Chapter IX
CONDENSED 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.
Second Iowa Infantry
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.
Battle of Fort Donelson
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.
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