fortifications of Vicksburg. The plan was in design, as in execution, Napo- leonic. PORT GIBSON. The point where the army was mostly ferried over the river was known as Bruinsburg. McClernand's corps, containing several Iowa regiments, marched in advance with the Second brigade of Carr's division, commanded by Col. Wm. Stone, ahead. Stone had with him in this brigade, the Twenty-first, Twenty-second and Twenty-third Iowa infantry, and the First Iowa battery. The course was east, and that midnight the head of the column struck the enemy eight miles from Port Gibson.* The Rebels, 8,500 strong, lay along two roads running a mile *It was a strange comment on tlie changing events of those battle days, that the guide who was leading the advance of the army that night through the woods and darkness, was an old negro— a slave of the neighborhood. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 209 apart, and on high ridges, back to Port Gibson. Osterhaus's division was advanced on the north road, and Carr's, Hovey's and Ross's divisions, including several Iowa regiments, were pushed against the enemy on the southern road. There was a deep, impassable ravine between the two roads, completely separ- ating the two wings of the union army and preventing co-opera- tion. At midnight, four companies of the Twenty-first Iowa, under Lt.-Col. Dunlap and Maj. Van Anda, and a part of the First Iowa battery, under Capt. Griffiths, led as skirmishers. Being fired on in the darkness, the rest of the Twenty-first, led by Col. Merrill, was brought up. As the line reached a little church at the roadside, they were met by a tremendous volley of musketry. So commenced the first battle in the new campaign for Vicks- burg, and the first union volleys were fired by Iowa men. The full Iowa battery opened, as did other field guns, in reply to several guns of the enemy, whose shells and balls and canister crashed through the trees and fences for an hour. Then a pause came, and both sides waited for daylight. With the rising sun, the rebel batteries again opened, and their infantry sprang to the attack. The conflict was soon raging along both roads, and with success on the union side at the right, though Osterhaus, on the north road, made little progress. For hours the fighting was severe. Grant, himself, came on the field at ten o'clock, and soon parts of Gen. McPherson's corps came forward to help. By eleven. Stone's brigade in the right center had orders to charge the enemy's lines in their immediate front. The men advanced for the purpose in double lines of battalions, through a deep hollow whose sides were covered with heavy cane and underbrush. On reaching an open field they delivered a fire so steady and so withering that the enemy gave way and ran. The union line followed slowly, the Twenty-third Iowa in advance; but, in another mile found the enemy heavily re-enforced and again awaiting it. Again heavy fighting occurred in Stone's brigade, and the battle raged to right and left, until the enemy, fairly defeated on his own ground, withdrew. I. W. T.— 14 210 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. M(jPherson had materially aided in the victory, by getting one of his divisions along a difiBeult ridge to the enemy's right flank. The whole country was ridges and ravines, cane brakes and hollows — "stood on edge," in the words of Gen. Grant. It was an awful place to fight in, and gave the enemy great advan- tages. Col. Stone, in his report, complimented highly the leader of the Twenty-third Iowa, Lt.-Col. Glasgow, Col. Merrill of the Twenty-first Iowa, Maj. Atherton, commanding the Twenty- second Iowa, and Lieut. Waterbury of the Twenty-third Iowa, who acted as aide. Col. Stone, himself, received the warm com- mendations of the division commander. He gave out in the afternoon of the battle from exhaustion, and was succeeded in command by Col. Merrill — but lived to fight again and to become governor of the loyal state whose men he had been leading. " Col. Merrill," says Gen. Carr, " was wounded, and he was the first in battle and the last to leave the field." He was the second hero of the day to become a governor of Iowa. No regi- ment was truer or braver than his. Captains Jacob Swivel, J. M. Harrison, E. Boardman and J. M. Watson were compli- mented for gallantry. Capt. Crooke, with Co. B of the Twenty- first Iowa, was the first to receive the fire of the rebel pickets. Sergeant Kihst of the regiment captured a rebel dispatch bearer. The Twenty-third Iowa led the brigade advance in the after- noon, fought gallantly and lost more heavily than any other Iowa regiment engaged. It and its gallant leader, Lt.-Col. Glasgow, were highly complimented by Gen. Carr, division commander. Sergt. Wm. R. Leebart, of the First Iowa battery was wounded and mentioned for gallantry. Among the wounded of the brigade were the brave Lt.-Col. Dunlap of the Twenty-first, Lieutenants Wm. De Camp, John Francisco, D. W. Henderson and Adjt. D. J. Davis of the Twenty-second, and Capt. Wm. R. Henry and Lieut. D. P. Ballard of the Twenty-third. The Twenty-eighth Iowa also fought heroically at Port GENERAL JAMES WILSON. i IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 211 Gibson, but in another division and farther to the left. It was their first engagement, but " tliey fought" says Col. Connell, their commander, " with fearless spirit and determination." The other Iowa regiments present, the Fifth, Tenth and others were held in reserve or participated but slightly in the battle. The losses of the Iowa regiments were as follows: the Twenty-first Iowa, 17 wounded; the Twenty-second Iowa, 2 killed and 13 wounded; the Twenty-third Iowa, 6 killed and 27 wounded and the Twenty-eighth Iowa, 1 killed and 16 wounded. That evening Grant's army marched into Port Gibson. The first act in the new drama of Vicksburg was finished. RAYMOND AND JACKSON. Port Gibson had proven an important victory for Grant, for the way toward Vicksburg was now open, and on " dry land." The Rebels immediately abandoned the strong post of Grand Gulf, with its armament of heavy guns and batteries, leaving Grant's left flank clear and ready to advance. He determined to grasp the advantages before him at once, and to hurry his array along the Big Black river toward a point half way between Vicksburg and Jackson, the state capital, where Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was already assembling a second rebel army. In this position, Grant could strike right or left, and whip the enemy in detail. McPherson's corps moved well to the right, slightly in advance, in the direction of Raymond. The rest of the army moved north, parallel with the Black river, and all troops were kept within supporting distance. To cover Jackson and to threaten Grant's right flank, a rebel force had been advanced to Raymond. On May 12th, at four o'clock in the morning, McPherson's corps struck the videttes of this force in front of the town. Gen. John A. Logan, com- manding a division, was in advance, and by eleven o'clock, the battle of Raymond was being fought. Quinby's division, com- manded by Crocker of Iowa, was ordered to the front as supports. It contained the Fifth, Tenth and Seventeenth Iowa regiments, but as the enemj'- gave way after two hours hard fighting, they were but little under fire. 212 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. At five p. M., McPherson's troops marclied into Raymond. The enemy fell back on Jackson, toward which point Grant suddenly turned his whole army, marching by nearly parallel roads. It was his chance, and he saw it. The Rebels under Pemberton were marching out of Vicksburg, expecting to be attacked at Edwards station. While they were waiting Grant's shock in line of T^attle, that general was wheeling his divis- ions toward Jackson, and on the 14th, at ten o'clock A. m., in the midst of an awful thunder storm, the cannon of the union army opened on the capital of Mississippi. Grant advanced on Jackson by two lines — the right, under Sherman, from Mississippi Springs, near Raymond, and the left under McPherson, marching from Clinton. The two lines were nearly parallel, but were from three to five miles apart. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was in command of the Rebels in the city in person, and had about twenty-five thousand men with him. When McPherson's advance ran on to the enemy's first lines outside his fortifications, a terrible rain was falling. When, shortly, the fight opened, the shocks of thunder were so sudden and explosive and so commingled with the artillery, the soldiers could not tell the thunder from the cannon. On McPherson's line, in Quinby's division, which was led by Crocker, the Iowa men had the advance, and the post of honor. They were the Fifth, Tenth and Seventeenth Iowa regiments. The outer lines of the Rebels were some distance outside of the city and encircled it from Pearl river on the north around to the same river on the south. Crocker's division was all deployed in line of battle by 11 a. m., with John A. Logan's troops as a reserve. Between the line and the rebel works was a creek, lined with thick brush and willows, with an open field beyond, and woods on right and left. The creek was quickly crossed under a heavy artillery fire; but at the edge of the open field that sloped up to the rebel works, the line was checked. Suddenly the whole division was ordered to charge. The advance, under a fire of artillery and musketry, was magnifi- cently made, as the line reached into the woods on either hand, with its center moving straight up through the open field. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 213 Steadily forward, firing as they went, the long line moved on, not heeding the withering fire that thinned their ranks at every volley. Half way up, and the charge so earnest alarms the rebel front. They yield and run, leaving their entrenchments, their field batteries, and their heavy guns, in the hands of the assaulters. Jackson, the capital, has fallen. Sherman's advance on the right had been easier, and a flank- ing movement by Gen. Tuttle had forced the rebels there to desert their cannon and fly back over the river. In McPherson's advance, Crocker's assaulting column had suffered severely. The brave Seventeenth Iowa, in its fierce charge, lost 80 men, out of only 350 engaged. It was led by Col. D. B. Hillis, and its advance was the first inside the rebel works. Capt. Houston, though wounded, alone captured three Rebels and took them with him to the hospital. Captains Hicks and Johnson, together with Lieutenants Kenderdine, Skelton, Browne, and Woodrow were all wounded, and Lieut. John M. Inskeep was killed. The colonel commended Lt.-Col. Wever, Adjt. Woolsey and Captains Craig, Houston and Walden for cool- ness and duty, though the entire command was conspicuous for extreme gallantry that day. The losses in the other Iowa regiments engaged were small. The Fifth lost but 4 men, while the loss of the Fourth is not given. The Thirty-fifth, fighting at the right, lost 2. Yet all were in line, and did their duty. The Fourth Iowa cavalry was constantly on the move at front or flanks, and its sevice was valuable and recognized. " It was composed of as good men," said Gov. Kirkwood, " as Iowa ever sent to the field." When Grant rode into Jackson with Sherman that afternoon, he found thirty-five pieces of cannon, and much public property as trophies.* He was scarcely dismounted, when he learned that Pemberton was to march and attack his rear, while Johnston should swing around northwest from Jackson, and the two *0n entering the town, Grant and Sherman looked into a cotton factory, where the men and women had unconcernedly kept at work during the battle as if nothing were happening. They were making cloth for rebel uniforms. That night the buildings were burned down. 214 IOWA IN" WAR TIMES. attack and try to destroy the union army somewhere near Clin- ton, fifteen miles away. The order was sent to Pemberton by Johnston, by three different couriers. One of these happened to be a loyal man, and he took the dispatch straight into the federal camp. Grant at once set all his divisions in motion, facing Vicksburg, proposing to concentrate in the neighborhood of Bolton, about half way between Jackson and Vicksburg. Pemberton was all at sea as to Grant's movements and was himself not following the orders of his commander. Defeat and danger threatened every movement he made. At last he com- menced to turn south a little, to strike Grant's base of supplies and so cut him off. But Grant had no base — he was loose from everything. All communication with the North was gone. His army slept in fields and on roadsides, and lived on whatever it could pick up on the nearest plantations. A new kind of war had commenced and Pemberton did not know it. So he marched for the base that was not. Swollen creeks and broken bridges checked his movement, and at the last moment, he changed his plan and started north again to try to join John- ston at Clinton, as he had first been ordered to do. This movement brought on the important and hard fought battle of CHAMPION HILLS. May 16, 1863. Grant's divisions moving west from Jackson and in almost parallel lines, struck Pemberton's front well posted on the high, wooded hills of Champion's farm, some twenty-five miles east of Vicksburg. It was a strong position, and one dangerous to assault. Pemberton decided to fight, and possibly to settle the fate of Vicksburg among the woods, rocks, and ravines of this commanding position. The hill was wooded and in many places stood very large magnolia trees in full bloom. The da}'' was exceedingly hot, and Grant's troops, since cross- ing the Mississippi, had done nothing but march and fight. Much of the marching had been done at night, and every road in the great triangle of Port Gibson, Jackson and Vicksburg, had con- stantly been filled with marching soldiers. The union divisions, IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 215 without abase, with the great river behind thetn makins; retreat impossible, and without headquarters — cut off and wholly in the enemy's country, were tramping wherever ordered. Some were foraging for food and feed, and some hurrying to cover threatened points. The rebel army had been doing much the same thing at the same time, — and now, in the hot woods of Champion Hills, with empty stomachs and emptier canteens, the two armies met in a decisive battle. It was the 16th of May. Hovey's division, including two gal- lant Iowa regiments, the Twenty-fourth and the Twenty-eighth, marching from Bolton, was the first to strike the Rebels on their left center, and bring on the engagement. Their position was across the road from Jackson to Vicksburg, near to Champion's house. They captured a battery, but could not hold it, and were hard pressed though desperately fighting, when Logan's division, and then Crocker's, with several more Iowa regiments, were pushed in to their aid. Grant was at the front in person. When Hovey'^ division, with the Twenty-fourth and Twenty- eighth Iowa, first entered the engagement, the fighting was terrific, as the fearful loss in those regiments shows. They fought in Slack's brigade. The Twenty-eighth was first at the left, where a determined flanking movement of the enemy was defeated— then at the right of the brigade, and though once overpowered and driven back, they rallied and helped to ohase the enemy from the field. The regiment lost 100 men, mostly killed and wounded, and the number severely and mortally wounded was astonishing. Four companies of the regiment came out of the fight without a commissioned officer. Capt. Benj. F. Kirby was killed, as was Lieut. John J. Legan. Lieut. John Buchanan lost a good right arm, and many of the men died from their wounds. Capt. John A. Staley was taken prisoner. "Of this regiment and the Twenty-fourth Iowa, (the Temperance regiment) what shall I say?" writes Gen. Hovey. " Of them the state of Iowa may well be proud." The Twenty-fourth, in the same brigade, fought like veterans, and dashed past and over a well defended rebel battery. In the daring charge many brave officers and men fell, killed or 316 IOWA IN WAE TIMES. wounded. Among the killed were Captains Wm. Carbee, Silas D. Johnson and Lieat. Chauncey Lawrence. The gallant Maj. Ed. Wright was wounded, as were Captains Leander Clark, J. W. Martin and Lieutenants S. J. McKinley, J. C. Gue, and S. J. Dillman. One hundred and ninety-five out of the 417 who entered the fight, were killed, wounded or missing. That meant nearly every other man, and the men of that noble regiment who so heroically gave life and limb for their country that day were of Iowa's best blood. Nowhere, in all the dreadful four years' struggle, was the state of Iowa more honored by the pat- riotic valor of its sons than at Champion Hills by the Twenty- fourth regiment. The Seventeenth Iowa fought in Crocker's division, Holmes's brigade. Inch by inch this regiment drove the Alabamians in their front through woods and ravines, up hill and down hill, re-capturing the battery that had been taken and then lost in the earlier part of the fight. Three times in two hours this Ala- bama battery changed hands. In the charge for these guns, the Seventeenth also captured many prisoners and a battle flag. Five times the Seventeenth Iowa charged the Rebels at Champion Hills, and each time under a murderous fire of musketry and artillery. The regiment lost 57 of its men in the short fight. Among its wounded were Captains A, A. Stuart, J. F. Walden, and Lieutenants Daniel W. Tower and Jas. W. Craig. Lieut. Tower lost a leg. He, with Lieutenants C. W. Woodrow, Geo. W. Deal, Sergt. Swearingen and Corp. A. S. Trussel, who captured a flag, were all mentioned for great gallantry. Lt.-Col. Wever, who led in one of the charges, and Adjt. Woolsey were also much complimented by Col. Hillis for bravery. Both had their horses shot under them. The Fifth and the Tenth Iowa were in Boomer's brigade of Crocker's division. The Fifth Iowa fought as desperately at Champion Hills as any regiment on that memorable field. It entered the fight with its division and on the run, at about eleven o'clock, and under the vertical rays of a boiling sun The regiment had marched hard, and for twenty-four hours had little sleep, water, or food. It was led to the front by Lt.-Col. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 217 E. S. Sampson, and in the bloody battle that followed, lost more than a quarter of the number of its men engaged. On its right, in the same brigade (Boomer's), were the Tenth Iowa and the Twenty-sixth Missouri, while the Ninety-third Illinois stood like a blazing rock on its left. Just as Crocker's division, with these and other regiments, came up, Hovey's hard fighting division, overpowered, was falling back — its lines pushed out of the woods down the slope over the open, and almost up to Champion's house. Disaster seemed inevitable. Hundreds of wounded men, with faces begrimed with powder and blood, met Crocker's re-enforcing lines as they hurried into the wood. The crashing of the mus- ketry was simply appalling. Such terrific salvos from infantry were seldom heard in battle. A few moments before the Fifth Iowa started in on the double quick. Grant, the commander, rode up behind the regi- ment.* Grant was brave spite of the bullets that were whizzing past and through the ranks, and though occasional men were falling where they stood, the quiet and unassuming general dis- mounted from his bay mare and calmly leaned against the beast's shoulder smoking a cigar, as seemed a necessity with him. It was not bravado. In quiet tones he gave orders to mounted aides who dashed off to other parts of the battle field. Certainly few words were uttered by him, though our position at that point, at that moment, seemed perilous. Once a poor soldier, wounded and torn and groaning, was borne close by him on a litter. A glance of pity seemed to change his countenance — but for a moment, only. Then the face, so apparently unconcerned as to the dreadful surroundings, quietly turned to an officer waiting near him. His voice could not be heard. He was dressed in half uniform, wearing his general's yellow belt, but not his sword. His countenance seemed handsomer, more business- like and more soldierly than in any of his pictures, save that of Marshall's. How we all wished that Grant would leave the spot, and ride away from the danger. Yet spite of the bullets *The writer, acting sergeant major of the Fifth Iowa at the time, liappened to be near Gen. Grant. He permits himself to record some of the incidents of the battle witnessed by himself. 218 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. whizzing past our heads, how many faces turned to glance at him, feeling that he was to see the regiment of which we were so proud start in on the charge. We forgot our own danger in our fears for him. Ah! many a man of that noble regiment was looking on Grrant for the last time. " Forward"— the order came—" double quick"—" fix bayo- jiets" — and on the brigade went— over the open, into the sloping woods and ravines, up to the very front, charging and yelling as we ran. How we yelled! Once at the ridge's crest, in the woods, the line halts, and for an hour and a half stands facing a fearful musketry, answering back volleys that made the hills roar as if the elements were in commotion. Other masses of Rebels poured over on to the front of the Fifth and Tenth, when some regiments to the left breaking away, and cross fires reaching the left flank and even rear, the line gave way. It was a fearful race in the hot sun ; and with the hotter bul- lets following, till the men rallied in a new line, protected by batteries. The color bearer had fallen, but in the chase rear- wards Corp. Teter picked up the bullet-ridden flag. At that instant, a comrade cried to him, " Let's halt and give them another round." With an oath the corporal lifted the flag in air: "I'll stay here so long as a man of the Fifth Iowa will stay by me,"— and he waved it in defiance of the increasing hail of bullets, and of the fierce line of rebels advancing and yelling: " Kill those men— capture that flag." There the two comrades stood, screaming to the powder begrimed and blood covered men, passing rearward, to stop and help save the flag. A few braved to halt in the storm of bullets and answered the rebel yell with the crack of their rifles. Nearer came the yelling line, firing as they ran. Never will the writer of this forget that little group of men with the flag, standing there in the broiling sun, the rushing, blood stained men, and the bullets cutting down our flying comrades. It was of no use. The little group guarding the flag also fell back, but they took the colors with them. Farther back the regiment formed a new line, from which no soldier of the Fifth yielded a step that day. The Rebels came on. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 219 but it was to meet the rallied and solid lines that could not be moved. The men fired till the last round of ammunition was spent and then, still holding the Rebels at bay, took the cart- ridges from the bodies of the dead and wounded, and shot them into the faces of the now dismayed and retreating enemy. It was by such terrible fighting that the battle of Champion Hills was won. Once, before the line left the front ridge, just when the firing and the roar of battle were the greatest, a boy, a stripling of perhaps sixteen, came running up to the writer at the left of the regiment. " My regiment is gone," he cried, " my regiment has left! what shall I do?" His face was black with powder, and his eyes were filled with tears. " Stay here. Fire right here, with us," was answered him. To the last moment, that boy stood in the battle and loaded and fired his musket. When oui* line, overpowered, fell back, and the Rebels pursued, I saw him no more, but after the battle an officer of the Seventeenth Iowa found a boy near the same spot, with both legs shot off, and dead. The trees where that hero boy stood and fired so long at the left of the Fifth Iowa were filled with thousands of bullets. On the sides of one large oak the scars of more than two hundred balls were counted that evening. Near by, Capt. S. B. Lindsay and Lieut. Jerome Darling, with many men were killed, and Lieutenants J. Limbocker and Thompson were wounded. It seemed almost a mystery that any man escaped from that line alive. The loss of the Fifth was 19 killed and 75 wounded, out of only 350 engaged. Maj. Marshall, then adjutant, received just praise for his gallantry, as did Captains Lee and Pickerell. What the Fifth Iowa had been doing in that hot battle, that had the Tenth Iowa been doing equally well. They were in the same brigade and fought together on the same fierce line. They suffered, besides, a severe enfilading fire on their flank. Their losses were very great in both officers and men, and attest the heroism of that brave regiment. Thirty-four were killed and 124 were wounded. The Christian gentleman and the gallant soldier, Capt. Poag, was shot dead, and lay there among the 220 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. leaves, a bullet in his forehead, and his feet to the foe. So, too, fell Lieutenants Brown and Terry, while Captains Holson, Swallow, Hobson, Kuhn and Lusby, with Lieutenants Meekins, Wright and Gregory, were wounded. It was a sad day for the noble Tenth — so many of its men left dead on the field of battle. But to the Iowa regiments that battle field was especi- ally a field of honor. The battle was the important one of the whole campaign, and it had been fought by Hovey's, Logan's and Crocker's divisions, McClernand's forces coming up on Grant's left too late to be severely engaged. Had McClernand been up as promptly as others, Pemberton's whole army would have been captured, as Logan's fighting division had flanked it and well nigh cut it off from all possible retreat. Even as it was. Champion Hills was one of the most complete union successes of the war. It was fought against superior numbers, and on the enemy's chosen position, and without rifle pits or aids of any kind. It was a well planned, hard fought battle, and the Rebels were fairly and terribly beaten, with a loss of 24 pieces of artil- lery, some 3,000 killed and wounded, and 3,000 prisoners. The union loss was 2,441. By McClernand's failure to get his divisons into the fight ear- lier, more than half the union army was not engaged. Loring's division of Rebels was cut off, only escaping capture by a cir- cuitous and flying night march southwards, not getting back to Vicksburg at all. Pemberton's army, badly beaten, fled that evening to the railroad crossing of the Big Black river, a few miles nearer Vicksburg, closely pursued by the victorious troops of Grant's army. BATTLE OF BLACK RIVER BRIDGE. May n, 1863. Before nine o'clock of the morning of the 17th, another battle had been fought. Once more Iowa regiments were put to the post of danger and once more won a victory. Pemberton had thrown up breastworks in the open field, nearly a mile east of the river, and in front of the bridge he pro- posed defending. These breastworks, crossing a peninsula formed by a big bend in the river, were filled with rebel regi- IOWA AT VICKSBURQ. 221 ments and field batteries. Carr's division, in which was Lawler's brigade, with the Twenty-first, Twenty-second and Twenty- third Iowa regiments, came in sight of the rebel works at day- light, having marched several hours in the night. The serai- circle of rebel breastworks was made of cotton bales covered with earth — the kind of works that were so effective against the British under Packenham, at New Orleans. Lawler's brigade was put at the extreme right of the union line, its right resting almost on the river, then a high, rapid and turbulent stream. The treeless and open bottom across which the rebel works ran, was so covered by guns from both sides of the river as to make an assault seem impossible. To add to the danger, a deep, narrow bayou with two feet of water in it, stretched around in front of the rebel breastworks, serving as a perfect ditch or moat. Spite of it all, Grrant's forces were preparing for a general assault. At that very moment, as Gen. Grant tells us, a staff officer rode up, bringing from Halleck a peremptory order for Grant to abandon the campaign and take his army to Port Hudson, to help Gen. Banks. Halleck, of course, knew nothing of the recent victories. All communication with the North had been lost by cutting loose at the Mississippi river. " I think it is too late," said Grant, while the officer expostu- lated and felt that Halleck's order should be obeyed. The words were scarcely spoken, when Grant, glancing to the right of his lines, saw a dashing officer in his shirt sleeves, leading his brig- ade to the assault. It was Gen. Lawler and the men of the Twenty-first, Twenty-second and Twenty-third Iowa, and the Eleventh Wisconsin, rushing into a hailstorm of bullets, in an assault on the works. Lawler's brigade, like the rest of Carr's division, had been partially covered at the right by a cluster of woods near the river. Close inspection had convinced Lawler that by appear- ing from the woods and pushing close along the river, a sudden assault might be made, and the works entered. At a given signal, the charge across the open bottom and the assault was commenced. " It was," said Gen. Grant, " a daring 222 IOWA IN" WAR TIMES. movement." Lawler's men, mostly from Iowa, left the woods with a loud cheer, and spite of a terrific fire of musketry in their faces, crossed the open bottom on a run, waded the dangerous bayous under murderous fire, and in five minutes were inside the enemy's works.* The Twenty-third Iowa, led by Col. Kinsman, was in the advance. The Twenty-first Iowa and the Eleventh Wisconsin followed. The Twenty-second Iowa, nearer the river, moved close along its banks, flanked the enemy, and took a great number of prisoners. When the assaulting column, j^elling and firing, reached the ditch in front of the rebel lines, the enemy dropped their guns and rushed for the rear. Some escaped, hundreds, were cut off by the Twenty-second Iowa and captured, and scores jumped into the river and were drowned in their effort to get across.f The works and eighteen cannon were in possession of the assaulters. The charge of Lawler's brigade was one of the bril- liant events of the war. It cost, however, the life of many a gallant Iowa man. Two hundred and seventy-nine Federals were killed or wounded, and nearly all in this assaulting column. The names of the Twenty-first and the Twenty-third Iowa were that morning written high on the scroll of Iowa's military honor. With the commander in chief and half the army look- ing on, they had successfully assaulted a position that might have stood in Grant's path to Vicksburg for a month. Col. * Gt Grant, as already stated, witnessed the brilliant charade in person, and there on the battle field wrote the following note in pencil on a bit oi torn paper. It has never before been printed. May 17th, 10:30 a. M. " Dear GenH: Lawler's brig^ade stormed the enemi/'s toorks a few minutes since; carried it, capturing from 2,000 to 3,000 prisoners, 10 guns, so far as heard from, and probably more will be found. The enemy have fired both bridges. A. J. Smith captured 10 guns this morning, with teams, men and ammunition. I send you a note from Col. Wright. Yours, U. S. Grant, Maj. Gen'l. T< Maj. Gen'l Sherman, Comd'g Seventeenth Arm;/ Corps. .j."Now's your time to give 'em hell, boys," cried Gen. Osterhaus to some of his battery men, when from another point on the field he saw the success of the charge, and noticed hundreds of Rebels running back along the high trestlework approaching the bridge at the river. Twenty cannon were instantly turned on the trestlework from different points, and the bodies of scores of the flying fugitives were dashed to the ground below, or into the foaming river. '^Ha-Sr/S Colonel 4th Iowa Cavalry, Brevet-Brig. General, U. S. V. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 223 Kinsman of the Twenty-third, bravest of the brave, and one of the state's most esteemed officers, was shot dead. It was a noble life, sacrificed on his country's altar. Capt. McCray, and Lieu- tenants S. G. Beckwith, J. D. Ewing and Washington Rawlings, of the same regiment, were wounded — the first three mortally. The total loss of the Twenty-third in killed and wounded in this charge was 87 — a fearful loss considering the number engaged. In this charge, too, fell, severely wounded. Col. Merrill of the Twenty-first Iowa. He fell at the head of his noble regiment, in the midst of a shower of bullets. A braver man never rode into battle. Lt.-Col. Dunlap took his place, and in his report of the assault, speaks of the great bravery of Maj. S. Gr. Van Anda, of Captains Harrison, Swivel, Voorhees, Watson, Boardman, Wilson and Crooks, — and Lieutenants Dolson, Childs, Jackson and Rob- erts, Acting Adjt. Howard was shot down, mortally wounded in the charge. Lieutenants Andrew Y. McDonald and W. W. Lyons were wounded. The brigade that made this memorable assault was composed of the same troops that had fought so well under Col. Stone, at Port Gibson. In their charge, they had captured a number greater than their whole command. The loss of the Twenty-first in the battle was 83 killed and wounded, out of less than 300 engaged. That day and the next night, Grant's army marched up close to the walls of Vicksburg, On the same day, the Fourth Iowa cavalry, under Col. Swan, having crossed the Big Black with Gen. Sherman, was swung off to the right to reconnoitre in the direction of the fortifications at Haines's and Snyder's Bluffs on the Yazoo river. Advancing a few miles the report came that the road and the fortifications were occupied by six or seven thousand Rebels. Col. Swan believing it imprudent for his small force to proceed, at once aboat-faced. Capt. J. H. Peters of Company B protested, and obtained permission to take a select company of volunteers, and proceed close to Fort Snyder. He went forward on a quick gallop, and capturing a number of Rebels on the way, appeared suddenly at the very entrance of the rebel works. The rebel garrison was mostly gone, and a quick charge on the guard left behind, and Peters, with his Iowa cav- 224 IOWA IN WAK TIMES. airy, was ia the fort. The fort on Haines's Bluff, evacuated, was also taken possession of, and a federal gunboat happening to be in sight down the river, it was signaled to, and the works and cannon of Snyder's Bluff turned over to its officers. Capt. Peters and his daring men hurried back to Grant's army with the news, and daylight of the next morning saw mule teams hauling supplies from the Yazoo river to the hungry soldiers. Grant's right wing now touched water again and the line to his new base of supplies on the Yazoo river was open. An Iowa regiment had been the first to march from the Mississippi river below Grand Gulf — 'an Iowa regiment was the first to water its horses in the Yazoo above Vicksburg. The siege of Vicksburg had begun. THE SIEGE. Twenty Iowa regiments were present at the siege of Vicks- burg. The same troops that had sailed or waded through end- less bayous and lagoons — that had marched two hundred miles in a'little over a fortnight, and fought and won six battles in as many days, were now ready to take Vicksburg by siege or by storm. The attempts to take the city and let free the waters of the Mississippi, had already cost the union army 10,000 men killed or wounded. Other loyal lives were ready for the sacrifice, and Grant's soldiers urged him to assault the lines at once. The morning of May 19th saw the union army forming a simi-circular line outside the Vicksburg fortifications. Sherman held the right, McClernand the left, and McPherson the center. The investment was not quite complete, as there was a gap on the left for a few days, but later, when that was closed, the union line was nearly eight miles long. Confronting it, were fortifica- tions pronounced by Gen. Sherman to be stronger than the works of Sevastopol. The soldiers defending them were veter- ans, and on their own soil. Outside the line of the investers, the Rebels, under Gen. Johnston, were rapidly collecting along Black river a second army to attack Grant's rear. It was a boast in the South that Grant, blindly placing himself between these two armies, was lost. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 225 In fact, the gatheriag of this second army at Grant's rear wajs an important factor in determining him to assault the seemingly impregnable works at two o'clock of that same 19tli of May. They were brave men who marched to storm such lines. The main redoubts were ten feet high, with ditches in front seven feet deep, making the top of the parapet seventeen feet high. They were twenty-five feet thick. From fort to fort, on the long line, ran intrenchments ten feet thick and five feet high, with ditches four feet deep. One hundred and twenty-eight cannon defended these strong positions, not counting the many siege guns and the many strong batteries on the side next the river, for defense against the gunboats. The country about was all hills, cane brakes and deep ravines. Nature vied with the Rebels in making Vicksburg the most defensible position on the continent. It was pronounced by Pemberton the most impor- tant point, too, in the confederacy. Grant believed that the recent defeats of the Rebels had alarmed them, and that they would possibly not fight much on the 19th. He was mistaken. The assault took place and only resulted in getting better and nearer positions; no work was taken. Sherman's troops on the right did most of the assaulting and did it fiercely — planting flags on the enemy's parapets under a dreadful fire; but it was of no use. They withdrew at dark. Many of the Iowa regiments were under fire that day, but few joined in the immediate assault. The Fourth, however, lost considerably, and during the whole siege some 80 of its men were killed or wounded. The Twelfth also lost a few. Capt. W. W. Warner was wounded. The failure on the 19th did not cool the ardor of either sol- diers or commanders. The position of Johnston's army in the rear was becoming a terrible menace. If Vicksburg could be taken by assault, the union army could suddenly turn on John- ston and destroy him. Ten o'clock of the morning of the 22d of May was set for the second attempt to storm the works. From daylight of that morning till the moment for the assault, every cannon of the I. W. T.— 15 226 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. besieging line poured its thunder of shot and shell into the forts in front. Then the union lines advanced from the near ravines where they had lain secreted, and long and desperately assaulted the forts and the intrenchments that now blazed with rebel musketry. The soldiers of Iowa were in the van of that awful charge. They only, and but few of them, ever reached the inside of the rebel forts — and of that few but a handful came out alive. There were Iowa regiments in almost every division of the investing line. At the given signal 35,000 men had rushed from cover to the assault. Such a storming of fortifications had never before been seen in America. On the right, some of Sherman's troops advanced under a fearful fire of musketry, reached the ditches and planted the union flag on the parapet of the fort. The enfilading fire, however, was too severe to permit of progressing another inch. Many of the men lay close up to the forts, or in the ditches, till night permitted them to withdraw. Among the Iowa regiments either advancing or supporting under Sherman that day, were the Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, Twelfth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth, Thirty-first and Thirty-fifth. The Twenty-fifth was on the advance line and gained the heights and the ditch, but not the fort. Capt. J. D. Spearman was among the badly wounded. Private Isaac Mickey was mentioned in reports for special gallantry in carrying an order along an exposed line. The regiment lost about 30 in killed and wounded. Col. Charles H. Abbott was killed in the assault while gallantly leading his Thirtieth Iowa through a storm of bullets. Among the wounded of his regiment were Lieutenants S. J. Chester, David Letner and J. P. Millikin (the latter two mortally), and some 60 non-commissoned officers and privates. The Twenty-sixth Iowa, led by the gallant Col. Milo Smith, had 45 officers and men killed or wounded in the two days assaults. Capt. A. D. Gaston, Lieutenants John W. Mason, Lewis Rider, Wm. M. Magden and N. W. Wood were all wounded, and so, too, was the gallant Col. Smith himself. Lieut. Pearson was captured. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 227 The Ninth Iowa, in this dreadful assault, lost nearly 80 men. Seven oflBcers were killed or mortally wounded, viz.: Captains Kelsey and Washburn, and Lieutenants Martin, Wilburn, Owen, Jones and Tyrrell. Among the wounded were Captains McSweeney and Little, and Lieutenants Sutherland, Bartholo- mew and Kemery . ^ To this fatal list was to be added another 20 killed and wounded during the siege or the assault of the day before. All the color guard who bravely planted the flag on the enemy's parapet were shot down. J. M. Elson, a color bearer, especially distinguished himself for bravery in trying to scale the works, and was shot in both thighs. The flag was saved by the extreme gallantry of Adjt. Grranger. The other Iowa regiments were slightly engaged, or used in support. Lt.-Col. Jenkins and Lieut. James Gt. Dawson of the Thirty-first and Lieut. Jas. C. Maxwell of the Eighth, were among the wounded. Lieut. Robt. Anderson of the Twenty-first, was killed. At the center of the line, where McPherson's troops were charging up to the works, Iowa was represented by the Fifth, Tenth, Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seven- teenth regiments. Some of these were pushed forward as sup- ports — some were led right up to the rebel forts under an appal- ling fire of musketry. This was especially true of the Fifth and Tenth Iowa. These brave regiments not only charged up in front of their own lines, but in the afternoon made a second assault in front of McClernand at the left. They were among the re-enforcing regiments which Grant sent to the left that afternoon, under the impression that McClernand had taken part of the rebel lines. That second assault cost the Iowa regiments not only great losses in killed and wounded, but the competent commander of the brigade. Col. Boomer, was shot dead. Adjt. Delahoyd of the Tenth was wounded severely, and so too, was the gallant Capt. Head. The losses in the Fifth were 17; in the Tenth, 18 killed and wounded. Certain regiments of McCler- nand's wing of the army had come nearer capturing the fortifi- cations in their front that day than did any others. Lawler's brigade of Carr's division, including the Twenty- 228 IOWA usr war times. first, Twenty-second and Twenty-third Iowa regiments, charged just south of the Jackson railroad.* Benton's brigade of the same division charged with them. The principal fort in front of Lawler occupied a prominent hill close to the railroad. Up this hill the Twenty-first and the Twenty-second Iowa went with a cheer, defying the hail storm of bullets that met them on the way, and the awful enfilading fire from other angles in the intrenchments that struck them just as they reached the very ditch of the fort. It was a hot, dangerous time, when thirteen men of the Twenty-second Iowa, led by Sergt. Joseph E. Griffiths, climbed out of the ditch over the shoulders of each other and right into the rebel fort Beauregard, killing or dis- persing the enemy within. Such valor is seldom witnessed in battle. The comrades of Griffiths in peril were John Robb, M. L. Clemmons, Alvin Drummond, Hezekiah Drummond, Wm. H. Needham, Ezra L. Anderson, Hugh Sinclair, N. C. Messenger, David Trine, Wm. Griffin, Allen Cloud, David Jordan and Rich- ard Arthur.f Brave as the deed was, it resulted in little. The enemy's guns so covered this captured fort as to make it untenable. Spite of the heroism of the whole regiment that day, the work was retaken by night. In the assault, many brave men fell. The total loss of the regiment was 164. Capt. James Robertson and Lieut. M. A. Robb of the Twenty-second were killed while lead- ing in the charge. Lt.-Col. Graham was captured. Col. Stone, leading the regiment, was slightly wounded, while Capt. John H. Gearkee, and Lieutenants John Remick and Mullins were severely wounded. In this gallant charge the Twenty-first Iowa lost heavily. *Detached from its brig'ade after the charge at Black River Bridge, to con- duct prisoners to Memphis, the Twenty-third Iowa distinguished itself at the battle of Milliken's Bend, June 7th, and then rejoined its brigade before Vicksburg. fit has been claimed by friends that Sergt. N. C. Messenger, now of Mar- shalltown, led the assaulting party into the fort. Maj. Atherton, of the Twenty-second Iowa, reporting the affair (page 472. Adjutant General's report for 1863), gives the credit to Griffiths and asks his promotion for the brave act. Gov. Stone, who was in command of the regiment until wounded, assures the author that Messenger, not Griffiths, entered the fort and earned the honors due extreme heroism. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 229 More than a hundred of its brave men never came back with the line. Lt.-Col. Dunlap came up just after the charge, and was shot dead while talking with Col. Stone. He had been wounded at Port Gibson, and could not keep up with the line. His loss was severely felt, Maj. Van Anda, Captains J. M. Harrison and D. Greaves, with Lieutenants Allan Adams, G. H. Childs, Wm. A, Roberts and Samuel Bates were wounded — the last two mortally. Lieut. Bates was also captured. All that day the flags of the Twenty-second Iowa and the Seventy-seventh Illinois floated from the parapet of that rebel stronghold, while the soldiers of Lawler's brigade held the ditch and with hand grenades thrown out by the enemy conducted a hand to hand contest.* All along Grant's lines, troops from almost every state in the Northwest, had made terrific assaults, and in different places union flags were planted by brave hands on the parapets of rebel forts. In almost every regiment there were acts of individual heroism that day. Usually in front of the assaulting columns, a small band of soldiers would spring ahead with ladders to throw over the ditch of the fort. In each case these men were volunteers, and few of them survived the peril of their heroic deeds. While officers received promotion for the gallantry of the day, these heroic volunteer privates found only a shallow grave. In front of one of Sherman's divisions, 150 brave men volun- teered in the forlorn hope of going in advance with the ladders to the rebel ditch. "Their dead bodies," says an eye witness, " soon obstructed the way ." Most of them were killed within five minutes after starting. The writer witnessed a band of these heroic men with ladders advancing to the rebel ditch in front of the Fifth and Tenth Iowa. The men who volunteered to do this perilous duty were the bravest heroes in all Grant's army. Their names are not of record, though they deserve to be writ- ten on shafts of marble and in letters of gold, *The belief that Vicksburg would have been taken that day, had McCler- nand promptly received stronger re-enforcements, was entertained by very many at the time and by many more since then. It is, too, rather generally conceded that Gen. Grant did McClernand injustice in relieving him from command. President Lincoln himself thought so later. 230 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. The assaults of the 22d of May, spite of the heroism of the army, were failures. The rebel works were too strong to be taken by storm, and in the darkness the lines were withdrawn, and the siege by sapping and mining commenced. In the two assaults, more than 4,000 of Grant's army had been killed and wounded. Now commenced a kind of conflict unique in the history of warfare. Every man in the investing line became an army engineer. Day and night the soldiers worked at digging narrow, zigzag approaches to the rebel works. Intrenchments, rifle pits, and dirt covers were made in every conceivable direction. When intrenchments were safe and finished, still others, yet farther in advance, were made, as if by magic, in a single night. Other zigzag, underground lines were made, and saps and mines for explosion under forts. Every day the regiments, foot by foot, yard by yard, approached nearer the frowning, strong-armed rebel works. The soldiers burrowed like gophers and beavers — a spade in one hand and a musket in the other. The pickets were not squads of soldiers only; whole regiments filled the extremely advanced trenches all the time, being relieved only in the night. These regiments poured a constant fire of musketry into the embrasures and over the parapets of the forts. Day and night were heard the ceaseless firing and roar of musketry, whole batteries of artillery often joining in the midnight chorus, while the shells from the gunboats rose into the air like burning comets and fell into the devoted city. It was a wonder- ful spectacle. The rifle pits of the two armies were now so close that the pickets talked with each other and nightly traded tobacco for coffee. Sometimes, as if by sudden impulse, a fierce bombardment with all the artillery would take place— or a mine beneath a fort explode, throwing its occupants into the air, while whole regi- ments would dash into the fearful crater only to be driven out. Forty-two days and forty-two nights the singular siege went on, and they were bold Rebels who dared to show their heads in all that time above the parapets of their forts, or over the sand bags of which they made little breastworks outside the ditch. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 231 Inside the city, the rebels lived in caves and holes in the ground. No other life was possible, so frequent were the storms of shot and shell from the gunboats and the batteries, and the musketry from the rifle pits now right under the slopes of the forts. The history of one regiment during that historic siege was almost the history of all. In front of each the same perpetual skirmishing by day and by night went on— the same sapping and mining, the same slow advancing on the enemy's works, the same dangers that were scarcely second to battle. It was hard work for the union soldiers there, digging under the almost tropical sun of Mississippi. They lived in the deep ravines back of their lines, or in their rifle pits, forever loading and firing their muskets. Once Grov. Kirkwood and his adjutant- general, with Surgeon General Hughes, came down to visit the boys, and were serenaded by a storm of rebel cannon balls. They made speeches to the brave boys— the boys cheered a little, and, divining what was going on, the Rebels turned their batter- ies on the scene. Kirkwood honored and loved the soldiers. He knew what their sacrifices meant. He knew that they stood between the state and destruction — that there would be no state, no governor, no liberty, no life, but for these men in the ditches at Vicks- burg. " The heroism of our soldiers has made it a high privi- lege to be a citizen of Iowa," said he. So it had. The forty-two days of fighting, burrowing and besieging, were drawing to a close. Meantime, other troops were added to Grant's investing array. With them, came more from Iowa, until at last the proud state had thirty regiments besieging Vicksburg, or helping to keep back Joe Johnston's army in the rear. Then came that memorable day, that fete day of a nation, that victory day— Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Helena,— that dawn- ing of new light all over the North, that ringing of bells from sea to sea. With the joyous clangor of those bells, the knell of the rebel confederacy was sounded. From that 4th of July, the fate of the lost cause was sealed. Invasion of the North was a thing no more to be thought of —the confederacy was in 232 IOWA IN" WAR TIMES. twain. The men came out of the trenches that day, for Vicks- burg had fallen, and the waters of the great river "flowed unvexed to the sea." SIEGE OF JACKSON. A sequence of the victory at Vicksburg, was the rapid pursuit of Gen. Joe Johnston's army now flying toward Jackson. Since the 22d of June, Sherman, with a large force, had been at Grant's rear on the Big Black, prepared to follow and attack Johnston, the moment the city should surrender. The writer happened to be with his regiment, the Fifth, on the Big Black, at this time, and recalls with exceeding pleasure reading there an order to the regiment. That order announced the surrender of Vicks- burg an hour or so before. The men did not wait for the com- mand to "break ranks," but simply shouted, fell on the grass, rolled, stood on their heads, shook hands and turned handsprings. The little liquor in the commissary was divided out, and every- body drank to Gen. Grant. Suddenly the march forward was begun, and over dusty roads, in an almost tropical heat, with almost no water fit to drink, the rebel army was pursued clear to Jackson. There, behind strong works, well manned, Johnston made a stand, and for a week was besieged by the forces of Sherman's army. There were many of the Iowa regiments from Vicksburg present with Sherman at Jackson, but two of them only were very severely engaged. The Sixth Iowa, under Col. John M. Corse, afterward major- general, was in Smith's division, and occupied with its brigade a position north and west of the town. On the 16th of July, Col. Corse was ordered to take command of a grand skirmish line, and to move up to the enemy's works along the whole front of the division, for the purpose of uncovering their position and bat- teries. At a given signal, the line, with the Sixth Iowa on the right, and the Ninety-seventh Indiana on the left, gallantly advanced, supported by two Ohio and Illinois regiments. The left of the line charged through open fields under a withering fire of musketry and batteries, holding their place long enough to accomplish their object. The advance turned out to be not only a IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 233 slight reconnoissance, but rose almost to the severity of a battle^ with the odds all against the union line. Corse himself led the Sixth Iowa on the right. " At the signal," says Corse, " the men dashed forward with a shout, met the line of the enemy's skirmishers and pickets, and drove them back, capturing eighteen or twenty and killing as many more. Clearing the timber they rushed out into the open field over the railroad and fence, up a gentle slope, across the crest, down into the enemy's line, when two field batteries of four guns each opened a terrific cannonade. The enemy were driven from two pieces at the point of the bayonet, our men literally running them down." At that moment, two rebel regiments lying behind the batteries opened a blazing fire of musketry, while a large gun battery at the right opened an enfilading fire along the Sixth, throwing its grape and canister about them until " the corn fell as if by an invisible reaper." The bugler sounded the " lie down," until the observations of the locality were made and the " retreat " sounded. In steady order the men fell back as they had advanced — in splendid line, though under the steady fire of three regiments and seven cannon, half the latter enfilading the line. " Few of the men," says Corse, " who had so gallantly charged the battery, got back." Capt. Minton and Lieut. Rarick were both wounded. It had been a notable reconnoissance, and was of extreme use to the army. In the afiair the Sixth Iowa lost 28 men, though during the seige its loss was about 70. It was such fighting that shortly put a star on the shoulder of Col. Corse. Maj. Miller, Adjt. Ennis, Captains Minton and Bashore, with Lieut. Holmes, were all honorably mentioned in Corse's report. '• In short," said he, " there is no officer of my command, but that has in some way rendered himself worthy of honorable mention during our advance on Jackson." " The valor of your noble regiment," says Smith, the division commander, "has been conspicuous." During this little siege of Jackson, the Third Iowa infantry, led then by Maj. G. W. Crosley, sufifered in a conflict pronounced by participants the severest in its history. At nine o'clock on 234 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. the morning of the 12bh of July, Greu. Lauman, in accordance with orders of Gren. Ord, who commanded at the right, proceeded to move his division farther to the front, to be in line with Hovey on his left. Pugh's brigade — the Third Iowa, Forty-first, Twenty-eighth and Fifty-third Illinois and Fifth Ohio battery, were ordered to cross over the New Orleans and Jackson railroad south of the city, thus bringing the right nearer Pearl river. They were a mile from the rebel works, but were at once ordered to advance, dressing the troops up to Hovey 's line on their left. In half an hour they came under the rebel fire. Their own battery opened, but was instantly answered by the guns from the forts. Gen. Lauman came up at the end of the first half mile, looked the situation over, and ordered the men to still advance. The rebel pickets and their reserves were driven in, and the advancing line moved up in full view of the rebel forts three hundred yards away. The order was "still to advance," when a terrible fire from three rebel brigades and twelve pieces of artillery was opened on them. No one in the line seemed to understand the reasons for such a move. All Sherman's army was there at hand. Was one small brigade to assault the works alone? There was no demon- stration right or left — no supports were in sight. Every man in that line felt that he was about to be slaughtered — and for no purpose. " Forward" was still the order, and the brave men advanced under the volleys of grape, canister and musketry. Steadily forward they went on over the open field — climbed through and over the abatis, only to meet a merciless fire. Within seventy-five yards of the fort, the line halts and suffers the converging fire of cannon and musketry for twenty min- utes — an eternity in such a place. At last, they fall back. Their flag and their banner they have brought with them — their dead and wounded are l^ft in a scorching sun, on the hot battle field. No appeal by flag of truce could induce the enemy to permit our men to care for their hero comrades lying there bleeding and perishing for thirst in that burning sun. Almost every other man of the 241 of the Third Iowa who entered that IOWA AT VICKSBURG. 235 charge, was lost. Capfc. J. L. Ruckman was killed, as were also Lieutenants E. W. Hall, Joseph Ruckman and A. H. McMur- trie. Col. Brown, Lieutenants C. L. Anderson, Jacob Aber- nethy and Capt. Simon G. Geary were all wounded. Lieut. Earle was taken prisoner. The other regiments suffered equally. It was the Third Iowa infantry's last battle. The unwar- ranted and uncalled for assault looked like a massacre of brave men. The blame of the tragedy was placed upon Gen. Lauman. He was at once relieved of his command, and his military career ended. But he was never permitted an opportunity of explana- tion or justification. He asserted that he had only obeyed the verbal orders of Gen. Ord. The truth, nearer than this, probably never will be known. That brave men's lives were lost without a purpose, never was doubted.* Jackson fell for the second time. Johnston's army was scat- tered into the interior of the South, while the victorious sol- diers of Generals Grant and Sherman returned to Vicksburg to enjoy their honors. *Gen. George A. Stone, of Iowa, witnessed this terrible assault, and spoke with Lauman just before it was made. Lauman assured him that he was obaymg the orders of his commander and would make the assault, cost what it might. Stone felt confident that Lauman, wisely or not, was acting under positive orders. CHAPTER XIX. THE BATTLE OF HELENA. Juh/ 4, 1863. The 4:th of July, 1863, was a great battle day. Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Helena, were victories that told to the world that the beginning of the end of the war had come. The importance of the battle of Helena was somewhat obscured by the glory of the other great victories on the same day. Nevertheless, it was a battle gallantly fought by western soldiers against great odds, and, as a victory, was important and complete. Helena is a town in Arkansas, on the west bank of the Mis- sissippi river, and about one hundred miles below Memphis. It had been occupied by the union troops ever since the arrival of Gen. Curtis, in July of 1862, and was well fortified by a line of four forts occupying prominent hills of the high ridge just west of the town. Inside of this line of works, and nearer town, stood a formidable redoubt known as Fort Curtis.* The outer forts were known as A, B, C, and D, running from north to southwest. The situation was well adapted for defense, as the ridges where the forts stood were high, rough, and broken by nearly impassable ravines. The roads leading into town over these ridges were blockaded by fallen timber. Altogether, Helena was a bad place to attack, but the fact did not seem to be very well known by the rebel commander in Arkansas. While the siege of Vicksburg was going on, it occurred to the rebel authorities at Richmond that a grand diversion could be made by the troops in Arkansas, and hints were given accord- ingly. '' I believe I can take Helena — please let me do it," *The outer forts were open at the rear and Fort Curtis commanded them all. (236) BATTLE OP HELENA. 237 telegraphed Lt. Gen. Holmes from Little Rock to his superior commander, Kirby Smith, on the 15th of June, 1862. Kirby Smith kindly said "yes" to the ardent request, " most certainly, do it," and by the evening of the 3d of July, Gen. Holmes stood in front of the ridge and the forts with some 10,000 men. He had not heard of what was going on at Vicksburg, and, evidently, he had not heard of what was going on right in front of him, and behind the forts on the hills. Midnight saw great commotion in the camps at Helena. There were not many troops there — a trifle over 4,000 only, but the little command was rather glad that daylight would probably bring on a battle. Among those soldiers were three regiments from Iowa— the Twenty-ninth, Thirty-third and Thirty-sixth infantry, and the Third battery, all waiting there in the dark- ness to add a new leaf to the chaplet of Iowa's military glory. Maj.-Gen. B. M. Prentiss was in command of the post of Helena, but the division of troops was that of Brig.-Gen. Salomon. The Iowa troops were brigaded together, with them the Thirty-third Missouri, and commanded by Col. Samuel A. Rice, one of the state's best soldiers and an able man, beloved by his troops as by his people at home. His assistant adjutant general was John F. Lacey, then a rising young officer of unusual merit. As Col. Rice was commanding the brigade, his own regiment, the Thirty-third, was led into the fight by Lt.-Col. Cyrus H. Mackey. Col. Thos. H. Benton, Jr., led the Twenty-ninth Iowa, and Col. C. W. Kittredge the Thirty-sixth. The Iowa battery, doing splendid service, was commanded by Lieut. M. C. Wright. Long before daylight of July 4th, the troops were in positions assigned them. The Rebels had intended to surprise Helena and capture it at daylight. Some delay in the march had occurred, and the surprise part failed, as Gen. Prentiss was aware of the whole movement. The Thirty-third Missouri regiment was distributed among the four outer forts to man the guns, with a part of it in reserve as sharpshooters. The Thirty-third Iowa was placed in the trenches on the left, flanking and defending Batteries C and D, while a part of the Thirty-sixth was in the rifle pits at Battery A on the right. The Twenty-ninth Iowa, IOWA m WAB TIMES. with a reserve from the Thirty-sixth, was sent in front of battery A, with its line reaching to the Sterling road. Just as day was breaking, a rebel column came with a yell against batteries C and D. Regiment after regiment was hurled on, only to be met by an appalling fire from the well defended forts and rifle pits. Still they came, and in closed column, fighting desperately. By overwhelming numbers, regardless of loss, they succeed in forcing back our lines at the left, and Battery C for a short time is in their hands. So, too, are the rifle pits at Battery D. It is a short time only, for the guns from four forts, including Curtis's, hurl a terrific fire of grape and canister into their ranks, while the rallied men of the Thirty-third Iowa and the Thirty-third Missouri drive them back with blazing musketry. The fort is again ours, and with it many prisoners, while the rough ground and the tangled abatis are full of dead and dying Rebels. While this was going on in the center, a less determined con- test raged at the right, near Batteries A and B, where the rebel Gren. Marmaduke was trying to force his way in. It was here that the Twenty-ninth and Thirty-sixth Iowa, with the Third Iowa battery, won their first laurels in battle. '' They were cool and brave," said Col. Rice, " and behaved in a manner worthy of all commendation." They were confronted by four regiments of infantry, a brigade of cavalry, and batteries. So close were the assaulting columns, the voices of their officers could be heard as they rallied their men to the front. It was all in vain. Gren. Holmes soon saw that his troops were being massacred uselessly. His assaulting columns at the union right had no success at all. Price and Fagan on the left had been driven from their captured positions with great loss. Price, when he forced his troops into Battery C, hoped to take Battery D from the rear, and then enter the town. But all had failed. His loss was very severe. The hills and the ravines Avere full of his dead and wounded. So was it with the column uuder Gen. Fagan in the ditches, at Battery D. His dead and wounded lay everywhere. " Price's charge, with his Missouriaus," said Staff Officer John F. Lacey, who witnessed it all from a height at Bat- GENERAL .SAMUEL A. KlCE. BATTLE OF HELENA. 239 tery A, " was a terrific one. It was gallantry itself, and for a little time it looked as if all were lost." It was one of the great sights of war — "^o one who has no friend or brother there^ Price's army was good at charging when the pinch came, just as it was good on the retreat, and a view of a column of several thousand of his men storming a position under a blaze of mus- ketry and artillery, was a rare but terrible sight.* When Price took Battery C in that storm of bullets, swarms of his men, without apparent command or order of line, moved to the assault of Fort Curtis. Five 24-pounder siege guns, a 32- pounder columbiad in Fort Curtis, a roar of musketry from ral- lied infantry and the big cannon balls from the gunboat " Tyler"" down at the river, soon sent the attackers to right-about. These were things Gen. Holmes had not counted on — and they were very dangerous things. He had apparently never heard of "Fort Curtis till that moment, and did not know that the "Tyler" was so uncomfortably near in the river. The advance company that charged up and hurled the Rebels out of Battery C was led by Capt. John Baugh of Oskaloosa. Capt. Yerger of Sigourney and his company also charged in driving the Rebels from the captured guns which they had not been able to use — they having been spiked as our line fell back.f An incident of great heroism was the capture of five Rebels by Sergt. Moore, Co. G, Thirty-third Iowa. At one point of the battle he found himself alone, at the front, and menaced by five of the enemy. Springing behind a stump, he brought his rifle to bear on one of them, and demanded the surrender of all. The whole squad wilted, and were marched back by the sergeant as prisoners of war. There was but one thing left for Lt.-Gen. Holmes to do, and he did it. His bugle sounded the quick retreat, and his brigades, *At the battle of Corinth, it was the fortune of the writer to witness a similar charge by this same g^eneral and wiih some of these same troops. The result wa^ as disastrous to the brave men there as at Helena. fThis retaking of Battery C was one of the heroic incidents not mentioned in the reports, though vouched for by men like W. R. Cowan of the Thirty- third, who was present and himself wounded in the charge. 240 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. what was left of them, inarched back to Little Rock. As Geu. Holmes rode along the dusty roads at the head of his shattered columns on that retreat, he must sometimes have thought of that June telegram and wished that he had not asked Smith to "please let him take Helena." The conflict ended that day an hour before noon, but Holmes had lost over 1,500 of liis com- mand and had sujffered a bad defeat. The battle had been under- taken as a diversion in favor of Peraberton at Vicksburg, but at the very moment when Holmes's regiments were being slaughtered on the hills and among the ravines of Helena, Pem- berton's army was surrendering its arms to Gen. Grant. The cannonading that tore Holmes's little army to fragments that forenoon was so severe as to be heard beyond Little Rock, a hundred miles away. All the union troops behaved with great gallantry; notably so the Thirty-third Missouri and the Thirty- third Iowa. The latter regiment captured two battle flags and as many prisoners as it had men in action. The different companies of this regiment were much separated in the fight, and were hurried about from one point of danger to another under a hard fire. Lt.-Col. Mackey was conspicuously able for his task. His regiment lost 25 men killed, 52 wounded and 17 prisoners. Most of the time the enemy in his front numbered three to his one. Maj. H. D. Gibson, Captains J. P. Yerger, John Lofland and L. W. Whipple were complimented for gal- lantry, as was Lieut. Cheney Prouty. Lieut. Sharman, too, who had been badly wounded, received notice for especial gallantry. Col. Rice, on whose command fell the brunt of the battle, and who was himself cool and efficient, was quick to recognize the ability and bravery of his fellow officers and men. To Colonels Benton and Kittredge he gave special compliments for effi- ciency and bravery, as also to Lieutenant Colonels Mackey, Pat- terson and Heath, with Majors Gibson, Van Beck and Shoe- maker. His competent A. A. A. General, John F. Lacey, was also mentioned in reports. Neither did he forget honorable mention of the brave men of Kansas, Indiana and Missouri who stood beside his own brigade and by gallant fighting beat off the attacking columns. BATTLE OF HELENA. 241 The meu of the Twenty-ninth Iowa were under a severe fire for more than five hours, and, says Col. Benton, " no flinching or wavering was seen on that day." Some of Benton's men rose from sick beds to shoulder their muskets and help defend the town. The regiment lost 13 killed and 18 wounded. Col. Kittredge, in a laconic report of a few lines as to the Thirty-sixth Iowa on that day, says, " every officer and man did his duty," while Chaplain Hare and Quartermaster Morrill were thanked for valuable services. They were the only field officers beside the colonel present, the others being sick. The regiment lost but one man killed and a few missing. The Iowa battery was of great service in the battle, and its commander, Lieut. Wright, spoke in warm terms of the courage and efficiency of Lieut . Lyon and Sergeants House and Dengle, and Corp. Folsom. In every sense the battle of Helena had been a gallant fight; the defenders vieing with each other in acts of heroism, while the Rebels attacked with that desperation for which their charges were famous. It was, too, the last fighting for the possession of the Mississippi river. STERLING FARM. A few weeks after the fall of Vicksburg and the defense of Helena, a mishap occurred to one of the Iowa regiments con- cerning which the chroniclers have had little to say. Gen. Herron, with a division of troops, was operating for the defense of the Mississippi river in the neighborhood of Morganzia, Louisiana. The troops usually on outpost duty were much scattered and liable to be overpowered. On Sept; 12th, the Nineteenth Iowa, the Twenty-sixth Indiana, and two pieces of artillery, all under command of Lt.-Col. Leake of the Twentieth Iowa, were sent out in the performance of heavy picket duty . There was daily skirmishmg with the enemy either along the banks of the Atch- afalaya or between there and the Mississippi. This force took Sterling Farm, seven miles back from the transports, for head- quarters. On Sept. 29th the enemy in large force attacked the little I. W. T— 16 242 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. brigade of Lt.-Col. Leake in front, flank and rear. They met with a volley which caused them to recoil, but being in over- whelming numbers, they bore down our gallant force and captured it entire. Man}'^ of the men, however, refused to surrender until their guns were forcibly taken from them by the Rebels. A history of the Nineteenth Iowa, by J. I. Dungan, one of its members, and one of this captured force, describes the command as in a state of constant vigilance, prepared to spring to arms at a moment's notice, and with pickets and guards watching the outposts at as many points as their small numbers permitted. Lt.-Col. Leake was aware of the critical position he occupied, and did the most a soldier could do to hold it. The length of time that our troops held the Rebels in check is given as two hours and ten minutes — our force being about 500 — the rebel force 5,000. The Nineteenth Iowa was commanded by Capt. Wm. Adams, Co. E, Maj . Bruce having been ordered shortly before to New Orleans. Maj. Bruce's report gives 260 as the number engaged in the action. Fortunately, about two-thirds of the regiment, from various causes, had been prevented from joining with this force at Sterling Farm, and thus escaped capture. There were two officers and eight enlisted men killed, one officer and sixteen enlisted men wounded, and eleven officers and two hundred and three enlisted men captured. Lieuts. Kent and Roberts were among the killed, and Capt. Taylor mortally wounded. The Rebels lost 50 killed and many more wounded. Our captured were carried to Texas and kept in the prison camp at Tyler, undergoing as much hardship and cruelty as fell to the lot of any of our prisoners in the South. After about ten months of this experience they were exchanged, rejoining their regiment at New Orleans, tattered, emaciated and suffering. CHAPTER XX. SOME MINOR ENGAGEMENTS. Milliken's Bend— Springfield— Hartsville. MILLIKEN'S BEND. June 5, 1863. DuRDTG the siege of Vicksburg, aud shortly before the sur- render of that stronghold, the rebel authorities tried by various means to distract Grant's attention, and, if possible, to mend their desperate fortunes. One of these means was to be the capture and destruction of some of the garrisons along the Mississippi river and in Grant's rear. The attempt on Helena and its utter failure are narrated elsewhere. By some means the Rebels learned that the little post at Milliken's Bend, almost in sight of Vicksburg, had been nearly denuded of troops, and was garrisoned by only a few hun- dred negroes. Here was an opportunity, not only to capture a weak garrison, but to massacre a lot of inoffensive black men— and with a cry of "no quarter to the d— niggers or to their white officers," they marched on the position. It was the 5th of .Fune, 1863, that after some skirmishing a few miles in advance, the rebel force, 3,000 strong, led by Gen. Henry McCullough, approached close to the little union line. Gen. E. S. Dennis, who commanded the garrison of the post, had not over SCO troops, all colored, and unused to arms. The Rebels, however, did not attack that evening, and a passing steamer car- ried to the union officers at Young's Point the news of the crit- ical situation. Immediately, the Twenty-third Iowa, under Lt.-Col. Glasgow, was put on a transport and hurried to Milli- ken's Bend. They were just in the nick of time to take part in one of the most ferocious engagements of the war. The reg- (243) 214 IOWA IN WAB TIMES. iment remained over night on the steamer, and daylight revealed to their astonished eyes long lines of Rebels dashing for the breastworks and yelling "No quarter." Quickly as possible, Col. Glasgow got his men off the boat, and they, too, ran for the breastworks, but for the river side of them. These defenses were simply the high levee of the river, built some distance back, but well suited for the purpose. Over this wall of defense the battle raged. Men fought with their bayonets and their clubbed guns, and the officers with theii swords. There were instances of men bayoneting each other to the very death on top of the levee, and of men's brains being beaten out with the butts of each other's muskets. There was nowhere in the war such a hand to hand conflict. Each realized that it was to be success or massacre. The negroes, seeing how merciless was their foe, showed no mercy themselves. White and black indiscriminately and without order, fought for dear life. Once, the Rebels gained the inside of the breastworks, where the hand to hand contest continued — the Rebels appar- ently gaining ground. A little more success, and the position would be lost and the garrison massacred, as at Fort Pillow. No Indians of the wild West ever fought with more ferocity and more determination to end the fight with a massacre, than did these exasperated Rebels, filled with rage at seeing their former slaves in arms. It was a combat for the extermination of one command or the other, and the blacks and their brave white supporters were being overpowered and driven under the banks of the river. Utter destruction seemed inevitable, when, at the critical moment, two union gunboats, whose commanders had been fore- warned, steamed up to the banks, and with shot and shell rid- dled the rebel ranks and drove them back over the levee. There again they rallied, but so, too, did the union line. The "no quarter " attack that followed was quickly repulsed with slaugh- ter, and the discomfited and defeated Rebels took their black flag and leaving their dead, hastened to the woods. They had learned a fearful lesson, and that was that bayonets and bullets were as dangerous in tbe hands of the ex-slave as in the hands DEFENSE OF SPBINGFIELD. 245 of a barbarous master. The North, too, learned something. It was that the President's policy of arming the freedmen was a wise policy, and a gain to the nation. Whether the ex-slaves could fight or not, was no longer a question. The cry of " no quarter '' to black men fighting their coun- try's battles, came near proving on this occasion a most disastrous one, for it was a knife with two edges. Not less than 500 of the men crying " no quarter " on that field were killed or badly wounded. The union loss, too, was large. Out of only 110 men engaged of the Twenty-third Iowa, at least 50 were killed and wounded.* Capt. John C. Brown, a good man and an excellent officer, was killed, as was Lieut. Wm. H. Downs. Thomas Free, an Iowa man, then adjutant of one of the colored regi- ments, was conspicuous for his gallantry. Col. Glasgow won the warmest encomiums from the commanding officer in the battle, and Gen. Grant expressed his great satisfaction with the courage of the colored troops and the splendid defense of the post. It has been said that Gen. Hugh T. Reid, of Iowa, more than any other officer in the service, had urged on the government the employment of colored troops, and had practically tested their fitness by using them in conflicts at Lake Providence, where he was a commander. His loyal heart must have been overjoyed at this new justification of his faith in the patriotism and cour- age of the colored people. In a battle where the odds were as three to one, they had resisted one of the fiercest attacks of the war. It was the commencement of a new chapter in the history of their race. DEFENSE OF SPRINGFIELD. Jayi. 8, 1863. There were two engagements in which Iowa troops took an heroic part, and concerning which history has said but little. In the midwinter of 1862-3, and not long after the battle of Prairie Grove, an army of some 5,000 Rebels entered Missouri *A number of officers of the Twentv-third were wounded, but there is no report of them m the books of the adjutant geaeral. The number of the Iwenty-third engaged has been stated at from 110 to 160. Whatever the number, certain it is that Glasgow and his men were very heroic. 246 IOWA IN" WAR TIMES. and marched on the town of Springfield. They were led by Gen. Marmaduke, who had been cunning enough to pass the flank of the main union army, with the hope that by quick marching and quick, brave fighting, he could destroy Springfield and evade successful pursuit. Springfield was the union base of supplies, and was of great importance to the union army in many ways. What Chattanooga was to Sherman's army at Atlanta, that Springfield was to the union army under Blunt. It was held by Gren. Brown of Missouri, with a small garrison composed of Mississippi militia, a few hundred hospital convales- cents and the Eighteenth Iowa Infantry. Col. Crabb of the Nineteenth Iowa, detached, was in immediate command of the post. These, with a few union men of the town who took arms, did not number, all told, over 1,500 for duty, a part of the Eight- eenth Iowa being on outpo«it service. On the evening of January 7, 1863, Gen. "brown's scouts brought him word that the rebel army was rapidly approaching the town. That night was spent by the little union force in preparing for battle. All the soldiers were mustered, and the half sick men of the hospital, formed into the " Quinine brig- ade," took their guns and went to the front. At ten o'clock of the 8th, the rebel army, in battle array, were seen three miles outside of the rude intrenchments of the town. They seemed to have an abundance of cavalry on either wing, and some artillery in the center. By noon, the skirmishers of the union line were all driven in, and by one the engagement had grown into a battle. Some of the Missouri militia cavalry soon made a handsome charge on the advancing line, but aside from inflicting some injury, scarcely checked it. Some union guns in breastwork No. 4, poured a warm fire into the Rebels? which at times checked their ardor and pushed them back. By two o'clock, the Rebels massed their forces several lines deep and made a determined effort on the union right and cen- ter. It was then that Capt. Landis of the Eigteenth Iowa, with a piece of artillery, was pushed forward into an exposed and dan- gerous position at the right. Three companies of the Eight- eenth Iowa under Captains Van Meter, Blue and Stonaker, were DEFENSE OF SPRINGFIELD. 247 sent along as supports. By a bold dash, with overwhelming numbers, the Kebels succeeded in capturing the gun, but not till Captains Blue, Van Meter and Landis were wounded — the two former mortally. At their sides fell many of their brave comrades. At the same moment the Rebels got possession of a strong stockaded building south of and near to the town, and from this vantage point poured a heavy fire into the union line. In another hour Brown's forces were being heavily pressed, and the position seemed extremely critical. Then the " Quinine brigade," led by Col. Crabb, rushed to the front. They were real soldiers, if they were sick ones. In an hour's fighting they drove the enemy back on their left center, but an immediate and very nearly successful assault by the Rebels followed at the right. Some of the militia were giving way. Gen. Brown hurried to their front to re-form them, but was shot from his horse in the endeavor. It was now four o'clock, and Col. Crabb assumed the command. Again the battle was resumed at the center, and for another hour continued with varying results. Once more some of the militia faltered and for a time all seemed lost, when others, also militia, charged for the lost ground with a cheer. At the same time Lt.-Col. Cook, with the remaining companies of the Eighteenth Iowa, who had hurried from outpost duty to the scene, came up, and they, too, charged the rebel center with a shout, and drove it rearwards. Darkness soon ended the contest, and that night the defeated rebel army withdrew. Of less than 200 men engaged of the Eighteenth Iowa, 56 had been killed or wounded. This handful of brave men and the sturdy, heroic militia of Missouri, had saved Springfield with its enormous stores, and it had saved a disaster to the union army. History may heed it little or heed it much, but considering the length of the battle and the forces engaged, there was not better fighting at Bunker Hill. 248 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. THE BATTLE OF HARTSVILLE. Dec. 11, 1862. Gen. Brown, on hearing of the advance of the rebel army on Springfield, had sent to Gen. Fitz Henry Warren at Houston for help. Houston was eighty miles away, but Warren, who was himself ill at the time, immediately sent a column under Col. Merrill of the Twenty-first Iowa toward Springfield. Merrill's little force scarcely counted a thousand men, all told. They were a part of his own Twenty-first Iowa under the brave Lt.-Col. Dunlap, a detachment of the Ninety-ninth Illinois, a part of the Third Missouri, and the Third Iowa cavalry, with a couple of pieces of artillery. The battle of Springfield, unknown to Warren, was fought and won even before Merrill's column started, and the chagrined rebel army had marched past Springfield in the general direc- tion of Houston, hoping for better luck next time. Merrill, too, was on the move, but in the opposite direction, and hurrying for Springfield to aid Gen. Brown and Col. Crabb. On the night of January 10th, Merrill's little column camped in the woods only one mile away from the camps of the rebel army. The fact was not known till morning, when large rebel forces were discovered to be coming from the direction of Spring- field. This escape of Merrill's command from surprise, was at a little creek eight miles west of the village of Hartsville. Some severe skirmishing now took place, when the Rebels moved oflFthe field and Merrrill's column started for Hartsville. On approaching the village, he discovered the enemy in his path, occupying the place, and possibly 5,000 strong. Merrill might have run. With such a disparity of forces there would have been abund- ant excuse for instant retreat. Merrill and his men, however, had started out to fight, and here, apparently, was a good fight- ing chance. The battle line was at once formed with the Ninety- ninth Illinois at the right, a little artillery in the center and the detachment of the Twenty-first Iowa and the cavalry to the left. The position was a good one, somewhat protected by a screen of low, dense brush. The enemy occupied the village and an open BATTLE OP HARTSVILLE. 249 field at Merrill's front, where his movements were easily watched. It was about noon. The enemy opened the affair with a little artillery firing, and then with 700 cavalry charged on Merrill's line. Quietly his men lay on the ground till the coming horse- men were in close range, when at the order, they gave them a deliberate, but fierce blast of musketry that sent them reeling from their horses. The little battery at Merrill's center had also played a part in the repulse, and the rebel line fell back in utter confusion. Then came numerous attacks of rebel infan- try, but they were poorly made and promptly repulsed. Nearly all the afternoon the rebel assaults continued, only to be defeated. At three o'clock, Memll's ammunition failing, the order vs^as given to fall back on the road to Lebanon. Had Merrill only known it, the Rebels, too, at that very moment were preparing to retreat. For some reason, Lt.-Col. Dunlap did not receive the order to fall back, but bravely continued his fighting on the left, himself wounded and many of his men hors de combat. His position was naturally very strong, and two or three charges made by the Rebels as parting salutes, were easily repelled. Darkness found both armies retreating, but in opposite direc- tions. The Rebels, however, had been fairly whipped before dark, and their losses had been great in officers and men. One rebel general and several colonels and other field officers were killed or wounded. Not less than 300 of their army were lost. Merrill's little force had inflicted a severe drubbing on the enemy, whether he staid to hold a barren field or not. His total loss had been about 75 in killed and wounded. Both Merrill and Dunlap, together with their brave men, received the warmest praise from Gen. Warren for the victory at Hartsville, where they had defeated a foe whose numbers were five times their own. An officer, Capt. Black, leading the Third Missouri cavalry detach- ment, had thirteen bullet holes in his coat, attesting to the severity of the engagement on his part of the line. Merrill's prudence, firmness and good disposition of his forces in the battle, were especially commended by the commanding general, and certain it is that not often during the war did a small com- mand so heroically battle against numbers so superior. CHAPTER XXI. IOWA AT CHATTANOOGA. THE STORMING OF MISSIONARY RIDGE. November 24-25, 1863. "I WILL try Missionary Ridge to-morrow morning, November 24th, at daylight; no cause on earth will induce me to ask for longer delay." So wrote Sherman to Grant on the evening of November 23d, 1863. A little delay had already occurred by high water preventing the advance of one or two of Sherman's divisions, but now, all were about up and ready. Sherman's Fifteenth army corps, including many of the Iowa regiments, had already made a forced march of 330 miles from Memphis, to be there in time for the battle. At Chattanooga, as elsewhere, Iowa soldiers were to figure conspicuously. Nine Iowa regiments were at the battle, and the Fifth, Sixth, Tenth and the Seventeeth regiments especially, were to do some very hard fighting. The Fifth and Tenth were brigaded, together with others, under Gen. C. L. Matthies of Burlington. Matthies first went into the service as a gallant captain of the First regiment at Wilson's creek, then became colonel of the Fifth and was made a brigadier for splendid service at luka. John E. Smith led the division. The Sixth regiment, led by Lt.-Col. Miller, was in Corse's Second brigade of the Fourth division, led by Hugh Ewing. John M. Corse was also of Bur- lington, and one of the state's bravest and most distinguished generals. He entered the service as major of the Sixth, afterward was made its colonel, and received his commission of brigadier general for gallantry. The Seventeenth regiment was in the Second brigade, Raum's, of Smith's division, and was led by its its own Colonel, Clark R. Wever. (250) IOWA AT GHATTAISfOOaA. 251 Midnight of the 23d of November found all these Iowa regi- ments with the troops under Sherman, waiting the signal to cross the Tennessee river at the left of Grant's army, and assault Missionary Ridge. Many other Iowa regiments, the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty- first, were at the same time with Hooker's army scaling the heights of Lookout Mountain on the right. They were in the division of Osterhaus. On that evening of the 23d of November, Sherman's whole army corps, including his Iowa regiments, lay in bivouac and in a concealed position close to the Tennessee river. Over on the opposite bank stood the pickets of the enemy, calling to and chaffing our own occasionally across the water. They little dreamed that 20,000 men lay there in the dark wood and brush, only waiting the midnight signal to cross over and attack. That night on the Tennessee was one of the memorable occasions of the whole war. All the soldiers of that army corps knew that something was about to happen. There was an ominous silence in the air, and officers moved about mysteriously, saying but little of the unusual danger about to be encountered. To cross a river in the face of an enemy at any time is hazardous, but to attempt rowing an army over a broad, rapid stream in rude boats, in the darkness of midnight, and with a strong and victorious army on the opposite shore, is a hazard even veterans contemplate with great misgivings. Many a pulse beat fast that night when at two o'clock the low signal came and the soldiers stepped noiselessly into the waiting pontoons. With living freight, the rude square boats were loaded to the water's edge. Each contained from twenty to thirty soldiers who sat in the darkness holding their trusted rifles on their knees, in momentary expectation of a blast of musketry or a cannon ball that might sink them to the bottom of the river. They were not aware that some of their comrades that night had silently crossed the river farther up, and taken the rebel pickets by surprise. That some of these same pickets had escaped, however, was well known to Sherman, and, that they would raise the alarm at rebel headquarters in half an hour, was altogether probable. The alarm, if given, came too late to Gen. 252 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. Bragg, for the boats landed without the loss of a man, and day- light found whole brigades, some 8,000 men of Sherman's corps, on solid ground, and busy as beavers throwing up intrenchments. Never in the world were spades and shovels handled more rapidly than by Sherman's men that morning on the Tennessee river. Long before noon of the 24th, the pontoon bridge was down, and the rest of the left wing of the army, with its artillery, was crossing over. Sherman's soldiers had successfully taken the river, but now they were called upon to assault a mountain — and that moun- tain bristling with the bayonets of the enemy and marked all over with rifle pits and breastworks for batteries. A stronger position than Bragg occupied along the crest of Missionary Ridffe, and over the rugged top of Lookout Mountain, protected as both were by a rapid river, could not easily be conceived. His army, too, was flushed with recent victory. All the day of the 24th was spent by the troops of Sherman skirmishing and maneuvering for position, and by Hooker in advancing up Lookout Mountain. That night, whole regiments stood on picket in the cold, wet woods, without fire and with short rations. The teams of the army had no feed at all, and were fairly dying of hunger. At last, at the end of that long, chilly, uncomfortable and expectant night, daylight came. It brought only the sullen and desultory firing from batteries half secreted along the jagged spurs of Missionary Ridge, or the spurting musketry of skirmish- ers, as the lines at times approached too near together. All the night Sherman's pickets had watched the rockets of the enemy on Lookout Mountain and heard the roar of Hooker's cannon as they shot their flames out through the fog and clouds. The slope of Lookout Mountain had been taken by Hooker's soldiers. Thomas, with his army of the Cumberland, had advanced, on the 23d, a mile in front of Fort Wood, at the union center, fighting a severe battle for the enemy's outer intrench- ments, while parts of Sherman's army were now up to and across the western point at the end of Missionary Ridge. Grant now had his forces well in hand, and advanced ready for the battle. IOWA AT CHATTANOOGA. 253 CHATTANOOGA. REFERENCES. 1 <^ Sherman's first position, Oct, 23, 1863. 2 =a Hooksr's Corps at Lookont Mt., Nov. 24. 3 ;^i Sherman's Corps morning, Kot. 24. 4 ca Sherman's Corps evening, Nov. 24. ^ G«n. Grant's fiead-ftuar., Kov. 23-24. Gen. " '• Hot. 25. .^^ Gen. " " Not. 2%. J^ Rebel Retreat. Nov. 25. -^-,^-*-< 254 IOWA IN WAE TIMES. At Washington, the President anxiously sat at the telegraph wire, waiting to hear the result. " That morning," says Gen. Grant, " opened clear and bright, and the whole field was in full view from the top of Orchard Knob (where he stood during the battle), and remained so all day." What a sight that vast army marching into the battle must have been ! What profound emotions must have stirred the breast of him who stood there viewing that scene and, for the moment, holding in his hand the lives of thousands of human beings ! Whatever his emotions may have been, Grant was silent. At daylight, or a little after, the bugle had sounded. Sher- man's soldiers were to move first to the attack, and, as the sun rose through the hill gaps, brave Corse of Iowa, and Loomis of Illinois, and Morgan L. Smith advanced to the conflict at Sher- man's right center. Between the hills and woods held by Sher- man, and Missionary Ridge proper, a low depression or valley ran. Across this, the troops charged and assaulted the steep, wooded and intrenched position of the enemy. The Sixth Iowa, led by Lt.-Col. Miller, was with Corse. It held the center posi- tion, and in the terrific fighting that ensued for the possession of the hills, none were more desperately engaged than they. Sixty- five of its officers and men were killed or wounded. The first hill was taken by Corse, and then with additional troops he assaulted the main position. For nearly two hours the hard fight lasted at this point, Corse gaining and losing ground, but still hanging like grim death to the first hill. " At ten o'clock," says Sherman, " the fight raged furiously," and in its midst the brave Corse was severely wounded and borne to the rear. Col. Walcutt took his place, and the terrific assaults went on. In the meantime, Morgan L. Smith's soldiers had gained ground on the left spurs of the ridge, and the men of Loomis's brigade had fought close up to the ridge and abreast of Tunnel Hill, where the railroad ran through the mountain. At 2 p. m., John E. Smith's division, including among other troops, the Fifth, Tenth and Seventeenth Iowa regiments, was pushed up to where Loomis's men were fisrhting against fearful odds. The IOWA AT CHATTAiTOOGA. 255 brio^ades of Mattliies and Raum formed in line of battle under a tremendous fire of artillery and started across the open, sloping field on the double quick. A furious cannonade and musketry- greeted them the moment the line came in sight of the batter- ies and the massed regiments of rebel infantry. It seemed as if every cannon of the whole rebel army had concentrated its fire on that little band, moving in battle. So close were the con- tending lines that at times the butts of guns, swords, and even stones were used. For an hour it was a deadly, doubtful con- flict. Once the cry came that the Rebels were forcing their way though the tunnel and its deep gorge, and were flanking the advanced line. It was too true. A courageous effort on the part of some companies of the Fifth Iowa, to drive them back, failed, and Maj. Marshall and the adjutant, with the little force at the tunnel, were overpowered and mostly captured.* We wondered why Thomas did not attack; it seemed as if our single line were to be wholly sacrificed in storming the fearful ridge alone. Added to the fierce roar of the rebel batteries, was the cannonade from the hills on the union side, where the guns fired over the heads of our advancing line. The officers, scream- ing commands at the top of their voices, could scarcely be heard a dozen yards away. But the line moved steadily, rapidly on, reaching the base of the hill and entering into the closer fire of the rebel musketry, where the struggle became a close, almost hand to hand conflict. Temporarily, the line gave way, but the pursuing foe, struck in the flank by a brigade of the union line, reeled and were followed again by the Iowa, Illinois and Mis- souri men. This flanking fire came from the ranks of the Sixth Iowa. It had been facing toward the ridge, but now, seeing that the Rebels had passed the tunnel, the regiment wheeled to the right and *T]ie writer, then adjutant of the Fifth, was among the captured at the tunnel. As he was taken up on the ridge, a prisoner, he witnessed the grand advance of the union ai-my and the flight of Bragg's forces. The imprisonment he and his comrades endured for fifteen months was a horri- ble experience. Of the 60 captured from his regiment, only 16 lived through it. Of the nine of his old Company B, of Newton, taken up that ridge with him, onli/ one besides himself survived to tell the tale. 256 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. poured a blasting fire into the enemy's flank. " Few of that rebel line," says Col. Miller, " ever got back to the ridge alive." It was three o'clock, and from every hill, apparently, the rebel batteries turned on Sherman, while along the whole crest of the ridge in his front, were massed clouds of hurrying infantry. They were fighting for the key of that great battle field. Grant, on Orchard Knob, witnessed the concentration. It was the supreme moment of the battle, and in twenty minutes Gen. Thomas's splendid army of the Cumberland was thrown forward like an avalanche on to the center of Bragg's army. It came with the force of a thunderbolt, storming rifle pits, intrench- ments, and breastworks on its way. Hooker, too, and with him the Iowa men of Osterhaus's division, had crossed the Chatta- nooga valley and was storming up on the rebel right. Before sundown that November night, the union army was in full possession of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The great battle of Chattanooga had been won. Bragg's army was in disastrous retreat, and the President of the United States, still listening to the tick, tick of the telegraph, in the white house at Washington, sent to the armies of Hooker, of Sherman and of Grant, the thanks of a grateful nation. The whole nation was glad. Iowa rejoiced especially. Of those gallant regiments storming the heights of Mission Ridge, none had fought better or more courageously than the troops from Iowa. The men of Sherman's corps, and the men of Iowa knew that they were at the key-point of the grand battle, and they fought accordingly. The Fifth Iowa lost, including quite a number captured, 106 officers and men out of its 248 engaged. Several officers, and the color guard were among those captured m the assault. The flag, too, though torn nearly to pieces, was lost. At the moment it was about to fall into into the rebel hands, it was seized by some of those nearest to it, its stars torn out, and secreted about their persons. One of these stars was saved by John Whitten, now deputy state treasurer. He was captured a few moments later and carried the star with him through many horrible months of rebel imprisonment. That star, worthier than any star of the Order of the Garter, framed and IOWA AT CHATTANOOGA. 257 preserved, is in the eapitol at Des Moines. Lieut. Clias. S. Miller of the Fifth, from Sigourney, was killed, and Gen. C. L. Matthies, commanding the brigade, but formerly the beloved colonel of the Fifth, was wounded. The Sixth Iowa lost heavily in its assaults. Among the killed was Capt. Robert Allison. Maj. T, J. Ennis, Captains Calvin Minton, Leander Allison and George R. Nunn were wounded. The Tenth Iowa men were heroes at Missionary Ridge. Harder fighting than theirs was not done in the whole army on that eventful, history-making day. Their severe losses, 52 out of 250 engaged, proved how dangerous were the points they assaulted. Lieutenants Isaac Sexton, Geo. H. Conant and John W. Stiffler were all killed while leading their men. Maj. Nathaniel McCalla was wounded. So, too, were Lieutenants David H. Emry, Mahlon Head, John S. Smith, Hubbard W. Bunker, and very many non-commissioned officers. It was a fierce two hours' record. Col. Clark R. Wever led the Seventeenth Iowa in the battle, and its loss of 58 men out of a small number engaged shows that that part of the Iowa contingent at Chattanooga was not flinching from its duty. Lt.-Col. Archer was captured in the breastworks of the enemy. Captains Houston, McNeal and Stuart were wounded. Adjt. Woolsey and Lieut. Deal received the com- mendation of Col. Wever for coolness and efficiency on the field. The Iowa regiments under Osterhaus, with Hooker, sufiered comparatively little, but they played their part in the demon- strations and maneuvers, which, not less than hard fighting, helped to chase the Rebels out of their wonderful position. It will long be a cherished memory of the Iowa soldiers in Oster- haus's division, that they fought with Hooker on Lookout Mountain. At Ringgold, in the pursuit, the regiments of Wil- liamson's Iowa brigade did good fighting, and suffered their severest loss. The Twenty-fifth Iowa lost 29 wounded at Ringgold, and every third officer was struck. Col. Geo. A. Stone led the regiment. The Twenty-sixth Iowa also fought very gallantly at Ring- gold. The losses were few, but among them was Capt. John L. I. W. T.— 17 258 IOWA IN WAJJ TIME6. Steele, killed, and Lieutenants N. D. Hubbard and W. Nickel, wounded. Lt.-Col. Ferreby was already hors du combat from a wound received at Lookout Mountain, though the regiment had been commanded there by its Colonel, Milo Smith. The Thirtieth Iowa had its heavest loss of the campaign in the approach to Chattanooga. At Cherokee, Alabama, the Iowa brigade, led by Col. Williamson,* met a body of Rebels in a dense fog. A severe musketry battle ensued. The Rebels were driven, but Col. W. M. G. Torrence was slain. In his death, the state of Iowa lost one of her bravest and best officers. Capt. W. H. Randall was also killed, while Captains H. C. Hall, Joseph Smith, Matthew Clark, and Adjt. Clendenning were all wounded. Some 30 officers and men fell in the short battle — a battle that was one of the preludes to the greater contest at Chattanooga. Gen. Grant had 60,000 men at Chattanooga, but the position in front of him had been deemed impregnable. The victory was a very great one and ought to have ended the war. Gen. Grant believed that if the Southern press had had the liberty to speak, the war would have been ended then and there. From that hour on, the Rebels fought without spirit or hopes of success. Great rejoicings were caused in the North by the great victory. ''God bless you all," telegraphed President Lincoln to Gen. Grant. " I tender you and all under you my profoundest gratitude." The battles at Missonary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, viewed from a height, must have been a military spectacle of surpassing grandeur. Col. Stone of the Twenty-fifth Iowa, who with his regiment supported a New York battery on a high point on Lookout Mountain, says: "Nothing could exceed the grandeur of this battle, from the point at which we viewed it. Ever}- gun from the Raccoon Mountain batteries to those of Moccasin Point was in plain view, and our lines of infantry so close that acquaintances were easily recognized. At 12 m., the grand attack began, and soon the battle-smoke hung over and envel- oped the mountain like a funeral pall, and the whole battle, like a panorama, passed around and before us."" *After the battle of Chattanooora. Gen. Sherman urged that the colonels, among them J. A. Williamson, of Iowa, who had been leading brigades, be promoted to brigadier genera's. CHAPTER XXII. THANKSGIVING DAY. 1863. The year 1863 was the greatest year in American history. On the first day of that year, President Lincoln, by the single stroke of his pen, abolished the cause of the great war. The high sounding declaration that this was aland of " liberty to all men," was no longer to be a burning lie. To break the chains of three millions of people, was an opportunity seldom vouchsafed to man. Abraham Lincoln understood the importance of his act, and invoked upon it "the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God." In Iowa, the appearance of the Emancipation Proclamation was hailed by loyal men as a proof that the hand of God was guiding our country, and men gave thanks that Providence had raised up a man with the courage to perform the crowning deed of centuries. Nobody believed or expected that freeing the slaves could end the war. Indeed, for a time, it strengthened the hands of the Rebels with a desperation bordering on madness while their sympathizers in the North found new and bitterer reasons for opposing the government. Now, indeed, the war on the part of the South, was to be waged to the bitter end. With slavery gone, there was nothing more to lose — there was something to win still— their bare lives, for at this period most just men believed that the suppression of the rebellion would be properly accompanied by the execution of many of the lead- ing conspirators. Outside the rebel aiders and abetters in the state, there were few men who did not think the President had done right. The better class of Democrats in the state joined the Republicans in (259) 260 IOWA IK WAR TIMES. giving praise for the heaven-inspired deed. At an immense mass meeting in Des Moines, the Hon. C. C. Cole, a life long Democrat and partisan, stood up and delivered a triumphant argu- ment in vindication of the proclamation. If men were to be divided now, said he, into Abolitionists, or Secessionists, as the newspapers charge, why then he knew which way to go. He was not a Secessionist. God and his countrymen knew that. If the President had the power to shoot Rebels in arms, he had the power to confiscate their slaves. The greater power includes the less. In his earnest appeal to support the government, Mr. Cole represented the feelings of the more intelligent, and the better class of Democrats in all Iowa. They were not disloyal — they were not Secessionists; but they were opponents of many of the administration's measures, measures which time found to be nec- essary, wise and best. Though the class of Democrats for whom Cole spoke cheered him for his words, that other class of Demo- crats, the Mahoney wing of the party, as it was called, worked itself into a rage and an indignation that was boundless. The press of that party teemed with assaults on the President, and on his advisers. Its leaders, in their violence of speech, were scarcely less reckless than were the men in open rebellion in the South. They pretended to be for the Union, yet opposed every single measure that looked toward putting down the rebellion. They were, in short, traitors. Had the union men of the South been as bold as were the Copperheads of Iowa, the outraged South- erners would have hung them all. It was the weakness of the administration that their ravages were permitted in a loyal state. August 27th, only a few months after the patriotic and loyal speech of C. C. Cole, the extremists and the disorderly of the democratic party met at Iowa City and in open convention declared the prosecution of the war to be "unconstitutional, and oppressive" and "a prolific source of usurpation, tyranny and cor- ruption." Of course, the sensible and loyal members of the democratic party were not responsible for the ravings of their disloyal comrades, but they were guilty of a grave wrong in so often permitting those disloyal elements to speak in the name of THANKSGIVING DAY, 1863. 261 the whole party. In the election that followed in the autumn, the people of Iowa, by their votes, charged up the wrongs that had been done in the states to the whole democratic party. On the 17th of June, 1883, the Republicans held their state convention at Des Moines. It was the largest convention ever held in the state. Two counties only were not represented. Gov. Kirk wood was not a candidate for re-election. There was much friendly sparring for his place by the friends of Gren. Fitz Henry Warren, Elijah Sells and Col. Wm. M. Stone. Other able men, like H. C. Caldwell and Col. M. M. Crocker, were also urged upon the convention and received some votes. The race, however, was between Fitz Henry Warren, Elijah Sells and Col. Stone. By a majority of 4 votes, Col. Stone was declared nominated, and the convention proceeded in warm terms to express to Gov. Kirk wood the thanks of the people of Iowa for the able, fearless, and patriotic manner in which he had discharged the duties of governor during two terms of office. Col. Wm. M. Stone was one of the brilliant men of the state. He was a young man of bright promise, of fine address and of talent. He possessed in him the elements of popularity. He was a strikingly good speaker, a patriot and a zealous partisan. When the war opened, he abandoned a lucrative and an honorable position — a judgeship, to enter the army. He raised a company of volunteers for the Third regiment, was soon appointed major of the same, and was afterward made colonel of the Twenty- second infantry. In the army, as in civil life, his versatile tal- ents, his hale fellowship and his gallantry withal, made him a popular companion. He led a dashing brigade in the struggle at Port Gibson, and was wounded while charging with his rai- ment, in the assault of May 22d, at the forts at Vicksburg. How many patriotic votes that bandaged arm gave the gallant colonel, when he entered the convention hall, fresh from the field of carnage, may not be guessed. He had able and brilliant competitors for the honors he bore away from the convention, and the ablest of them, without waiting for a definite and sure decision of the close ballot, rose, 262 IOWA IN" WAR TIMES. and, in the most loyal, and in the happiest speech of his life, urged on the delegates the unanimous nomination of Col. Wm. M. Stone. That was the gallant and the patriotic general, Fitz Henry Warren, the leader of some of the finest cavalry in the service of the Union. Shortly, the democratic party also held a convention. It resulted in one of the saddest things in Iowa politics. Its plat- form was against the prosecution of the war. The leaders who controlled the convention were members of a disloyal wing of the party whose daily utterances were expressions of deadly hatred for the soldiers at the front, and for the administration and its supporters at home. Maturin L. Fisher was nominated as the convention's candidate for governor. For some reason, he saw fit to decline the questionable honor. It then struck the managing committee, inconsistently enough, that a soldier's name on their ticket might prove a winning card. In looking about, their eyes fell on the gallant hero of Fort Donelson. Gen. Tuttle was home on leave of absence and in a moment of weakness permitted the committee to place his dis- tinguished name on their banner as a candidate for governor. It was a novel spectacle— one of the war heroes running for office on a platform opposed to the war. Gen. Tuttle's loyalty, patriotism and devotion to country, were known to all men. Even in his letter of acceptance, these things were all reiter- ated. He was for the prosecution of the war and for nothing else. It was just as thoroughly known that the people nominating him were not favorable to the prosecution of the war. His loyal letter they did not make public, except when goaded to it, and then only in occasional instances. It was charged that this letter was only intended for distribution in the army, while the opposite sentiments should be spread among their followers at home. In the army, the feeling became intense. There was deep regret and astonishment that a patriot, and so good a soldier, should be misled by designing men to occupy so equiv- ocal a position. '' He is by far too good a man," wrote Gov- Kirkwood, "to be sacrificed by such a scurvy lot of politicians THANKSGIVING DAY, 1863. 263 as Dean, Malioney and Byiugton. I am sorry for the course he has taken." Mahoney was on the same ticket for sheriff at Dubuque, and union soldiers from that district received tickets with the name of the honored soldier at the top, and the hated Copperhead at the bottom. The most emphatic and sometimes the most violent resolutions and addresses were adopted by the men in the regiments. Tuttle's own regiment, the gallant Second, condemned him in the fiercest tones and without a dis- senting voice. The men of the Seventh Iowa, while expressing the keenest regrets at Tuttle's acceptance, published in most of the newspapers of the state their detestation of the party leading him, and declared the general, himself, unworthy of further confidence. Public feeling ran fearfully high. Most men felt that to defeat Stone at such a time would be an awful blow to the loyal cause in Iowa. " It must not be — Stone must not be defeated," wrote Judge Dillon privately to the governor. " He has committed the great and inexcusable blunder of coming home. He is now at home. We are of the belief that some good man must be sent among the soldiers at once. The army vote is the pivotal point in the campaign. A stampede there would defeat Stone, and his defeat would be worse than the loss of a battle. No man has a deeper interest in the result of this election than you. You have kept the state right, gloriously rights and you must turn it over to loyal successors." Later, probably no man saw the extent of the mistake more than Tuttle himself, but it was too late to remedy the harm. He recognized that he had been made a tool of, and in after days manfully abandoned the party. At the election that autumn, Stone received in the army 16,791 votes — Tuttle 2,904. The total vote for Stone was 86,122 ; for Tuttle 47,948. In some of the Iowa regiments. Stone received almost the unanimous vote — Democrats and all must have voted against the strange alliance. In the Graybeard regi- ment, Tuttle received but 44 votes. In the soldiers' hospital, at Keokuk, out of 595 votes, only 15 were for the democratic ticket. In the single Iowa company in the army of the Potomac, every single vote was cast for Stone. 264 IOWA IN WAE TIMES. It was a tremendous rebuke of the men in Iowa who opposed the war.* Elsewhere in the country the loyal spirit manifested was about the same. Vallandigham in Ohio was defeated for governor by an overwhelming majority. The soldiers voted against him everywhere. In Hamilton county, out of 4,435 soldiers' votes he received but 128, and in one of the large hos- pitals but a single vote was cast for him. And yet Vallandig- ham's election had been worked and maneuvered for, as no other man's had in the history of the country. The Copperheads in the North not only worked and prayed for his election — the Rebels in the South, believing his election would mean aid to the rebel- lion, encouraged it, sent agents and money north to work for it, and undertook military campaigns to encompass it. Their con- centration of troops on Chattanooga, and the awful battle of Chickamauga, were precipitated in order to influence Vallandig- ham's election. The winning of a battle by the Rebels south was to mean the winning of a victory by the Rebels north. Enlistments in the union army wcl^ discouraged, the draft inter- fered with, and the union columns left, as a result, without proper additional aid. The plan of the Rebels north and south was partially successful. Chickamauga was lost. That was the great War Summer — the summer of 1863, It was the summer of great events in this country; and, it was the period when Iowa stood noblest to the front. Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Port Hudson, Helena, and the retreat of Lee from Pennsylvaina, were great historic mile stones. The summer was not over before President Lincoln asked all loyal men and women to give thanks to God for so many victories. August 6th was set apart as a special day of praise. It was observed in Iowa everywhere, and out of the dark clouds sweeping above the country, men saw tokens of further victory. In that year, and up to that day, the Rebels had lost 91,000 men. Our own losses, we scarcelyldared to count. Our regiments were being thinned down, *Gen. Tuttle's loyalty was so unquestioned, his gallantry so distinguished, that the indignation of the soldiers passed off with the occasion, and in later years, we see the same leader almost unanimously chosen by thousands of the same soldiers, to be the commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic in Iowa. THANKSGIVING DAY, 1863. 265 to skeletons, while volunteering was discouraged, and when pos- sible, prevented by the great Peace Party, made up of all the bad elements of society, of the haters of human liberty, and the collected opponents of the administration. There are usually more men on the wrong side than on the right — on the bad side than on the good. In the North that year it sometimes seemed, spite of the brilliant victories of our soldiers, that a majority of the people were bent on letting the government go. Many union men halted when they thought they were fighting for the slave. To enforce the emancipation proclamation was to free the negro, and thou- sands preferred the Union with slavery to no Union at all. Man3% however, rose to the height of the occasion — Democrats alike with Republicans, and by act and word upheld the hands of the loyal governors and determined that not only slavery, but every thing else in the South, should be sacrificed, rather than that the government should perish. Many events of interest were taking place that summer. In Ohio, the President had, in May, sent the traitor Vallandig- ham outside the union lines. In Iowa, some of the traitors were put in arrest, or sent to places of confinement. Jones, an ex-U. S. senator, was already in an eastern fortress, and Mahoney and Henry Clay Dean, W. M. Hill and others of that ilk, were locked up in safe places only to escape justice by taking the oath of allegiance to the government. Henry Clay Dean was mobbed at Keokuk, by soldiers just then home on furlough, and was turned over uninjured to the provost marshal. Mahoney, the Dubuque editor, was seized by Marshal Hoxie, and immediately wrote to the governor, professing a degree of loyalty unheard of in all his public utterances.* *BuRTis House, Davenport, Aug, 15, 1862, Go VERNOR KiRKWOOD : Dear Sir: I have received and read your letter to me of this date, I am more than disappointed in it. You not only withhold consolation, but, like my enemies, assume that I am disloyal to my country. This from you has been a poignant allegation, knowing in my soul how unwarranted it is in fact. I shall have to take care that I am not driven against my will into disloyalty, for it seems that those who charge me with being so, are laboring with might and main to make me feel and act so. Their labor will be in vain, I shall not let any outrage that may be inflicted on me, nor any indignity to which I might 266 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. T. W. Claggett, the editor of the Keokuk Constitution, a sheet devoted to vile abuse of the administration, had his press and types seized by irate soldiers and thrown into the Mississippi river. The very general reget seemed to be that he had not been thrown in with them. He, too, wrote to the governor, suddenly finding the evil that resulted from no government or order when applied to himself. In both these cases the governor declined to interfere, point- ing to the courts as a remedy for damages.* While this was going on at Keokuk, the Copperheads were carrying things with a high hand elsewhere, and usually at points where there were no furloughed soldiers at home to interfere. Mahoney's types came near following those of Claggett into the Mississippi river. Stilson Hutchins was Mahoney's partner in printing copperhead songs and copperhead abuse of the gov- ernment. In Appanoose county, a copperhead mob threatened to drive a respectable citizen out of the country for the unpardonable crime of giving employment to a black man. This was not an uncom- mon sentiment in that section of the state. In Taylor county, negroes were refused residence, and were threatened with mobs. yet be subjected drive me from tbe path of duty to my country. If the consti- tution be outraged, it shall be still my constitution. If the government be subverted, J for one shall adhere to it and do my best to restore it to its legitimate condition. This is disloyalty though, unfortunately for me, and I must sufEer the pains, the indignities, the taunts and probably the penalties, with a trial of being a disloyalist. Governor, my friend, a government, or rather an administration, which was loyal to the constitution would not do this. But pardon my digression ; I set out to write you an acknowledgment of your letter and to tell how poignantly its tone and assumed criminality in me pained me; you would not have so written if 3'ou had known my heart. But for the expression of regret in your letter at my situation, I would have con- cluded that you too had become my enemy, and thus broken one of the few props remaining of my faith in the uprightness of man, and in the purity and stability of human friendship. Leaving to other times and opportunities the vindication of my conduct from reproach and the re-establishment of my per- son in its rights and liberty, 1 take my leave of you as my official suf)erior and fellow citizen, to hold such a relation towards you hereafter as it will be more in your honor than mine to establish. You have set me the example of saying, I am yours respectfully, D. A. Mahonet. * Discipline may have been a little loose just then in Keokuk, for Robert Bain, one of the soldiers charged with throwing Claggett's rebel types into the river, was brought up by his officers for punishment the next morning, and received, amid the cheers of his companions, a pi-omotion to drum major THANKSGIVING DAY, 1863. 267 These negroes were mostly slaves escaped from thralldom in Mis- souri, or had been set free by their masters. Gov. Kirkwood gave the civil officers and the people of Taylor to understand that black men had a right to live in lovra, and that any attempt to drive them out would be met with the bayonets of the state militia. It was a serious and a critical time in many portions of the state, where Copperheads openly and violently threatened disorder and mobs, in resistance to any attempt that might be made to enforce the draft then pending again in the state. At Dubuque, serious alarm was felt concerning mobs on the very point of organizing and striking. Gov. Kirkwood wrote to the citizens of Dubuque as he had written to the people in Taylor county, that the first disturbance would be met by force of arms, by the militia from other and more loyal districts. His firm atti- tude checked open outrage and violation of law; yet in Keokuk, Poweshiek and Mahaska counties, disturbances with loss of life took place. The force of the state was immediately brought to bear and quiet was restored. Many disturbances were caused throughout the state by the Copperheads wearing their badges of treason in the shape of copperhead breast-pins, on public occa- sions. It was no uncommon thing for these breastpins to be torn from their wearers, who were beaten by indignant soldiers home on furlough. Not infrequently, too, there was an accom- paniment of bloodshed. In the countries bordering on Missouri, constant disorder, viola- tion of law, and murder were rendering all government a mock- ery. Rebels, bandits, thieves and murderers would escape from Missouri and fly to the congenial fellowship to be found in these border counties of Iowa. The governor organized the militia in every southern county, and prepared for open rebellion against law in that region. He also asked the government that a general officer be sent to the state, and that Iowa be made a military district, where martial law could be enforced when nec- essary. The government responded by appointing Brig. Gen. Roberts to the command, with headquarters at Davenport. Now, in case of great disorder, not only the stat^ militia, but the union soldiers, could be called out for protection. 268 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. The rebel aiders and abettors in Iowa took the hint, and the loud threatenings remained threatenings only.* All these troubles and disorder in loyal Iowa were the direct result of the treasonable teachings of the press and leaders of the so-called '' Mahoney Democrats." Not one Republican — not one decent loyal Democrat, was among them. It was the dark side of the medal, in the picture of Iowa for 1863. Spite of disorders at home, and great battles in the field, the prosperity of the nation at large, and of Iowa in particular, was extremely noticeable. Forty million dollars worth of United States bonds were sold in New York in a single week, and six millions in a single day. In the East, at least, men were making fortunes, and in the West, except for the wounded and the dead, there was little to tell that the government was struggling with one of the greatest wars of all history. Spite of all discourage- ments in the early part of the year, the sacrifices for country by men and women in Iowa, went on. There was no halt in doing good, while the wreck and ruin in many an Iowa home was sorrowful in the extreme. The maimed and the dead belonged to almost every household, and not a few were the cases of Spartan courage, where father and son and brother followed in quick succession to the bloody altar of their country.f *Among other outrages proposed that summer was the assassination of Gov. Kirkwood. On July 6th, J. Q. Detwiler wrote to the governor, relat- ing a conversation that had been overheard in the bedroom of a hotel in Osage. In this midnight conversation, it transpired that a plan was arranged for the assassination, within six weeks time, of both Gov. Kirkwood and Gov. Yates, An attempt was made shortly on the life of Yates, but Gov. Kirkwood pursued his loyal way undisturbed. tHere is a sad extract from a letter urging the governor to go to Vicks- burg to look after the sick and wounded soldiers. The governor did go to Vicksburg, and the sanitary agents were looked after : Dear Governor: Wm. Hopkirk, mentioned already, died on boat before reaching St. Louis. Mr. Hopkirk, sen., had OHe son ond two sons-in-law in the army. One died, one lost his right leg, and whilst absent lost three children from diptheria, and now William, the son, is dead— yet with all this desolation in the family, Mr. H., his wife and daughters, were here yes- terday with a wagon load of provisions to send by Mrs. Woods to the Iowa soldiers at Vicksburg, and they worked all day here helping to pack the stores. Theirs was a giiiet, sad, earnest devotion to the cause — their manly sons were gone but their comrades in the field needed help, and they gave freely. Yes, Governor, go and see that your agents do not neglect their duty towards fche poor invalid, disheartened and homesick soldier: they will all thank you, and their friends at home will never forget your kindness. In haste, respectfully and truly yours, Chas. S. Clakke. THANKSGIVING DAY, 1863. 269 The spring had opened with great depression of public feeling bordering almost on despair. The midsummer saw that despair turned to hope, and the change had been wrought by loyal bay- onets of which Iowa claimed an honorable share. "The state of Iowa is proud of your achievements,''' wrote Gov. Kirkwood to the soldiers of the state, at the fall of Vicksburg. She renders you her homage and gratitude, and with exul- tant heart claims you as her sons. You have made it a high privilege to be a citizen of Iowa, to share your renown, and it will be a proud remembrance to you while life shall last, and a rich legacy to your children, that you were members of the Army of the Tennessee." Thanksgiving day of 1863 was ushered in, in Iowa, with the news of the glorious victory of Chattanooga — truly one of the great battles — one of the greatest victories of modern times. Iowa soldiers were there, too, whole brigades of them, and the pride of the state in the heroism of her sons in the battle knew no bounds. Everybody realized that from that moment on, the Confederacy of the Rebels was doomed. Many brave Iowa men left their hearts' blood on that battlefield — many went into southern prisons to die; but, while mourning her sacrifice, the state of Iowa held up her face in conscious pride that her sons had been foremost in the victory. In all the towns of the state there was praise and thanks- giving.* In the larger towns, union services were held and all *The governor's proclamation of that Thanksgiving day is of interest. It reads: I, Samuel J. Kirkwood. Governor of the State of Iowa, do hereby appoint Thursday, the 26th inst., as a Day of Thanksgiving, Prayer and Praise to Almighty God, for His manifold mercies to us as a people, during the year that is past. Let us thank Him for the great victories of our arms over the foes of civil and religious liberty. Let us thank Him for the heroism, fortitude and enduring patriotism of our people, as shown by our soldiers in the field, and by our people at home, in their unshaken determination to preserve the glorious institutions of our fathers unimpaired, for themselves and their children after them. Let us thank Him that our domestic peace has been unbroken, and the first budding of internal violence has been quickly crushed, without the shedding of human blood. Let us thank Him for the general health and prosperity of our people, while we remember with earnest prayer and liberal hand the widow and the fatherless victims of this cruel and wicked war. Let us repent of our manifold sins as a people, for which we are now 270 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. things forgotten save that the soldiers had won a great victory. No doubtful sentiments, no half loyal utter- ances were tolerated. At Burlington, the selected speaker at the services. Rev. Westerfelt, failed to rise to the occa- sion. He saw only gloom ahead, blamed the Abolitionists almost as much as he did the Rebels, and threw a very chill into the hearts of the assembly. He was no sooner seated than the Rev. Wm. Salter rose to his feet and in words of burn- ing eloquence and patriotic fire, turned the chilled audience into a cheering, fervid mass of praising men and women. He pictured the difference between humanity for the slave, and the treason of the Rebels — between the white snow of the Alps, and the black curse of the rebellion. He pictured the camp and the battle-field, the wounded and the dying — and all for country, in words so burning and in thoughts so intense as never to be forgotten by those who heard them. Burlington never saw so loyal a moment, so intense a feeling, as when the news came of Chattanooga, and when William Salter stood up and talked of the soldiers and country. Words like Salter's found an echo everywhere in Iowa. Out- side the abettors of the South, the people of Iowa were proving themselves worthy of the best government on earth. They pro- posed to keep that government, and it was kept at the cost of the blood of her sons. In this war summer of 1863, Iowa was not only represented well in the armies of the country — her representatives in the national council were alike patriotic and prominent. In the senate, Gov. James W. Grimes exercised a power and influence surpassed by few of the statesmen of his day. His excellent sense, sound judgment and great ability were recognized by the experiencing: His chastisements, and humbly implore His gracious spirit to turn us therefrom, and His pardoning grace for that which is past, that we may cease our haughty pride in our greatness and prosperity, and recognize Him as the author of "every good and perfect gift." that we may cease^ to oppress the " poor and him that hath none to help," that we may remember that "righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people," and that peace may again soon prevail in all the borders of our once happy land. Samuel J. Kirkwood. Executive Office, Iowa, Nov. 2, 1863. THANKSGIVING DAY, 1863. 271 country and by a body of senators seldom if ever excelled in statesmanship in the history of the country. He was a strong man, a true patriot and a firm upholder of the right. His position in the senate, as chairman of the committee on naval affairs, gave him great opportunities to serve the country, and great responsibilities. Those opportunities were not wasted— his responsibilities not shirked. No great measure passed the senate in which his hand was not seen— no great occasion offered, when his voice was not heard and listened to. The navy was strengthened and improved under his hand, and with his direction and counsel was built a fleet of river and coast gun- boats, iron dads, unique in warfare, and so powerful as to almost change the naval methods of the world. " He had," said Senator Anthony, " the greatest knowledge of naval affairs of any man I ever knew." He was one of the very first statesmen to insist on arming the negroes that they might help to defend a country in which, from that hour forth, they were to exist as men and not as slaves. Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, in a speech in the senate declared that if the sentiments of James W. Grimes and Charles Sumner had been the sentiment of the President and Cabinet, the rebellion would have been crushed long before it was, and the trouble ground to atoms. '" These two statesmen," continued Senator Wilson " have, from the beginning, compre- hended this rebellion, and advocated the proper remedies." On every momentous subject in the senate his advice was asked. He was more than able; he was good, honorable, manly. He hated back-door politics, secret statesmanship, and every policy that was not frank, open and before the country. He urged that executive sessions of the senate be public, at least while acting on nominations of the President. " 1 know nothing of diplomacy," he once said in the senate, " but, my idea has always been that matters of state should be made public." Public duty was, with him, above all other considerations, and the state of Iowa had in him a pillar of fidelity and support that helped to make the state regarded throughout the Union. At the side of Gov. Grimes in the senate, stood James Harlan, 272 IOWA IN WAR TIMES, able, upright and esteemed as a public man. His sound sense and statesman-like abilities soon placed him in the Cabinet among the personal advisers of the great President. It was an honor to Iowa to have her senator selected as one of the few to help guide the ship of state through such storms as have seldom overtaken any country. In the lower house at Washington, there were men of more than state fame from Iowa. J. B. Grinnell, James F. Wilson, John A. Kasson and Hiram Price were able and true represen- tatives of a people who had become accustomed to being repre- sented by able men. On some of them, too, the higher honors of statesmanship waited. John A. Kasson, in later years, became an adviser of presidents and a prince among diplomats. James F. Wilson, after valuable and long experience, stepped into the chamber of the senate, where his ability and true statesmanship brought honors to himself and to his state. He was a patriot in the War Time, and a man on whose cool judgment and great sound sense as a statesman, the loyal men of Iowa relied. When the war ceased and great questions of reconstruction came up. President Grant offered Mr. Wilson the most impor- tant place in the cabinet. He was not seeking office, and pre- ferred, for the time, the quiet of home, and the work that came of attention to his own affairs. Twice, cabinet positions were urged upon him, and twice declined. Except Elihu Washburne of Illinois, perhaps no man living had so largely possessed the confidence and esteem of Gen. Grant. In that same summer, too, of 1863, was first heard in the national council hall the voice of another son of Iowa, whose name and whose fame were to become broad as the nation. William B. Allison and James A. Garfield entered public life in Washington together. Both trod together the paths of political fame. Botli were elected to the senate, and when Garfield became President, it was his sincere wish to have with him in his cabinet and as an adviser, his distinguished and able friend. As with Senator Wilson, so with Senator Allison, private affairs deterred him from accepting the highest position in the gift of the President. Sena- tor Allison's great abilities as a statesman, have been and are .^x^^^^ THANKSQIVIKQ DAY, 1863. 273 recognized throughout the country. His politics and his policies have been considered from the wartimes on, conservative and safe. He has been an authority on great subjects, and a counselor for distinguished statesmen. Mr. Chase himself, the father of the war system of finances, probably possessed no broader views, no profounder knowledge of our money system than did Mr. Alli- son, and no man in the councils of the nation has a deeper insight into general legislation. When Mr. Allison was elected to congress in 1863, he was on the military staff of Gov. Kirkwood, and to his constant and patriotic energy was due much of the success and rapidity with which troops were raised in the counties of his district. On the ticket opposing him for congress, was the name of D. A. Mahoney, the leader of the anti-war party in Iowa. Mr. Allison was elected by a great majority and entered on a career of fame and usefulness of which his state will ever be proud. Both Senator Allison and Senator Wilson, by their great abilities won the regard of the whole nation, and both have been sug- gested for the highest place in the gift of the people. I. W. T.— 18 CHAPTER XXIIL IOWA IN THE RED RIVER CAMPAIGN. Spring of 1864. M.Ain Iowa troops took part in the campaign for the posses- sion of the Red River country. In that campaign of disaster and defeat, no soldiers came off with so good a record as they. If Banks's army had been defeated, Iowa soldiers, anyway, had not been disgraced, and not once in the whole campaign, either under Banks, or with Steele, was an Iowa regiment pitted against numbers that were not greater than its own. The fact is worthy of record. In the early spring of 1864, Gen. Banks, commanding at New Orleans, was directed by Gen. Halleck to move an army against Shreveport, a little town at the head of navigation on the Red river. Shreveport was the center of an enormously rich cotton district, and among other objects of this expedition, it was proposed to secure all this cotton for the half famishing mills of the North. It was no uncommon thing, before the war, for Shreveport to ship 40,000 bales of cotton down the river in a single year. But there were other more important objects connected with this campaign, the greatest of which was to get full military possession of all that part of Louisiana and Arkansas, and be in a position for the immediate occupation of Texas, thus saving to the country and giving protection to, all the large population in those districts that had remained loyal. There was also to be a political significance attached to the campaign. The occupa- tion of Texas, especially, was to have a bearing on public senti- ment in Europe. Altogether, great hope was based on a successful issue. Great plans were laid — great preparations made. Banks's army, some (274) IOWA IN" THE RED RIVER CAMPAIGN. 275 17,000 strong, was to move toward Alexandria early in March. A portion of Gen. Sherman s old array, some 10,000 men, under Gen. A. J. Smith, was to come down from Vicksburg and proceed up the Red river from its mouth. Another army of 7,000 men under Gen. Steele, was to march south from Little Rock, co-operating with and joining Banks, at Shreveport, while a splendid fleet of gunboats was to patrol the river. None of these separate columns were half equal in numbers to the rebel force in front of Shreveport— a force that, as the sequel showed, was capable of being concentrated and hurled on to either of them. Gen. Banks had been an able politician, and was a prominent leader in civil affairs. He had not been tried much as a soldier. On the 12th of March, 1864, the iron fleet started up the Red river, escorting the transports bearing the command of Gen. Smith. After a little diversion with an old rebel encampment and fort at Bayou de Glaize, Smith's command marched over- land to Fort de Russey, a strong, bastioned and bomb proof work on the south side of the Red river, and seventy miles from its mouth. It was an absolute necessity that this fort should be stormed and taken before the columns could proceed. Its strength and position made it a complete bar against any prog- ress of the gunboats up the river, and the presence of this fleet with the army was to be of vast importance. Fortunately, Fort de Russey was not strongly garrisoned. On the 14th of March, Smith's command, including Col. W. T. Shaw's brigade of the Fourteenth, Twenty-seventh and Thirty-second Iowa, with the Twenty-fourth Missouri, and Third Indiana battery, marched nearly thirty miles in ten hours, and then, after a little skirmishing, stormed and took the fort in twenty minutes. The federal loss was small— some forty-nine all told; but that was one of the brilliant feats of the war and it was Iowa's first fighting in the Red river campaign. For their gallantry at Fort de Russey, Colonels Gilbert, Scott, and Lt.-Col. Newbold received the thanks of the brigade comman- der. So, too, did Capt. Granger and Lieut. Buell of the Twenty- seventh and Fourteenth Iowa, who were on his staff. 276 IOWA IN "WAR TIMES. To take Fort de Russey, was to take Alexandria — as that was left now without protection. On the approach of the gunboats, two days later, it surrendered without a struggle. This splendid gunboat fleet met with many difficulties and many dangers in that campaign. The water in the river was often too low for vessels of such draft, and constant attempts were made to capture it. Nothing short of great ingenuity and severe labor in dam building saved it from loss by low water, and nothing but the bravery of Admiral Porter and his men saved it from destruction by the enemy's batteries along the shore. Alexandria taken, and occupied as a depot for provisions, the army moved on to Natchitoches, eighty miles farther up the river. Gen. Banks's column from New Orleans had joined this army at Alexandria, but as a part of Smith's command was recalled to Vicksburg, and 3,000 men were left to guard Alex- andria, the available fighting force was reduced to 20,000 men. Shreveport, the destination of the army, was still a hundred miles away, and the iron fleet could not, on account of low water, pass farther up than Grand Ecore. Another large detachment had now to remain by the river, protecting the transports. The remainder of the army was pushed on to a point known as Pleasant Hill, where the enemy was met in force on the 7th of April. He was pushed back that day and the next morning to Sabine Cross Roads, some twelve miles from Pleasant Hill, where he made a stand and fought a hard battle. The Rebels numbered over 20,000, and were commanded by Kirby Smith, Dick Taylor, Mouton and Green. Banks was at the front, and so too were his wagon trains. His fighting men, too many of them, were in Frankliu's division, miles in the rear. Messenger after messenger from Banks failed to get them to the front till nearly night, and till after Gen. Ransom and others, gallantly fighting, had been outflanked, overpowered, and driven back. A new line was formed, and the union men fought desperately; but, flushed with victory and superior in numbers, the Rebels charged and flanked again, and again our lines were driven back in dismay. A panic seemed to seize the troops on finding the single road to the rear blocked IOWA IN THE RED RIVER CAMPAIGN. 277 with wagon trains. The defeat speedily became a disaster; many good ofiBcers were killed or wounded. A thousand prisoners were lost, 10 guns captured, and all efforts to check the flying troops were made in vain. The army fell back and halted at Pleasant Hill, marching all night to get there. Only two Iowa regiments shared in this fight and flight. The Twenty-eighth and the Twenty-fourth Iowa formed a part of Col. Raynor's brigade of the Third division. Only a part of the Twenty-fourth, however, under Maj. Wright, was present. The remainder, under Capt. Martin, was guarding trains at the rear. The Twenty-eighth was commanded by Coi. John Connell. The brigade was hurried to the front, on the double-quick most of the way, for five miles, passing two miles of wagon train that was out of place. At the edge of a field skirted by a wood on the left of the Mansfield road, the line halted and engaged the enemy. The whole Third divison then on the line numbered but 1,200 men. In front of them, and approaching their flanks, were not less than 7,000 Rebels occupying good positions and supported by several batteries. Here the brigade stood and fought till its ammunition was almost expended, and the enemy had with a strong cavalry force flanked the division on both sides. The whole line speedily gave way, each regiment fighting its way to the rear as best it could. The retreat past the trains blocking the way was most difficult, and the flying column found no safety until it reached the line of the Nineteenth army corps, forming several miles at the rear. Ransom's troops and the Iowa regiments had done the hard fighting on the field, and they were the very last to fall back, Ransom himself being severely wounded. The Twenty-eighth lost some 80 officers and men in killed, wounded and missing.* Col. John Connell was badly wounded, and captured. So too were Adjt. Strong and Lieutenants 0. F. Dorrance and H. Weaver. The Twenty-fourth lost 34, many of whom were wounded and captured. Among them was Capt. W. C. Dimmitt, severely wounded, and left on the field. Surgeons Witherwax and Lyons were also taken prisoners. *No official report of the Twenty-eighth at Sabine Cross Roads seems ever to have been made to the governor. 278 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. The morning of the 9th of April, 1864, saw Banks's defeated army collected around the little hamlet of Pleasant Hill. It had marched all night in the hard retreat, but there had been no pursuit from Sabine Cross Roads. Not until the early morning of this day did the Rebels know that Banks had fallen back. They at once marched against him, but it was late in the day before their army was sufficiently formed to commence the real attack. Banks's army in the meantime had been strengthened by A. J. Smith's force of veterans. It was fortunate for Banks that this was so. Gen. Emory's division of Banks's army was at the front, and soon skirmishing with the enemy. It was the division that had checked the Rebels in their last attack at Sabine Cross Roads the evening before. Sometime before noon Gen. Banks directed Col. Shaw, with his Iowa brigade of Smith's command, to go forward to the assistance of Emory's division. Col. Shaw had with him the Four- teenth, Twenty-seventh and Thirty-second Iowa infantry, and the Twenty-fourth infantry of Missouri. By order of Emory, his brigade was placed at the extreme front, and across the Mansfield wagon road, relieving a force under Gen. McMillan that had already been engaged. The brigade of Gen. D wight was at Shaw's right and rear, supposed to be supporting him, but as the sequel proved, doing nothing of the kind. Benedict's brigade and other small forces were at his left rear, but badl v posted, and when the pinch came, of little service, though Benedict gave his life in leading that command in the battle. There was a commanding ridge at Shaw's right which could protect the rebel advance. This he speedily occupied with the Twenty-fourth Missouri, and thus extended his right, but Emory failed to make a corresponding move of D wight's brigade; hence a gap to the left of Shaw where stood the Thirty-second Iowa. Emory, in fact, did not, according to Shaw, appear on the field again during the battle. In front of Shaw's main line, was an old field dotted with small straggling pine trees; behind him was a dense thicket and timber. A little in his advance, to the right and nearer the ridge, was posted a section of the Twenty-fifth New York battery. IOWA IN THE BED RIVER CAMPAIGN". 279 It was now three o'clock, and heavy skirmishing had been going on constantly. Then Gen. Stone, chief of Banks's staff, rode up, looked at Shaw's line, and pronounced the position "well chosen" and the point one "to be held at all hazards." Supports for right and left were promised, but did not come. Dwight's brigade was now out of position to be of use, and all efforts to find that officer and have him move his brigade up, proved vain. It was a few minutes to five o'clock when the Rebels opened a heavy fire on Shaw's line. The battery with him, the Twenty-fifth New York, fired a few shots in return and fled to the rear, leaving a gun as they ran. A tremendous cavalry dash was made by the enemy, to catch this flying battery, but it was met by volleys from the Fourteenth Iowa and Twenty- fourth Missouri, so close, so withering, that almost every man fell dead from his saddle. Some of the men and horses of this fierce charge fell within the ranks of the Fourteenth Iowa. Among them was the bold and dashing leader. Col. Bagley. So fatal a cavalry charge had not been made during the whole war. This was immediately followed by a charge of the enemy's infantry in double lines, reaching beyond both flanks of Shaw's command. They were met by a steady, constant fire, and the first line of the enemy fell back, but not until great losses had been inflicted on Shaw's brigade. At the same time, heavy fighting had been going on at Shaw's left, and the union line was driven back in disorder. Shaw was now flanked on both sides, and in danger of being surrounded, when Gen. A. J. Smith, seeing the critical situation of the brigade, ordered him to withdraw at once and form a new line at the rear. Col. Shaw attempted to deliver in person the order to his reg- iments to retire, as his officers were off, seeking support. Owing to the thick brush, it was nearly impossible to ride to the left of his brigade, and before he reached there, the enemy were in the rear of the Thirty-second Iowa. Shaw at once wheeled, and got the remainder of the brigade off in good order, but Col. Scott, 280 IOWA IN" WAR TIMES. with the Thirty-second, was of necessity left to cut his way out as best he could. The ammunition of the whole line was about expended, and many brave officers and men lay dead before the retreat commenced. Lt.-Col. Mix of the Thirty-second, and Lt.-Col. Newbold, leading the Fourteenth, were already slain at the post of honor, and other noble officers and patriots sacrificed their lives on that fierce line, rather than give one inch to treason. Shaw's line was only back in its new position, when a com- bined attack of the union army drove the Rebels from the field. The victory, dear as it was, was won. Shaw's brigade had made it possible. The long list of dead and wounded officers and men in that brigade proved how desperate had been the conflict on his line. Like a wall of fire his soldiers had stood between Banks's army and an overpowering foe. The reward Col. Shaw received for his heroism, and the sacrifices of his brave men we shall see later. Each regiment in that " Iron brigade," as it was soon called in the army, proved itself worthy of the state from which it came. Harder fighting than theirs was not done on that bloody field. Many brave officers laid down their lives and were mourned by a sorrowing people in Iowa. Shaw lost 500 officers and men from his little command. The Thirty-second Iowa, under Col. John Scott, with half its officers and men killed or wounded, surrounded, and alone, heroically cut its way through the rebel lines, and in half an hour was again in proper line and anxious to meet the enemy. Scott and his men had been rather isolated from the brigade all the time, owing to the nature of the ground. In a sense, the Thirty-second fought a battle of its own, and alone — and this with unparalleled skill and heroism. Facing in three directions, to meet the exigency. Col. Scott's little band fought fearlessly on. As an evidence of the kind of fighting, company B, with 46 engaged, had every officer and 26 men either killed or wounded. Fiercer fighting than occurred on front, flank and rear of the Thirty-second Iowa at Pleasant Hill, is scarcely recorded in history. It was the Twenty-seventh Iowa's first fight after the gallant IOWA IN THE RED RIVER CAMPAIGN. 281 charge at Fort de Russey, but led by their wounded Col. Gilbert, there was no officer in that army but would have thought them veterans. Lt.-Col. Newbold^s Fourteenth Iowa added new fame to a his- tory already brilliant in war, and sealed its devotion to honor with the blood of its leader, and many of its officers and men. Col. Shaw praised the gallant Missourians who bravely held his right, as brave soldiers, worthy of every honor. " My men," said Shaw, " were the first in the fight — the longest in the fight — (Old in the hardest of the fight ^ and were the last to leave the battle fields All of his officers were complimented, and especially Capt. Granger and Lieutenants Berg and Buell, of his staflF, and his brave orderly, Frederick Nolan. The Thirty-second Iowa lost 210 officers and men in the battle, mostly killed or wounded. Among the killed or those who died of wounds, were Lt.-Col. Mix, Adjt. C. H. Huntley, Captains Amos B. Miller and Hubert F. Peebles, and Lieutenants Thomas 0. Howard and Abiathar Hull. Lieutenants John Devine, John F. Wright, Wm. D. Templin, and Capt. M. Ackerman were all dangerously wounded. Capt. Jonathan Hutchinson, whose brave son was killed at his side in the battle, received from Col. Scott special thanks for gallantry. The Twenty-seventh Iowa, led in the battle by Col. Gilbert, lost a total of 88 officers and men. Col. Gilbert was himself slightly wounded. Capt. J. M. Holbrook and Lieut. J. W. Granger were severely wounded, while Lieutenants Samuel O. Smith and Frank A. Brush died of wounds in the hands of the enemy, as did many of Banks's army when the retreat commenced. The Fourteenth Iowa lost in killed, beside its commander, Lieutenants Logan, Hazlett, McMillen, and Shanklin — all valua- ble officers. Lieut. A. E. Holmes was wounded. On the death of the commander, Capt. Warren C. Jones took charge of the regiment and led it through the rest of the battle. The Thirty-fifth Iowa was also engaged at Pleasant Hill, but on a different part of the field. Its Colonel, S. G. Hill, led the brigade in Mower's division of which it was a part, and Lt.-Col. Keeler led the regiment. Only a few days before, the command had achieved a splendid and almost bloodless success in the prompt 282 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. capture of Henderson's Hill. Again at Pleasant Hill it was thrown to the front and shared the hard fighting and the victor}' of the day. Capt. Henry Blanck was killed and Lieut. Dugan mortally wounded, as were many of the privates. Gen. Banks did not realize that his troops had won a victory at Pleasant Hill and that the Rebels were checked. Apparently frightened by the disaster at Sabine Cross Roads, and by the fierce opposition at Pleasant Hill, he sounded the grand retreat — a retreat full of hardships and some fighting on the way, and that did not stop short of the Mississippi river. In one of the conflicts on the way, called the fight of the " Yellow Bayou," the Thirty-fifth Iowa lost nearly 40 of its numbers. Among the killed were Capt. Burmeister and young Frederick Hill, son of Col. S. G. Hill, commanding brigade. The latter fell dead at his father's side, pierced through the head by a bullet. Later, at Nashville, the father, too, laid down his life for his country. At Pleasant Hill, one-half of the killed and wounded had fallen to Shaw's Iron brigade. The bravery and skill of Col. Shaw in holding that force to the front as he did, was appreci- ated by the country; but, among the general officers of Banks's army there sprang up at once a feeling of envy and hatred of the man whose troops saved the army from defeat. They deter- mined on his destruction. Injudiciously he gave them a basis to work on. In a letter to a public journal, printed under his own name, he published several of the ofiicers of Banks's army as incompetent and drunken imbeciles on that day of Pleasant Hill. There were many reasons for believing that he stated the simple fact. But he stirred up an awful hornet's nest of sting and hate. Technically, he had transgressed the military law in printing his letter. Not less than twenty-five of Banks's officers, as well as Banks himself, joined in charges against the fighting colonel. They did not stop with citing this violation of law in the print- ing of the letter. They charged Shaw with incompetency, with fear, with cowardice, with ordering his men to run, while terror had seized upon himself. The Secretary of War accepted these outrageous falsehoods, and Col. Shaw was dismissed the army in IOWA IN THE RED RIVER CAMPAIGN". 283 disgrace. That was his reward for gallantry at Pleasant Hill ! Gen. A. J. Snath, Shaw's corps commander, who witnessed his gallantry and his perfect obedience of orders at Pleasant Hill, testified to it all in an official letter. Shaw demanded that this justification be printed in the official military journal that had contained the order of dismissal. The Secretary of War refused it, and yet knew that Shaw had been dismissed without even a hearing. Shortly, however, the authorities at Washington, including the President, realized that an outrage had been committed on a gallant and meritorious officer. On December 23d, 1865, the order of dismissal was revoked, and Col. Shaw was given an hon- orable discharge from the service, to date from the 16th day of the previous November, the date on which his noble old regi- ment had left the service.* *It was not an uncommon belief that Shaw's peremptory dismissal without a trial, was to preclude the possibility of his proving the truth of the charges he had made in the newspapers. CHAPTER XXIY. STEELE'S MARCH ON CAMDEN— BATTLES OF THE CAMPAIGN. Spring of 1864. In accordance with the general plan for co-operation with Gen. Banks, in the Red river expedition, Steele's army, known as the Seventh army corps, and 7,000 strong, marched out of Little Rock in the direction of Shreveport, a hundred miles away. It was the 23d of March, 1864. About the same time, another force, 5,000 strong, under command of Gen. Thayer, left Fort Smith with a view of uniting with Steele's column at Arkadel- phia. Owing to swollen streams and bad roads, Thayer's column failed to come up, and Steele marched on without it. It was on hand, however, in time for some of the battles of the campaign. There were with Steele some of Iowa's most excellent regi- ments; notably, the Eighteenth, Twenty-ninth, Thirty-third, Thirty-sixth, and Fortieth infantry, and First cavalry. The greater number of these Iowa men had marched with Steele from Helena in the previous autumn, in his successful campaign against Little Rock. Brig. Gen. Samuel A. Rice of Iowa had commanded the division, and the capture of the Arkansas capital with its arsenal, stores, etc., had been a brilliant exploit. Many of the troops had been stricken down with sickness in the fear- fully unhealthy hole of Helena, and hundreds of them fell by the wayside from exhaustion in the arduous march to Little Rock. But after a winter's partial rest and recuperation, the command was willing and anxious to be again led against the enemy. In blissful ignorance of what was happening to Gen. Banks on the Red river, the troops under Steele pushed along in the direction of Shreveport, meeting with heavy resistance at everj^ (284) Steele's march on camden. 28o river crossing and at every swamp. The bridges wp-e usually destroyed in advance of them, and the roads through the desolate and unhealthy section were horrible. Gen. Rice, in this movement, commanded the First brigade of the Third division, comprising the Twenty-ninth and Thirty- third Iowa, Fiftieth Indiana, and Ninth Wisconsin infantry regiments. The Thirty-sixth Iowa, under Col. Kittredge, was, with the Seventy-seventh Ohio and Forty-third Indiana, in McClean's Second brigade of the Third division. It was the second largest regiment of the entire force. The Fortieth Iowa, led by Col. Garrett, was in Englemann's brigade of the Third division and had as brigade comrades the Twenty-seventh Wis- consin and the Forty-third Illinois infantry. The Eighteenth Iowa, under Capt. Duncan, was in Col. Ed- wards's First brigade of Thayer's division. This regiment had passed a horrible winter, doing hard duty on poor rations, and making the severest marches through mud and snow m mid- winter" and without shelter of any kind. Spite of all their past sufferings, these heroic men were, patriotically and with- out a murmur, marching to new fatigues, new dangers, and hard fighting. , . • . 1 What was true of the Eighteenth Iowa, as to that winters suffering, was true of other regiments of Steele's command. In fact. Valley Forge in the Revolution scarcely witnessed more deprivations— more suffering, and more patriotism, than that of numerous of the Iowa regiments in that winter of ISGS-lSG'i in Arkansas. Now, the spring had come, and with new hopes the column left Little Rock. TERRE NOIR BAYOU. The first opposition met with, of real importance, was near the Terre Noir bayou, where the rear guard, under Col. Thos. H. Benton, Jr., with the Twenty-ninth Iowa, was attacked by Shelby's cavalry. Shelby had counted without his host, for spite of courageous fighting, and a desperate charge on his part, Col. Benton's Iowa men were able to give him a rather severe thrashing. 286 IOWA IN" WAR TIMES. The Fiftieth Indiana infantry, too, had come up in the nick of time, and, directed by Gen. Rice, helped to chase Shelby out of the way. The Twenty-ninth lost, in the affair, 27 in killed, wounded and missing. Among the wounded were Lieutenants John S. Miller, Allen J. Chantry, John McFarland, and Robert R. Kirkpatrick. This was on the 2d of April. ELKIN'S FORD. Two days afterward, on April 4, a much severer contest took place at a point known as " Elkin's Ford," on the Little Mis- souri. A part of McClean's brigade, the Thirty-sixth Iowa under Lt.-Col. Drake, the Forty-third Indiana under Maj. Nor- ris, and Lieut. Peetz's Missouri battery had been sent in advance to secure the passage over the river. Lt.-Col. Drake, with three companies of the Forty-third In- diana, and as many companies from his own regiment, together with the battery, was placed on the farther side of the river. Here they were attacked by a strong rebel force at 6 o'clock in the morning. The pickets, composed of a part of the First Iowa cavalry, were rapidly driven in and a determined effort made to turn Drake's left flank. The Rebels were driven back through an orchard and into a wood, but immediately, and before re-enforcements could get up to Drake's feeble command, they vigorously attacked his right flank. This charge, too, by dint of hard fighting and good maneuvering on the part of Drake and his 300 men, was held in check. At the same time the enemy opened with four field pieces against the union line. Peetz's battery gave them back as much as they sent, though the engagement continued for another hour. It was a tough struggle for the little band of men fighting Marmaduke with his 2,000 soldiers. Once, after a momentary pause, Marmaduke prepared for a charge, by placing artillery at front and right and left, in position to rake the woods, and up and down Drake's lines, with solid shot and canister. In a few moments the ball opened, and to the sound of their rapidly firing guns, the Rebels made the charge along the whole line. Drake's men resisted as long as possible, giving ground only Steele's march on camden. " 287 inch by inch, until the left gave way and fell back on Col. Kit- redge's six companies of the Thirtj-sixth Iowa. These came up in time to hurl the yelling, half-victorious Rebels back. On Drake's right, his men held their ground and fought till the enemy were repulsed. Gen. Rice came to the front with the Twenty-ninth Iowa and Ninth Wisconsin, but too late to be of service. He was in time, however, to receive a slight wound in the head from a rebel grape shot. This was pre-eminently Lt.-Col. Drake's battle, and he and his brave subordinates and soldiers fought it gallantly. " Too much praise cannot be given Col. Drake for his distinguished gallantry and determined courage in this contest," says the brig- ade commander in his report. Col. Kittredge, too, and Maj. Nor- ris and Lieut. Peetz of the battery, all received the deserved thanks of the commander. Drake lost some 31 men in killed and wounded out of his little band. Eleven of these were from the First Iowa cavalry. Lieut. Dow of the First cavalry was slightly wounded. Drake men- tions the name of each one of his company officers as worthy of high commendation for bravery, and his two orderlies, George Barr and Henry J. Clingfield of the First cavalry are referred to as good and brave soldiers. The brigade commander also men- tioned for gallantry Col. C. W. Kittredge, Lt.-Col. Drake and Capt. W. E. Whitredge. Elkin's Ford was a hint to Price's and Marmaduke's men, who were hanging about the flanks of Steele's army, that their obstructing process was one of great danger; yet before another week they were drawn up in line of battle across the way of the advancing column at Prairie d' Anne. Engelmann's brigade found the Rebels in force at this place at 4 o'clock of Sunday afternoon, April the 10th, 1864. A force of rebel skirmishers were found waiting at the edge of the big prairie, while on the ridge behind, running east and west, a large force of rebel cav- alry, with some artillery, was deployed as if for battle. Col. Engelmann immediately brought forward an Illinois bat- tery, and placing it in position, ordered the Fortieth Iowa, Col. Garrett, to the right of it, and the Forty-third Illinois to the 288 IOWA IN WAR TIMES. left, with the Twenty-seventh Wisconsin brought up as a reserve. Shortly, the two first regiments were deployed as skirmishers and pushed on to the second ridge. The Forty- third got there first, but closely followed by the Fortieth Iowa. A fire of rebel artillery was at once opened on the line, but it was steadily advanced, and with it came Rice's brigade to its left and a cavalry force to its right. Darkness now came on, but skirmishing and artillery firing were kept up along the line till 10 o'clock in the night, when suddenly the Rebels made a charge on a union battery. It was met by the Fortieth Iowa and the Twenty-seventh Wisconsin, together with Vaughn's battery. It asted but a few minutes, and the Rebels were sent flying for the night. The union line lay down in ranks and slept as best they could on the open prairie, without fires, and the night cold and frosty. Morning brought a clear field and the Rebels gone. The Fortieth had lost a number of men in the engagement, and among the wounded, though slightly, were Lieutenants Ward and Amos. Maj. S. G. Smith led the skirmishers at Prairie d' Anne, assisted by Lieut. Edmundson. It was at Prairie d' Anne that Gen. Steele first heard rumors of the utter defeat and failure that had overtaken Banks's col- umn on the Red river. Why he did not immediately turn and march his army out of the trap that was now preparing for him, is a matter of astonishment. Instead of retreating, when there was nothing but danger and possible disaster in advancing, he simply deflected from his course a little, and marched his army on, fighting by the way, to the town of Camden. Here, with abundant news of the disaster to Banks, he delayed two weeks, doing little else apparently than furnishing wagon trains and supplies to the Rebels, now active and operating in every direc- tion on front, flank and rear. Once, before reaching Camden, and near the village of Moscow, his column was attacked in rear. Col. Edwards of Iowa happened to be there with his brigade, includiug some Arkansas regiments, the Second Indiana battery, and the Eighteenth Iowa infantry. Capt. Duncan led the Iowa boys. STEELE S MARCH ON CAMDEN. 289 and this regiment, with the battery, fought the Rebels, though several times outnumbered by them, and held them in check till the division came up to the front. The regiment was engaged several hours, but its loss, fortunately, was small. One of its cap- tains, J. K. Morey, was complimented for bravery in the action, while acting on the brigade staff as assistant adjutant general. During the stay at Camden, the soldiers suffered for want of proper rations — making what had the appearance of a rest really worse than the march. There was, too, a universal feel- ing of uneasiness among the men. Something, nobody knew what, was about to happen, and everybody realized that Steele's army was probably in a very tight place. It was, in fact, in a strange section of country, far from its base, v,rithout food and very nearly surrounded by an enemy daily increasing in numbers. It was a sorry and disquieting outlook. Large details were made daily to hunt forage and to run country mills and keep them grinding corn for the army, while all the time the wagon trains with supplies were being lost by capture and the enemy con- stantly becoming bolder and more dangerous. POISON SPRINGS. On the 18th of April, one of the trains sent out for forage met with a dreadful mishap and a sad loss of heroic lives. This train, guarded by a regiment of Kansas colored troops under Col. Williams, was some fifteen miles from the town. On being threatened by the Rebels, an additional guard, consisting of the Eighteenth Iowa infantry and a section of the Second Indiana battery, was sent to its aid. The colored regiment was placed in front of the train and the Iowa regiment at its rear. A couple of hundred cavalrymen also formed part of the escort. Suddenly, like a clap of thunder, the whole force, train, men and all, were attacked by a rebel column supposed to be 6,000 sti'ong. In the first shock, the colored regiment at the head of the train, though fighting bravely, were overwhelmed and being shot down and murdered. They gave way and retreated in disorder. On came the yelling Rebels against the Eighteenth Iowa, I. W.T.— 19 290 IOWA IN" WAE TIMES. hoping to overwhelm and destroy them in the same way. Inch by inch they, too, fell back, but fighting so stubbornly as to stretch hundreds of the enemy dead on the grass. With a terri- ble desperation, as determined to have that train as though their existence depended upon it, the Rebels continued to fight on over the dead bodies of their comrades. Rod by rod, the men of the Eighteenth Iowa were being driven back, resisting not less than seven charges. Then seeing themselves surrounded and about to be lost, they fixed their bayonets and with a rush cut their way through the rebel line. Of course the train was lost, but had the Eighteenth Iowa never fired another gun, its heroic fight for the forage train at Poison Springs would entitle its name to be written high on Iowa's scroll of honor.* The regiment got back to Camden with a loss of some 80 men. All of its oflficers and men had been heroes. Capt. Thomas Blanchard, though wounded, seized the colors and rallied the men about them under a heavy fire. Captains Clover, Stonaker and Conaway, with Sergeants Bowers, Oleson, Dean, Mardis, Bullock and Kirkpatrick, were all mentioned for gallantry. Who the commander was that could send a great forage train out among the enemy, guarded by only a few hundred inexper- ienced colored soldiers, does not appear. The act was on a par, however, with many other acts of this campaign of mud, blun- der, and supreme heroism. Possibly had Banks, around on the Red river, had more competent commanders on his expedition, and fewer dandies and drunkards, he would not have failed, and left Steele's forces to wander about aimless and surrounded in an enemy's country. Every hour that Steele was now staying in Camden was a sacrifice of brave soldiers' lives. *In this onslaught, many of the colored troops were butchered in cold blood and the colored servants of captured officers were shot down before their eyes. All protest against this southern barbarism was met with threats of similar fate to the officers themselves. Some of our private soldiers were killed after surrender, because they had been captured " fight- ing with the d— d niggers." Steele's makch on camden. 291 MARK'S MILLS. Four days after the loss of the train at Poison Springs another large train of 240 wagons was started out, this time for Pine Bluff, to bring supplies. McClean's brigade and a small body of cavalry formed the escort. As McClean and the other colonels were not able for duty, and possibly saw little honor in being slaughtered merely in defense of a lot of wagons and mules, Lt.- Gol. Drake was put in command of the force. Maj. Hamilton of Ottumwa went in command of the Tbirty-sixth Iowa, Maj. Norris of the Forty-third Indiana, Capt. McCormack of the Seventy-seventh Ohio, Maj. McAulley of the cavalry, and Lieut. Peetz of the battery. The roads were simply horrible — almost impassable, and in many places had to be corduroyed before a single wagon could cross. Toiling along in the mud and mire of Moro swamp, the train and escort were attacked by 6,000 Rebels in the early morning of the 25th of April. Lt.-Col. Drake was not wholly unprepared. He had suspected mischief every step of the way, and his little band of cavalry had been flying in all direc- tions guarding against surprise. Special precautions had been taken the night of the 24th, as the train had to halt while the pioneers worked the whole night through, endeavoring to make the road through the muddy bottom passable. A train of two or three hundred heavy army wagons, with six mule teams to each wagon, is no light thing to march with, in a strange country, over wretched roads, and with a mounted and desperate enemy prowling by thousands on right, left and in front, only waiting a favorable moment — an ambush — bridgeless stream, or a dark night, to pounce on the train and capture or destroy its escort. And yet it was by means of such wagon trains that the armies of the West and South were usually supplied, when away from their base of operations. No greater heroism ever was displayed in battle — not in the fierce bayonet charge, nor in the storming of rebel forts, than was displayed a tkousand times during the war by small detachments of men fighting, often hand to hand, and always against superior numbers, in defense of the supply 292 IOWA IN WA.R TIMES. trains of the army. To lose a train was to leave the army to starve— to invite defeat and disaster. Bullets were not so neces- sary as "hard tack" and bacon, and the fights in defense of the wagon trains in the war, though unrecorded, were not less heroic than many of the fiercest battles. Lt.-Col. Drake must have felt himself complimented on being selected by Gen. Steele to take a train several miles long back to the Arkansas river, for food for his army. His escort however, was far too small. Whether Steele feared to spare more men from the front, or whether it was one of the usual blunders of that campaign, is not clear. It is only certain that Drake was sent out with bare 1,600 men, to guard a train several miles in length and protect it on the move, against a force of 6,000 strong. At daylight of the 25th, the long train started on its way out of Moro swamp. The Forty-third Indiana and a section of artil- lery marched ahead. The Seventy-seventh Ohio and another section of artillery followed behind, while Maj. Hamilton, with his Thirty-sixth Iowa, marched along the flanks of the train. They had not proceeded far, when the advance ran on to a line of rebel skirmishers, on a ridge known as the "Red Lands," at the junction of the Warren and Camden roads. Drake, who was nearly at the rear of the train, hurried to the front, bringing with him the Thirty-sixth Iowa and some detached companies of the Forty-third Indiana. All the troops were ordered to double- quick to the front, and good skirmish lines were scarcely engaged before two whole brigades of Rebels made a charge on the Forty- third Indiana. They were met with a shout and a blaze of musketry that drove them from the rear. Hamilton, wit-li his men, was ordered to support the advance, and was barely in posi- tion when the enemy started on a second charge. The Forty- third Indiana now opened its line to right and left a little, to make room for the guns shotted with grape and canister, quietly waiting the Rebels' approach. All at once they came in a stormingcoluran,andat seventy-five yards the battery unloosed its fire, while the Thirty-sixth Iowa, rising from where it lay in line, poured another hot fire into the compact rebel columns. ii. ^t ^5 2^ \ ■ - ^-^ \ GENERAL F. M. DRAKE. Steele's march on camden. 293 rhey staggered, lialted and fell back, leaving many dead and wounded, but only to rally and to charge again. They knew their own numbers, and the weakness of the union column. For some time the conflict raged, with the Indiana regiment, the Iowa regiment, and the battery bearing all the brunt of the battle. The Seventy-seventh Ohio had not yet reached the front, and Drake, while placing some of the companies in position for a charge, was shot down, almost mortally wounded. Soon other rebel regiments and brigades were seen crowding to the front, but the Iowa and Indiana men, though discouraged and driven back, fought single-handed and individually till their cartridge boxes were empty. Surrounded, outnumbered, out of ammunition, and many of their comrades stretched on the field, what was there to do? The story is soon told. They surrendered. The train for which they had fought so gallantly was lost. Only 150 of the entire command escaped. Eight to nine hundred dead and wounded lay upon the battle field, half of whom were Rebels and many were negroes, train followers, etc., whom the Rebels, with the atrocity of devils, inhumanly butchered. Col. Drake and Maj. Hamilton were captured with the rest, but Drake, on account of his wounds, was shortly paroled. Maj. Hamilton and the rest of the captured column, among whom were Chaplain Hare, Surgeons Strong and Smith, and the gallant and accomplished Adjt. Mahon, were marched oif to Tyler, in Texas, where they endured, for long and weary months, the sufferings of horrible rebel prisons. Many of the men sickened and died, or, as in other southern prisons, simply starved to death. Maj. Hamilton escaped, at last, and, after enduring numberless fatigues and sufferings, reached the union lines. Captains Miller and Lam- bert who escaped with him reached home only in time to die. About 300 of Drake's command were killed or wounded. Among the killed was Lieut. John May of the Thirty-sixth, while Lieut. John A. Hurlbut was severely wounded, and Lieut. John N. Wright and Capt. John M. Porter slightly. Lt.-Col. Drake's wounds crippled him for life. Maj. Hamilton's action on the field was noted for great coolness and courage. 294 IOWA IN" WAR TIMES. " Drake,'' says Horace Greeley, speaking of this battle, " made superhuman efiorts, and was everywhere at the point of danger." No wonder that later, at the suggestion of his brother officers and superiors, he was breveted brigadier general for services. He had earned his star. Col. Drake, in his report of the battle, highly complimented the officers and men of his command. Some of them were staff officers from other commands who happened to be with the escort on their way to Little Rock. Among them was Capt. Townsend, whom Drake lamented as a brave and gallant officer. This fight by Moro swamp is of tenest known as the battle of Mark's Mills. BATTLE OF JENKINS' FERRY. The disaster of Mark's Mills led the Rebels into boasting that now Steele's whole army would be destroyed. Its early capture was considered by them a certainty. They forgot one important factor — the valor of Steele's soldiers. Gen. Steele now saw, however, that an early retreat from Camden was imperative, and at " taps " of the night of April 26th, the soldiers were quietly, but quickly, marched out of the town over the Washita river, and started on the miserable retreat to Little Rock — a retreat, the importance of which was, at the time, not realized, so much was the country excited over the great battles under Grant in the East, and Sherman fighting for Atlanta. Kirby Smith's whole army having nearly destroyed Banks's column on the Red river, was now free to concentrate with Gen. Price a