Iowa History Project
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Pictures included in this chapter are General Grenville M. Dodge, Battle of Chickasaw Bayou and General James A. Williamson.
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This
regiment was raised in May and June, 1861, and was made up of the companies
enlisted in the counties of Dubuque, Marion, Clayton, Winneshiek, Story,
Fayette, Warren, Mahaska and Black Hawk. There were, however, men from various
other counties in this regiment, which numbered nine hundred and seventy men,
and went into camp at Keokuk. Nelson G. Williams was appointed colonel; John
Scott, lieutenant-colonel; William M. Stone, major; and Fitzroy Sessions,
adjutant. After drilling at Keokuk for about a month, the Third was sent to
Hannibal, Missouri, where the regiment was scattered, companies being sent to
various places to guard towns and railroads. Colonel Williams was not popular
with a portion of the regiment, as there had been a long and bitter strife in
the choice of field officers, and the commissions had been issued when the
regiment was sent to Missouri. The men went into service without equipments and
were armed with old Springfield muskets of 1848 pattern. Seven companies were
stationed at Chillicothe and three at another point. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott,
with a portion of the regiment, was
sent to Macon in August, in pursuit of the Rebel General Green; Colonel
Williams, with another portion and six companies of a Kansas regiment, engaged
the Rebels at Paris and retreated with slight loss to Shelbina, where he was
put under arrest by General Hurlbut.
On the 15th of September, Lieutenant-Colonel
Scott, now in command of the regiment, with a squad of artillery, was ordered
to march to Liberty and join Colonel Smith of the Sixteenth Illinois. When he
reached there on the morning of the 17th, Smith had not arrived. A
courier was dispatched to him as a large force, under General Atchison with
four pieces of artillery, was reported to be at Blue Mills Landing. Firing was
heard at the Landing, where some Union troops were resisting the advance of
Atchison. Hearing nothing from Smith, Scott finally started his small force in
the direction of the firing. He was obliged to march through a dense wood
penetrated by a narrow road. When about half way to the river, a road crossed
at right angles his line of march. Here was a farm, making a small clearing in
the woods. Skirmishers had been thrown out in advance and word came from them that
the Rebel army was nearing in strong force. A few minutes later the column was
enveloped by a sudden blaze of musketry, and found it had marched straight into
an ambush, and men were falling along the whole line. The officers and men,
however, retained their presence of mind and deployed as well as possible,
while a cannon was brought into position and opened on the enemy with canister.
Another volley from the enemy killed and drove off the gunners, and Colonel
Scott ordered a retreat. Of the sixteen officers ten had fallen, killed or
wounded. The little band fell slowly back, dragging the cannon by hand and
keeping up a steady fire. The Rebels fell on the flank, but, meeting with
stubborn resistance, were driven back with loss, and the retreat continued. The
engagement lasted about an hour; our little army fought as it retreated,
bringing off most of the wounded. Reaching Liberty just after dark, the loss
was found to be one hundred and eighteen men killed and wounded, out of about
six hundred. The loss of the Third Iowa was ninety-four. Although ambushed,
taken by surprise and greatly outnumbered, Scott’s command fought bravely and
retired in good order. Captain Trumbull and Lieutenant Crosley brought off the
cannon by hand under a hot fire. The Third spent the winter along the line of
the North Missouri Railroad, with headquarters at Mexico. In February, Colonel
Williams was released from arrest and returned to his regiment, which, early in
March, was sent to join General Grant’s army at Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee.
It was assigned to the division commanded by General Hurlbut. In the Battle of
Shiloh, on the 6th and 7th of April, the Third fought
bravely for many hours on the first day of the battle and shared in its
disasters. Major Stone and many others, were taken prisoners. Late in the day,
the remnant of the regiment, led by the gallant Lieutenant G. W. Crosley, cut
its way through the enemy and non the next day, commanded by Lieutenant
Crosley, it did good service. Colonel Williams, who commanded a brigade in the
battle, was severely injured. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott was ill and Major Stone
commanded until he was captured. Captain Hobbs was killed and several other
officers wounded. The losses of the regiment were very heavy. On the 5th
of October, the Third, now under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Trumbull, took
part in the Battle of Hatchie, where it made a gallant charge, crossing the
bridge under a terrific fire of the enemy’s batteries. In November, Colonel
Williams resigned and was succeeded by Colonel Aaron Brown. In August, Scott
was promoted to Colonel of the Thirty-second Regiment and Major Stone to
Colonel of the Twenty-second. Captain James Tullis became Lieutenant-Colonel of
the Third in place of Trumbull, reigned. Lieutenant G. W. Crosley was promoted
to major and G. H. Cushman was promoted to adjutant upon the resignation of
Sessions. In May, 1863, the Third embarked on the steamer Crescent City
to join Grant’s army before Vicksburg. The steamer was fired on near
Greenville, by a Rebel battery and riddled with shot. The Third, with the aid
of a cannon on board, drove the Rebels into the woods, after having fourteen
men wounded. The regiment shared in the battles of that great campaign and the
capture of Vicksburg. It was next in the siege of Jackson, and took part in
Lauman’s assault of July 12th, where it met with fearful loss. Early
in 1864, two hundred of its members re-enlisted as veterans, and were, in
March, granted a furlough to visit their homes. The remainder oft the regiment
under Lieutenant-Colonel Tullis, was sent to join General Banks in his
disastrous Red River expedition, after which it was discharged, as the term of
service had expired. Upon the return of the veterans, the number was so
reduced, that they were organized into a battalion of three companies. At the
battle before Atlanta, July 22, this veteran battalion was nearly annihilated.
It rallied around the color-bearer, fighting desperately, until surrounded and
cut to pieces; the remnant at last was compelled to surrender. The survivors
were consolidated with the Second regiment, and the gallant Third passed out of
existence. Captain Jacob Abernethy, who had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel
for gallant service, commanded the regiment on this bloody field and was killed.
Captain Robert P. Griffith, who, as corporal, had bravely carried the colors on
former battle-fields, fell mortally wounded. An eyewitness of this last fight
of the Third wrote as follows to the Dubuque Times:
“As
the battle grew raging hot and desperate, a handful of our undaunted men
gathered amidst the pelting showers of shot and shell, and there around the
flag they stood its guard in the most perilous moments. The color-bearer, the
bravest of the brave, relinquished his hold by death their hopes began to fail.
As the last of the little band were surrounded by overwhelming numbers, they
were finally captured and disarmed. They were marched through Atlanta and their
names reported to the provost-marshal. In passing through the city, whenever a
shell fell in the streets from our batteries, they cheered and sang ‘Rally
Round the Flag.’ Rebel officers ordered them to ‘shut up,’ as they were
prisoners of war. They answered ‘We will always cheer a Yankee shell.’ A squad
of Rebel cavalry was passing through the street with a flag of the Iowa Third
captured after the color-bearer fell pierced with bullets. Some members of the
regiment who were prisoners saw it, and making a rush upon its captors, wrested
it from them, and amid threats and curses tore it into pieces. Unarmed by the
enemy, unflinching in courage and patriotism to the end, the last heroic
remnant of the veteran Third thus closed its long record of glorious deeds.”
Of the officers of
this regiment, its first major, William M. Stone, became Governor of the State,
in 1864, and afterward Commissioner of the United States Land Office.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Scott became Lieutenant-Governor in 1868; Captain M. M.
Trumbull became Colonel of the Ninth Cavalry; Lieutenant G. W. Clark became
Colonel of the Thirty-fourth; Lieutenant G. W. Crosley became
Lieutenant-Colonel of a regiment in Hancock’s Veteran Corps; Lieutenant G. A.
Eberhart became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirty-second, as did also Sergeant
E. H. Mix, who fell at Pleasant Hill; Sergeant G. L. Wright became
Lieutenant-Colonel of the consolidated Second and Third; Captain J. B. Knight
became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Ninth Cavalry. Many other members of the Third
became officers of other regiments.
This regiment was made up largely in the southwest portion
of the State. Company A was form Mills County; Company B, from Pottawattamie,
Harrison, Cass and Shelby; Company C, from Guthrie and Dallas; Company D, from
Decatur and Clarke; Company E, from Polk, Warren and Dallas; Company F, from
Madison and Warren; Company G from Ringgold; Company H from Adams and Union;
Company I from Wayne; Company K from Taylor and Page. The first field officers
were: G. M. Dodge, colonel; John Galligan, lieutenant-colonel; W. R. English,
major, and J. A. Williamson, adjutant. The regiment went into camp at Council
Bluffs in June and July, 1861, and, early in August, was ordered to Missouri,
and was in camp at St. Louis and Rolla for some time, drilling and preparing
for active service in the field. It was in Curtis’ army in the campaign which
closed with the Battle of Pea Ridge, in which Dodge commanded a brigade, and
the Fourth Regiment was under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Galligan, who was
wounded in the battle and resigned, April 3d, when Adjutant J. A. Williamson
was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and
Lieutenant R. A. Stitt became adjutant. The Fourth was in the thickest of the
fight at Pea Ridge on both days, and did excellent service, losing nearly one-half
of its entire number in killed, wounded and missing. Dodge and Williamson were
among the wounded. In the first day’s battle, on the 7th of March,
1862, the Fourth Iowa, in the brigade commanded by Colonel Dodge, fought like
veterans. Early in the day, General Carr’s Division, on the right wing of
Curtis’ army, assailed by overwhelming numbers, made a most determined fight.
For seven hours the Rebels pressed on his lines, and his division was forced
back half a mile, while presenting an unbroken front to the enemy. The Fourth
Iowa and Thirty-fifth Illinois, under Dodge, lying behind an old fence, were
now attacked by a greatly superior force supported by artillery. The charge was
met by a deadly fire and the enemy driven back in confusion. Again and again
the Rebels rallied and renewed the attack and were each time repulsed with
heavy loss. At one time the ammunition became exhausted and the Fourth made a
gallant bayonet charge under the direction of General Curtis. The splendid
fighting of the Fourth Iowa and Thirty-fifth Illinois challenged the admiration
of General Van Dorn and other Confederate officers. For brilliant services in
this battle, Colonel Dodge was made a Brigadier-General; Williamson was
promoted to colonel; Captain Burton to lieutenant-colonel.
Having
driven the Confederate army out of Missouri, General Curtis marched toward
Little Rock. The continuous rains rendered the roads nearly impassable and
after remaining at Batesville and Jacksonsport several months, and finding it
impossible to subsist his army in the country, he marched to Helena.
A
number of cotton speculators followed the advance of the Union army to reap
rich harvest in getting possession of that staple. General Curtis, in
attempting to control these rapacious speculators and use the cotton in a way
to bring the greatest benefits to the Government, made enemies of many
influential men of wealth, who were looking solely to personal gain. Helena and
the surrounding country had a large slave population. As the negroes came into
the Union lines the commanding General found another serious problem
confronting him. Our Government had adopted no settled policy to govern the
action of the department commanders in the matter and each had to act upon his
own judgment. The Fourth Regiment remained at Helena until December, when it
joined General Sherman’s expedition against Vicksburg and took a prominent part
in that campaign, which terminated so disastrously to the Union cause.
Battle of Chickasaw Bayou
On the 20th of December, 1862, General W. T.
Sherman embarked with a large army on transports at Memphis, and, descending to
Helena, was joined there by General Steele and his command. The army, which
filled a hundred transports, then continued the journey to Milliken’s Bend,
about twenty-five miles above Vicksburg. On Christmas evening orders were
issued for the fleet, next day, to attack Vicksburg. The plan was for General
Grant to march to the rear of the city and cooperate with Sherman in the
attack. On the 20th of December, General Grant’s army was at Oxford
preparing to move on Jackson and Vicksburg. He had collected at Holly Springs,
arms, ammunition and provision for the army during the campaign. Colonel
Murphy, of the Eight Wisconsin, with 1,000 men, was guarding them. He was
surprised by Van Dorn’s cavalry early one morning and, without resistance,
surrendered, with all of the army supplies. This loss of his trains and
supplies compelled Grant to fall back to Grand Junction, and defeated his plan
of cooperation with Sherman in the attack upon Vicksburg. Grant’s retreat had
liberated the Confederate army, which had been gathered at Grenada to oppose
his advance, and unknown to Sherman, it had hastened to the defense of
Vicksburg. This city occupied a range of high bluffs bounded on the north by
swamps and bayous almost impassable. Protected by abatis covering rifle pits,
with the bluffs as strongly fortified as skill and slave labor combined could
make them, the place was absolutely impregnable from assault, when defended by
a large army. The mighty task which Sherman attempted was simply impossible;
but somewhere in the long line he hoped to find a weak place where the army
could force its way. The men were in excellent spirits and anxious to be led
against the stronghold. Porter’s gunboats were ready to render all possible
assistance. The troops were landed along the Yazoo River on the 26th
of December. By the morning of the 29th the entire army was in
position to move upon the works. The Rebel batteries opened fire on our lines
and the battle began. All night our soldiers had heard the heavily loaded
trains rolling into Vicksburg, bringing reinforcements from Pemberton’s army.
Thayer, who commanded the brigade in which was the Fourth Iowa, charge upon the
enemy and carried the first line, drove the Rebels from the second and halted
under a terrible fire, waiting for support, scores of brave men and officers
falling at every discharge. The couriers, sent for reinforcements, were shot
down. Thayer rode along the line, in anguish over the slaughter of his men and
warmly commended their bravery. But no help came, and, at last, he gave the
order to fall back. Slowly the regiment retired in order, as the terrible fire
thinned its ranks. Ingersoll says:
“There
were many Iowa regiments and batteries which behaved with that high degree of
credit which the troops of the State everywhere maintained throughout the war,
but no regiment from any State behaved with more devoted gallantry than the
Fourth in the assault of the 29th of December. Every officer and man
did his whole duty and only regretted that they could not accomplish more.”(1)
The regiment went into action with five hundred and
eighty men and officers, of which one hundred and twelve were killed and wounded.
Colonel Williamson and Captain Still were wounded, Lieutenant J. M. Miller and
Leander Pitzer were killed. General Grant, long afterward learning of the gallant conduct of the regiment, commanded
by general order that the Fourth Iowa Infantry have inscribed on its colors,
“First at Chickasaw Bayou.” All the brave fighting and sacrifices of that
bloody battle were in vain, as it was not possible for the gallant army and its
able commander to take that strongly fortified city by assault, and it was an
undeserved humiliation for the President to remove General Sherman from
command, by placing over him General McClernand.
The
Fourth Iowa was in the campaign led by McClernand against Arkansas Post and was
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Burton, Colonel Williamson being disabled by
wounds, and sickness. In January, 1863, the Fourth was again in the army before
Vicksburg, where, for two months, were spent the darkest days of its service in
the cypress swamps, under that frowning batteries of the enemy. Toiling on the
famous canal, struggling in mud and rain, lying in camp through that dreary
winter, while Grant was working out the great problem of how to subdue the
Rebel stronghold and open the Mississippi River. With Steele’s Division, the
Fourth embarked on steamers, early in April and, ascending the river to
Greenville, thence marched eastward, threatening Vicksburg in the rear and
collecting great quantities of provisions for the army, while Grant was drawing
his lines around the doomed city. Returning towards Vicksburg, this division of
the army rejoined the main body at Grand Gulf and took part in the brilliant
campaign, which drove Pemberton’s army back into the city. The Fourth was in
the assault of the 22d and met with severe loss in the general defeat; the, for
forty-seven days, it was employed in the siege. It was there to rejoice in the
final great victory, which resulted in the capture of the stronghold and the
entire Confederate army defending it, by far the most damaging blow inflicted
upon the enemy up to this time. After the surrender, the Fourth joined Sherman
in his movement against General Johnston’s army, capturing Jackson, the
Capital, and driving Johnson out of the State. Colonel Williamson was now in
command of a brigade in which was the Fourth Iowa. The regiment was in
Osterhaus’ Division in his expedition to Corinth, Iuka and Cherokee, and took
part in several engagements. In November, the division joined the army at
Chattanooga. In the Battle of Lookout Mountain the Fourth was on the extreme
left of Hooker’s command. When the battle opened, te division moved across an
open field to Lookout Creek, where it was for some time exposed to a severed
fire, but finally moved on up the mountain, where the fight was warm. As night
came on, the regiment held its position on the mountain prepared to renew the
battle next day. When morning dawned, it was discovered that the enemy had
withdrawn to Missionary Ridge. Early in the morning, the Fourth, Ninth and
Thirty-first were sent to Rossville Gap, and placed in a good strategic
position, turning the Rebel left. They were attacked by a heavy column of the
enemy and a fierce battle ensued in which the Fourth bore an active part until
the Rebels were routed. It joined in the pursuit on the 26th, and at
the Battle of Ringgold, the next day, fought with great gallantry, saving two
railroad bridges, which were set on fire by the retreating army. After these
battles the Fourth moved to Woodville on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad
and went into winter quarters. On the 25th of February, 1864, the
men were mustered in as veterans, and were granted furloughs. They reached Des
Moines on the 9th of March, while the Legislature was in session,
which adjourned to give the veterans a royal reception. The ladies of the city
joined with the General Assembly in tendering to the gallant soldiers a
banquet, where all honors were accorded to the boys in blue, who had won fame
on so many battle-fields. By the first of May, the regiment had again joined
the army of General Sherman, which was sweeping onward toward the sea,
overcoming all opposition. In the long marches, skirmish lines, and
battle-fields. Williamson’s Brigade, composed of the Fourth, Ninth,
Twenty-fifth, Thirtieth and Thirty-first regiments, bore a prominent part. In
the battle of July 22d, before Atlanta, this brigade made a gallant charge,
recapturing De Grass’ famous battery of twenty-four-pound Parrott guns, which
had been taken.
A
correspondent of the New York Tribune says of Williamson’s Iowa Brigade, in the
battle of the 22d: “It was one of the bravest, truest, most tenacious fighting
brigades that has marched to the rescue of our Nation’s liberties.” The Fourth
had fought bravely at Resaca, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain and at
Jonesboro, until losses had reduced its numbers below two hundred. Major
Nichols was severely wounded, Captain A. R. Anderson was promoted to major.
In
the pursuit of Hood’s army which began October 5th, the Fourth Iowa
took part. It remained with Sherman in his march through the Carolinas and
fought at Bentonsport, the last battle of that famous campaign. Early in
January, 1865, Williamson received his well-earned and long-delayed commission
as Brigadier-General. The Fourth Regiment marched form Raleigh to Washington
and participated in the final grand review, and was then sent to Louisville,
where it performed provost duty until mustered out in July, 1865. It reached
Iowa, at Davenport, on the 28th, numbering four hundred and fifty
seven men and twenty-three officers. Entering the service with 1,000 men, three
hundred had been added to its ranks as the war progressed. Now, at the close,
the 1,300 were reduced by sickness, disability from hard marches, wounds,
death, starvation in Rebel prisons, nearly eight hundred. Such was the terrible
waste of four years of war in one regiment.
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Endnote
1.
“Iowa and the Rebellion.”