Iowa History Project
___________________________________________________________
History of Iowa
_____________________________________________________
REGIMENTS ENGAGED
IN THE WAR
OF THE REBELLION
______________________________________________
Pictures included in this chapter are “A Typical Iowa Soldier,” Battle of Wilson’s Creek,” “Forts Henry and Donelson,” “Generals S. A. Rice, E. W. Rice, J. M. Tuttle, Colonel N. W. Mills,” and “General James B. Weaver.”
___________________________________________
First Iowa
Infantry
For two weeks the First Iowa Infantry remained in camp at
Keokuk, drilling and preparing for war.(1) On the 13th of June, 1861, on order of General
Lyon, the men embarked on the steamer for Hannibal, Missouri, and many of them
looked for the last time on the Iowa shores. They were transported by rail to
General Lyon’s army at Booneville, where the day before that gallant and
energetic officer had defeated and dispersed Governor Jackson’s Rebel army in
the first battle fought in Missouri. Here the regiment remained in camp until
the 3d of July, an during this time Hiram Price, Paymaster-General from Iowa,
made the first payment for services. General Lyon, who now had an army of a
little more than 3,000 infantry and one battery of artillery, determined to
pursue Governor Jackson’s Rebel army of nearly 7,000 which was retreating
toward the southwest. On the morning of July 3d, the pursuit began. The Fourth
was intensely hot and as the soldiers marched along the dusty roads, shut in by
woods in places, many were overcome with heat and compelled to fall out of the ranks. They had not as yet become
inured to long marches beneath the broiling sun. At Grand River Lyon’s army was
reinforced by General Sturgis, with tow Kansas regiments, a detachment of
regulars and a battery of artillery, 2,800 in all. The army was now marching
twenty-five miles a day and becoming more accustomed to soldier’s life. The
members of the First Iowa who died on this march, were the first of the many
thousands of Iowa soldiers who perished in the war for the Union. On the 1st
of August General Lyon overtook a force of the enemy under General McCulloch,
at Dug Springs, and after a sharp fight defeated it. On the Union side the
battle was fought by cavalry and artillery, the First Iowa Infantry acting as
skirmishers on the right wing.
Battle of Wilson’s Creek
General Lyon, who was now
confronted by a superior army, Price having reinforced Jackson and McCulloch,
sent urgent requests for more troops. But they were not furnished and,
unwilling to remain idle while the Rebel armies were concentrating about him,
he determined to attack rather than retreat. He formed his plan of battle, and
on the evening of August 9th, the little army moved out of
Springfield with 5,500 men to assail the combined Rebel armies, more than
20,000 strong. It was a desperate venture, but with no prospect of
re-enforcements, General Lyon was not the man to remain inactive until overwhelmed
by the enemy surrounding him. Colonel Sigel was ordered to march by the
Fayetteville road and open on the enemy surrounding him. Colonel Sigel was
ordered to march by the Fayetteville road and open on the enemy in the rear
with artillery, while General Lyon, with the main body, was to attack in front.
The First Iowa, under Lieutenant-Colonel Merritt, was with General Lyon. After
a march of several hours in darkness and silence, the Union army, at 2 a.m.,
came within a short distance of the enemy and halted to take a few hours’ rest.
With the first dim light of the early morning the battle opened. Totten’s
Battery, supported by the Iowa regiment, from a hill, opened fire on the
Rebels. To the left was Dubois’ Battery, and to the right of Totten’s were the
First Missouri and Second Kansas regiments. The engagement soon became general
and strong lines of the Rebels charged on Lyon’s little army. These were driven
back in confusion by the steady fire of the Union troops. Plummer’s battalion
of regulars, numbering but two hundred and fifty men, for more than an hour
successfully resisted the attack of two Rebel regiments, until their commander
fell severely wounded, when they slowly fell back, fighting as they went. Sigel
had made a gallant attack upon the Rebel rear and his men fought bravely until
they were overwhelmed by greatly superior numbers and driven from the field
with heavy loss. An now, for six hours the battle raged all along the lines.
Charge after charge by fresh regiments was made upon the Union lines and
repulsed. General Lyon had been twice wounded and his horse killed, but cool
and undaunted, he issued his orders and cheered on his men to new deeds of
valor. No soldiers ever fought more bravely than the First Iowa all through
this battle. Greeley’s “American Conflict” says:
“The First Missouri, the First
Iowa and the First and Second Kansas Regiments, with Steele’s Regulars, won
immortal honor by the persistent and heroic gallantry with which for hours they
maintained their ground against immense odds.”
Three companies of the Iowa regiment, H, I and K, were placed
in ambush by General Granger of the regulars. Lying down close to the brow of a
hill, they waited for another charge of the enemy. Soon it came in overwhelming
numbers. Not a sound was heard among the Iowans until the Rebels were within
thirty-five or forty feet, when they poured the contents of their muskets into
the enemy, routing him, though suffering heavy loss themselves.
General Lyon now ordered a bayonet charge
by the First Iowa and Second Kansas regiments and led it himself. “Come on,
brave men,” he exclaimed, and they again charged the enemy, as the gallant Lyon
fell mortally wounded.
The command now devolved upon Major
Sturgis. For half an hour the combat ceased, while each army was preparing for
a renewal of the struggle. The remnant of the small Union force still firmly
held its ground. Companies form the First Missouri, first Iowa and First Kansas
regiments were brought up to the support of Dubois’ Battery, which was assailed
by the enemy; falling upon his flank, they poured in a murderous fire, killing
or wounding almost the entire Rebel force. This was the last charge made on the
Union lines, and the Rebels withdrew to a safe distance, badly shattered and
demoralized. The Union army retired to Springfield in good order, its total
loss in killed, wounded and missing being 1,235 men. The Rebel loss was
probably about the same. The death of General Lyon was a loss to the union
cause that can scarcely be overestimated. In his brief career he had developed
the rare qualities of great energy, fine military ability, promptness in
execution and dauntless courage. At the time of his death, we had few officers
in the service so valuable. Nowhere in the long war which followed can be
found, in the great list of battles, one in which so small a Union army made so
heroic and successful a fight against such superior numbers. The First Iowa
lost in killed, wounded and missing, at Wilson’s Creek, one hundred and fifty-five
men, and no Iowa regiment during the entire war won greater fame on a
battle-field. Three months before all of its members were civilians, and in
ninety days they had become soldiers whose achievements were not excelled by
veterans of any war. Soon after the battle the army returned to Rolla, and the
First Iowa, whose term of service had expired four days after the battle, was
sent to St. Louis, where the men were paid and mustered out. They had marched
more than six hundred miles during their short term of service, showing
endurance and valor unsurpassed. When they returned to Iowa, they were welcomed
and honored everywhere. In the short period of three months they had proved, by
long marches and heroic courage on the field of battle, that Iowa citizen-soldiers
were superior to the boastful, slave-driving “border ruffians” of Missouri and
Arkansas. They had won glory and renown by brave deeds which should be an
inspiration to Iowa soldiers for all time. This pioneer regiment furnished many
gallant officers to other regiments as the war progressed.
Of Company A, Captain Marko Cummins
became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixth Regiment; Lieutenant Benjamin Beach, a
Captain in the Eleventh; Sergeant H. J. Campbell, Major of the Eighteenth, and
Private R. B. Baird, Quarter-Master of the Thirty-fifth. From Company B,
Lieutenant Harvey Graham became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Twenty-second; and
Sergeants C. N. Lee and J. L. Gurkee, captains in the same regiment. Of Company
C, Lieutenant W. Pursell became Major of the Sixteenth; Sergeant W. Grant,
Captain in the Eleventh, and Corporal A. N. Snyder, Captain in the
Thirty-fifth. Of Company D, Captain C. L. Matthies became Lieutenant-Colonel
and Colonel of the Fifth, and later a Brigadier-General. Of Company E, Lieutenant
J. C. Abercrombie became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eleventh; Private W. J.
Campbell, Captain in the Fourteenth; Private C. A. Cameron, Captain in the
Thirty-ninth; and Private A. Roberts, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirtieth. Of
Company F, Captain S. M. Wise became Major of the Seventeenth; Lieutenant G. A.
Stone, Colonel of the Twenty-fifth; and T. J. Zollars, Captain in the Fourth
Cavalry. Of Company G, Captain A. Wentz became Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Seventh. Of Company H, Sergeant Charles Schaeffer became Major of the Fifth
Cavalry, and a staff officer of General Curtis. Of Company I, Captain F. J.
Herron, became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Ninth, and was afterward promoted to
Brigadier-General in the Twenty-first; Private D. B. Green, a Captain in the
Third Missouri; Private N. E. Duncan, Adjutant of the Twelfth, and Private C.
A. Reed, Assistant Surgeon of the Ninth. Of Company K, Sergeant J. H. Stibbs
became a Captain and then Lieutenant-Colonel of the Twelfth; Sergeant Edward
Coulter, a Captain in the Twentieth, and Private G. C. Burmeister, Captain in
the Thirty-fifth. From its privates and officers, the First Iowa furnished, as
the war progressed, officers of every grade from Second Lieutenant to
Major-General.
This regiment was the first from our State to enlist for
three years’ service and the first that left the State for the theater of war.
Its members volunteered during the first outburst of patriotic enthusiasm that
followed the firing on Fort Sumter. It was made up of ten companies, one each
from the counties of Lee, Polk, Jefferson, Van Buren, Davis, Washington,
Clinton, Wapello and two from Scott.
The
first field officers were Samuel R. Curtis, colonel; James M. Tuttle,
lieutenant-colonel; M. M. Crocker, major. Lieutenant N. P. Chipman, was
appointed adjutant. The regiment was fortunate in its officers. Curtis was a
graduate of West Point Military Academy, and had served as Adjutant-General of
Ohio and as colonel in the War with Mexico. Crocker had also received a military
education at West Point. Whereas most of the regiments were first necessarily
officered by men from civil pursuits, the Second Iowa had the great advantage
of being under the command of a veteran officer, who had won high honors in the
military service. The regiment was mustered into the United states service on
the 27th and 28th of May, and thorough drill was at once
instituted. On the 13th of June, the regiment left camp at Keokuk,
going by steamer to Hannibal, and from there was sent to Saint Joseph, where it
helped to protect western Missouri from the Rebel element. Late in the summer
it was sent south to Easton, Missouri, and in October, to St. Louis. It
suffered greatly from sickness, since of nine hundred and eighty-nine men
mustered in, but four hundred were now present, fit for duty. Curtis had been promoted to
Brigadier-General, and, on the 6th of September, Tuttle was promoted
to colonel, and James Baker to lieutenant-colonel. Crocker was appointed
Colonel of the Thirteenth Regiment, on the 30th of October. While
guarding a museum in St. Louis, the Second Regiment was held responsible for
the disappearance of some of the property, and upon order of General Halleck,
was publicly disgraced.
The
year 1861 closed with a general feeling of disappointment and gloom on the part
of the loyal people of the country. The defeats at Bull Run and Ball’s Bluff
had seemed to paralyze the commanders of the great army gathered about the
National Capital. McClellan, from whom much was expected, having an army of
nearly 200,000, was cooped up in Washington, with Rebel batteries commanding
the Potomac, and not a movement made against them. The army had gone into
winter quarters, with Washington virtually besieged by the Army of Virginia.
General Grant, who was in command at Cairo, could however,
fight battles in the winter. Early in February he moved his army of 15,000 to
the Tennessee River, and in conjunction with Commander Foote with a fleet of
gunboats ascended the river and captured Fort Henry, thus opening the way for
the Union army into the heart of Tennessee. Fort Donelson on the Cumberland
River, was garrisoned with a Rebel army of 15,000, and was defended by water
batteries and heavy guns. Grant marched against it promptly and Commodore Foote
cooperated with the fleet of gunboats. The river attack by Commodore Foote on
the 14th, failed. The next day General Pillow made a desperate
attack upon General Grant’s lines, force McClernand back some distance and
captured a battery. Grant reinforced the weakened points, and, at 3 p.m.,
ordered a general advance, Wallace leading the attack on the left and General
C. F. Smith on the right. Both were successful and several of the outworks were
taken and held. As night came on the weather became intensely cold, and our men
held the lines without tents of fires, amid sleet, snow and piercing wind.
Hundreds were frost-bitten and some of the wounded were frozen to death.
General Grant had been re-enforced until his army now numbered about 30,000,
and it became evident to General Floyd, commander of the Rebel army, that there
was no hope of victory or retreat. Two steamers reached the fort during the
night, when Floyd and Pillow, leaving General Buckner in command, loaded the
steamers with soldiers, and escaped up the river. The next morning General
Buckner surrendered the effort, seventeen heavy siege guns, forty pieces of
field artillery, about 15,000 soldiers, and all of the stores and property.
General Grant’s losses amount to about 2,000 killed, wounded and missing. This
victory, by far the greatest Union victory up to this time, was hailed with
rejoicing everywhere. It was the first surrender of a large Rebel army, the
first battle that seriously weakened the Rebellion. Iowa had three regiments in
this battle—the Second, Seventh and Fourteenth. The Iowa regiments, one of
western sharp-shooters, the Twenty-fifth and Fifty-second Indiana, made up the
brigade commanded by Colonel J. G. Lauman, of the Seventh Iowa. This was the
one selected by General Smith to lead the assault on the left, on the 15th.
Colonel Tuttle, with the Second, led the advance.
“The
Rebel works were five hundred yards in advance; the line of march was up a hill
obstructed by abattis. The advance was sounded at 2 p.m. Silent as the grave
and inexorable as death the Second Iowa pushed its way up the hill through a
storm of grape, shell and ball. Many dropped dead and many were wounded.
Reaching the works the men sprang over without a moment’s hesitation. The
Rebels made a stubborn fight but nothing could withstand the fierce charge of the
Iowa Brigade. The outer works were captured and the men held them, sleeping on
their arms as night came on . Color-Sergeant Henry B. Doolittle fell early in
the charge; Corporal S. Page seized the flag and press on until killed.
Corporal J. H. Churchill raised the colors as Page fell and bore them aloft
until his right arm was shattered, when Corporal V. P. Twombly seized the
thrice fallen flag and bore it aloft to the end of the fight. Captains
Slaymaker and Cloutman were slain in the charge, and Major Chipman was severely
wounded.” (2)
Such
was the heroism of the regiment that General Halleck had sought to degrade for
a slight offense. He now atoned by telegraphing to Adjutant-General Baker: “The
Second Iowa Infantry proved themselves the bravest of the brave; they had the
honor of leading the column which entered Fort Donelson.” The Second went into
the battle with six hundred men, of which forty-one were killed and one hundred
and fifty-seven wounded. The regiment remained at Fort Donelson about a month
and went from there up the Tennessee River, arriving at Pittsburg Landing on the
19th of March. In the great battle at that place on the 6th
and 7th of April, Colonel Tuttle commanded a brigade composed of his
regiment and the Seventh, Twelfth and Fourteenth Iowa, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Baker was in command of the Second. The brigade was in the hottest of the battle
for many hours the first day and lost heavily. The Second made a gallant charge
the next day and lost in the battle seventy-eight men. After the Battle of
Shiloh, Tuttle was promoted to Brigadier-General; James Baker to colonel of the
Second; N. W. Mills, lieutenant-colonel; J. B. Weaver, major, and G. L.
Godfrey, adjutant of the regiment. The Second was in Halleck’s slow advance on
Corinth, and took part in the battle at that place on the 3d and 4th
of October. Colonel Baker fell, mortally wounded, on the 3d, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Mills, who succeeded to the command in the next day’s battle, was severely
wounded on the 4th and died on the 12th. The regiment
suffered heavy loss in these battles, amounting to nearly one-third of the
officers and men engaged. Major James B. Weaver was promoted to colonel of the
regiment to succeed Mills, Captain H. R. Cowles became lieutenant-colonel, and Captain
N. B. Howard, major. For the next year, the Second did duty in Tennessee, and,
at the end of 1863, became a veteran regiment. It was in a brigade commanded by
General E. w. Rice, and in the Sixteenth Corps under General G. M. Dodge, when
it joined Sherman’s army in the Atlanta campaign. It was in the battle of July
22d, before Atlanta and other engagements following. In November 1864, three companies
of the Third Regiment, and one company of recruits and drafted men were
consolidated with the Second, and Lieutenant-Colonel Howard was promoted to colonel;
G. S. Botsford, lieutenant-colonel; M. G. Hamill, major; and V. P. Twombly,
adjutant. The regiment continued with General Sherman’s army to the close of
that brilliant campaign and marched north by Richmond and Washington, and at
the close of the war, was disbanded at Davenport. No better regiment ever
entered the service than the gallant Second; it sustained the high reputation
of Iowa soldiers won by the immortal First at Wilson’s Creek. Its first colonel,
Curtis, resigned a seat in congress to enter the service, ad became one of the
great Generals of the war, for a long time commanding the Army of the Southwest,
in Missouri and Arkansas. Crocker became a distinguished Major-General, and Tuttle,
a Brigadier-General. Colonel J. B. Weaver was twice a candidate for President
of the United States, and for two terms a prominent member of congress from Iowa.
Tuttle was, in 1863, the Democratic candidate for Governor of Iowa. Chipman
became General Curtis’ chief of staff. He was Judge-Advocate of the court which
tried and hung was brevetted Brigadier-General. McKenney served on the staff of
three different major-Generals, and was brevetted Brigadier-General. Twombly
served four years as State Treasurer of Iowa.