Iowa History Project
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The companies making up this regiment were recruited in many
counties, principally Clinton, Linn, Polk, Mahaska, Wapello, Van Buren,
Fremont, Mills, Marion, Warren, Harrison and Pottawattamie. The companies began
to assemble at Keokuk as early as September, 1861, but the regiment was not
organized until February, 1862. The field and staff officers were: H. T. Reid,
colonel; William Dewey, lieutenant-colonel; W. W. Belknap, major; George
Pomutz, adjutant; J. M. Hedrick, quartermaster; S. B. Davis, surgeon; and W. W.
Eastbrook, chaplain.
On
the 19th of March the regiment embarked for the seat of war and
landed at St. Louis, where arms and equipments were received. On the 1st
of April it started to join General Grant’s army at Pittsburg Landing, and
reached that place amid the roar of cannon, the fierce crashes of musketry and
the bursting of shells of the first day’s battle. It was a trying ordeal as the
regiment landed from the steamer and witnessed the panic stricken hundreds who
were fleeing from the field. Colonel Reid was ordered to the front, taking a
position on McClernand’s line. Here the Fifteenth made a good stand for a new
regiment until the order came to retreat, when it fell back in confusion. A
portion of the men wee rallied and took part in the battle later in the day and
on Monday. Colonel Reid had been severely wounded, and Major Belknap, Adjutant
Pomutz and many of the company officers behaved with great coolness and courage
in this their first battle. The loss of the regiment was one hundred
eighty-eight in killed, wounded and missing. Captain Hedrick was severely
wounded and captured while leading his company in a charge. Among the wounded
officers were Major Belknap, Adjutant Pomutz, Captains Hutchcroft, Blackner, Day,
Lieutenants Porter, Goode, Ring, and Reid. Soon after the battle the Iowa
Brigade was formed, in which the Fifteenth was one of the regiments left to
occupy the place, and Major Belknap was made provost marshal. In the Battle of
Corinth, on the 3d of October, Colonel Reid was ill. Lieutenant-Colonel Dewey
had been transferred to the Twenty-third, leaving Major Belknap in command of
the Fifteenth. The regiment was handled with skill and fought with conspicuous
bravery. Among the killed were Lieutenants J. D. Kinsman, William Cathcart and
R. H. Eldridge, while Major W. T. Cunningham, Captain R. L. Hanks and
lieutenant Logan Crawford were wounded. The loss to the regiment in killed,
wounded and missing was eighty-five. During the next four months the Fifteenth
was employed in various expeditions in Tennessee and Mississippi. In January,
1863, it joined the army operating against Vicksburg. In April, Captain
Hedrick, after a long captivity, rejoined the regiment and was promoted to
major in place of Cunningham, resigned. On the 21st of April the
Fifteenth was sent to Milliken’s Bend; Colonel Reid was in command of a brigade
and the Fifteenth, under Lieutenant-Colonel Belknap, was in the Iowa Brigade,
then commanded by Colonel Chambers of the Sixteenth. From this time until the
close of the campaign, the Fifteenth was engaged in active service, but
fortunately met with no losses. In June, Belknap was promoted to colonel,
Hedrick to lieutenant-colonel, and Pomutz to major of the regiment and
Lieutenant E. H. King became adjutant. The regiment remained in Vicksburg until
August, then accompanied General Stephenson’s expedition to Monroe, and,
returning from that unfortunate and disastrous raid, exhausted by hardships,
remained in Vicksburg until February, 1864. A portion of the regiment
reenlisted as veterans in January and accompanied Sherman on his Meridian raid.
The non-veterans of the brigade were organized into the Iowa Battalion under
command of Major Pomutz. The veterans visited their homes in March and returned
to duty in April. In May the Iowa Brigade joined Sherman on his march to the
sea. The Fifteenth participated in the battles of Kenesaw Mountain, Nickajack
Creek and before Atlanta on the 21st of July, losing in killed and
wounded nearly one hundred men.
On the 20th of July, General Sherman was closing
his army corps around Atlanta. General Hood was now in command of the
Confederate army and assuming the offensive. On the 20th he had made
a vigorous attack upon our advancing forces and a bloody battle ensued. On the
21st the enemy occupied a strong position on a range of hills and
was well intrenched in lines which overlooked the valley of Peach Tree Creek,
about four miles from Atlanta.
General
Dodge with the Sixteenth Corps became warmly engaged. General McPherson had
been killed and was succeeded by General Logan. The enemy had broken through
our lines and a heavy fire in the rear created a panic, some of our regiment
flying in confusion. Wood’s Division of the Fifteenth Corps, in which were
several Iowa regiments and an Iowa brigade, charged on the advancing enemy with
great fury and regained the broken line, recapturing several guns that had been
taken. Generals Dodge and Blair were making a gallant fight against the desperate
assaults of the enemy from various points. The Iowa Brigade in General Smith’s
Division was warmly engaged. General Smith speaks as follows of the battle in
that quarter:
“Another
and still more desperate assault was now made from the east side in the rear of
Colonel Hall’s brigade. The men sprung over the works and the most desperate
fight of the day now took place. The enemy under cover of the woods could
approach within twenty yards of our woks without discovery. The Confederates
would frequently occupy one side of the works and our men the other. Many
individual acts of heroism here occurred. Men
were bayoneted across the works and officers with swords fought
hand-to-hand with men with bayonets. Colonel Belknap, of the Fifteenth Iowa,
took prisoner Colonel Lampley of the Forty-fifth Alabama, by pulling him over
the works by his coat collar, being several times fired at by men at his side.
The colors of his regiment were captured at the same time. This combat lasted
three-quarters of an hour, when the enemy slowly retired. The battle lasted
seven hours with few pauses. The fury of the charges has seldom been equaled
during the war. Again and again the Confederate regiments were hurled against
our lines with reckless fury, only to meet a wall of fire which swept them
down by the hundreds.”
There were thirteen Iowa regiments in this great battle. The
Second and Seventh in General Dodge’s command fought with their usual valor;
the remnant of the Third was almost annihilated. The Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-fifth,
Twenty-sixth and Thirtieth, in General Wood’s Division, fought bravely. The
Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth of the Iowa Brigade were among
the bravest. The Fifteenth lost one hundred thirty-two men, of whom ten were
killed, forty wounded and eighty-two captured. Lieutenant-Colonel Hedrick was
severely wounded. On the 28th another severed battle was fought in
which the Fifteenth participated. Soon after Colonel Belknap was promoted to
Brigadier-General. As Colonel Hedrick was permanently disabled by his wounds
Major Pomutz, who was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, took command of the
regiment. After the evacuation of Atlanta the Fifteenth went into camp at
Eastport. In October it joined in pursuit of Hood’s army and was in the march
to Savannah. In the Battle of Pocataligo Captain R. B. Kellogg, a brave young
officer, was mortally wounded. The regiment marched to Goldsboro, Raleigh and
Washington. On the 24th of July, 1865, it was mustered out and
returned to Iowa, at this time numbering seven hundred twelve men. Colonel
Hedrick was Brevet Brigadier-General, and Captain J. S. Porter was promoted to
major.
The Sixteenth was the last infantry regiment raised in Iowa
under the President’s proclamation calling for volunteers during the first year
of the war. The failure of General McClellan’s campaign had greatly depressed
the people at the North, and it became difficult to procure volunteers for this
regiment. The first company went into quarters in September, 1861, and the last
company was not ready until March 24, 1862. Two companies were recruited in
Muscatine County and the others were enlisted from various parts. The regiment
numbered nine hundred ten men, and its first field and staff officers were:
Alexander Chambers, colonel; A. H. Sanders, lieutenant-colonel; William
Purcell, major; George E. McCosh, adjutant; C. W. Fracker, quartermaster; J. H.
Camburn, surgeon. As soon as the organization was completed the regiment joined
Grant’s army at Pittsburg Landing and went into the battle with but little
drilling. IT was a trying ordeal, placed in an exposed position on that fearful
Sunday, but the men never flinched, though many of their number were killed or
injured. Among the killed were: Captain John Ruehl and Lieutenant F. N. Doyle,
while Colonel Chambers, Captains A. Palmer, E. S. Frazier, E. M. Newcomb and M.
Zettler, and Lieutenant J. H. Lucas, G. H. Holcomb, Peter Miller and Henry
Meyer were among the wounded. At one time the regiment was thrown into confusion,
but soon rallied and did good service. Upon the organization of the Iowa
Brigade, soon after the Battle of Shiloh, the Sixteenth was placed in it and
served as a part of the Brigade from that time. After the march to Corinth the
regiment was for two months in camp near that place suffering severely from
sickness. Fro several months it served in the region about Corinth, Bolivar,
Tennessee, and Somerville. At the Battle of Iuka the regiment did excellent
service. General Rosecrans in his official report says:
“The
Sixteenth Iowa, amid the roar of battle, the rush of wounded artillery horses,
the charges of a Rebel brigade, a storm of grape, canister and musketry, stood
like a rock holding the center, while the glorious Fifth Iowa, under the brave Matthies,
sustained by Boomer with the noble Twenty-sixty Missouri, bore the thrice
repeated charges and cross-fires of the Rebel left and center, with a valor and
determination seldom equaled and never excelled by veteran soldiers.”
When Colonel Chambers was wounded and captured the command
of the regiment devolved on the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders. Adjutant
Lawrence, a brave young officer, was killed, while Captain Palmer, Lieutenants
Lucas, Alcorn and Williams were severely wounded. This was the second battle
for the Sixteenth, and it won high honors, losing, however sixty-five men. In
the Battle of Corinth, two weeks later, the Sixteenth was hotly engaged, and
its commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders, was severely wounded in the first
day’s fight. General Crocker says in his report:
“Lieutenant-Colonel
A. H. Sanders rode along the line of his regiment amid a storm of bullets,
encouraging his brave boys, who had so lately suffered at Iuka, to remember
their duty, and although severely wounded remained with his regiment until it
marched off the field.”
In
the next day’s battle Major Purcell, who was in command, was wounded, and
Captain Williams was taken prisoner. After the battle the Sixteenth was one of
the regiments that pursued the retreating enemy. For several months the
regiment was employed in Mississippi and Tennessee, and early in January, 1863,
Captain Heavener died of smallpox. Soon after, the regiment marched to Memphis,
where it joined Grant’s army in the Vicksburg campaign and bore an honorable
part in the brilliant marches, battles and final great victory. When General
Crocker took command of the Seventh Division, Colonel Chambers succeeded to the
command of the Iowa Brigade. The first medal of honor for the Seventeenth Corps
in this campaign, was awarded to Lieutenant Samuel Duffin,(1) of Company K, Sixteenth Iowa.
The regiment was in the Monroe expedition in August and September, and was with
Sherman in the raid to Meridian in February, 1864. The members of the regiment
reenlisted during the winter, and the veterans visited their homes before
joining Sherman on his march through Georgia. The Sixteenth was often under
fire in the marches and skirmishes as the campaign progressed and in the severe
engagement in which the Sixteenth lost about fifty men, among whom were
Lieutenant G. H. Holcomb killed, and Captain Hugh Shilling wounded. In the
battle on the next day the Sixteenth, after a heroic fight, was surrounded and
captured. The regiment was posted on the left of the Eleventh Iowa, in front of
the Thirteenth Iowa. The ground occupied by the Iowa Brigade was covered with
underbrush, but no timber. Just before noon General Smith had directed Colonel
Sanders to have his regiment ready to fall back at a minutes notice, but
adding, “you must hold your works to the last, as the safety of the division
may depend on the delay occasioned the enemy at this point.” This was the last
order given Colonel Sanders that day. Soon heavy firing on the skirmish line
indicated the advance of the enemy in strong force. In a short time the
skirmish line was driven in and heavy bodies of the enemy followed closely
after them. The Sixteenth in the trenches awaited with muskets ready the close
approach of the advancing enemy with fixed bayonets, when Colonel Sanders gave
the order to fire. Volley after volley smote the enemy at close range, and
their lines were soon shattered, those not injured falling to the ground to
escape the murderous fire which decimated their ranks. Another strong line of
the enemy came to their aid and was repulsed with great slaughter. Heavy bodies
of Confederates were also hurled against the Eleventh and Fifteenth regiments
at the same time and they were finally forced from their positions by
overwhelming numbers. No orders came to retire and the Sixteenth was soon
surrounded and compelled to surrender. Further resistance would only have
resulted in the slaughter of the entire regiment. During the campaign, up to
this time the entire loss of the regiment in killed and wounded had been one
hundred twenty-six. Nearly two hundred members of the regiment, many of whom
were absent, sick, or wounded escaped capture. The officers captured were first
sent to Macon and later to Charleston and Columbia. The men were doomed to
undergo the tortures of Andersonville stockade, where every form of suffering
was endured. For nearly two months men were crowded in this most loathsome
prison pen known in modern times, where many died and others were disabled for
life. On the 22d of September the survivors were released by exchange and
returned to the regiment. The officers were detained longer, but a few of them
managed to escape, among whom was Captain J. H. Smith. The regiment was with
Sherman until Johnston’s surrender, when it proceeded to Washington and joined
in the grand review. In July it was sent to Louisville, where
Lieutenant-Colonel Smith resigned. The regiment was soon after sent to
Davenport and there disbanded. The field officers at this time were
Lieutenant-Colonel J. T. Herbert, Major Peter Miller, Adjutant Oliver Anderson,
Surgeon J. L. Philips, Quartermaster Smith Spoor. Colonel Sanders, who was Brevet
Brigadier-General, had been compelled to leave the service in April, 1865, on
account of disability incurred in Confederate prisons.