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Chapter XII
Picture included in this chapter is of Battle
of Belmont
Seventh Iowa Infantry
The ten companies composing this
regiment were raised largely in the counties of Muscatine,
Washington, Chickasaw, Floyd, Cerro Gordo, Mahaska, Lee Wapello,
Henry, Iowa, Des Moines, Jefferson, in Iowa, and Hancock and
Henderson counties, in Illinois. A majority of them were mustered
into service at Burlington soon after the Battle of Bull Run, in
July, 1861. The regiment numbered nine hundred and two men, and so
urgent was the need of troops at this time that the Seventh was sent
to St. Louis before its organization was complete, and before
clothing arms, or equipments were furnished. Hurried into the field
at Pilot Knob as soon as armed, it took the first lessons in drill
and manual of arms at Ironton, Missouri. From here the regiment
marched with General Prentiss’s army to Cape Girardeau and was
transported by steamer from there to Cairo. Jacob G. Lauman had been
appointed colonel, and Augustus Wentz now joined the regiment as
lieutenant-colonel; Elliott W. Rice, a sergeant of Company C, was
promoted to major; D. F. Bowler, a lieutenant of Company D, was
promoted to adjutant; Dr. Amos Witter(1)
was appointed surgeon; I. H. Clark, chaplain, and Lieutenant
S. E. Forska, of Company D, quartermaster. The regiment had now
become well instructed in military drill and duties, and presented a
soldierly appearance.
General Grant, who was now in
command of the District of Southeaster Missouri with headquarters at
Cairo, was a man of action. On the 6th of November, 1861,
he started with 3,000 men to make a reconnaissance toward Columbus
to prevent the enemy from sending reinforcements to General Price,
in Missouri. He also proposed to destroy a Confederate encampment on
the Missouri side of the river. Among the colonels commanding
regiments in this expedition were the following, who afterwards
became distinguished officers in the Union armies: John A. Logan,
commanding a detachment of cavalry; Colonel N. B. Buford of the
Thirtieth Illinois, and General J. A. McClernand, commanding a
brigade. The Seventh Iowa, under colonel Lauman, was in a brigade
commanded by Colonel Dougherty of the Twenty-second Illinois. Early
on the morning of the 7th, Grant moved his little army by
steamer within three miles of Belmont. Up to the morning of the
attack the encampment consisted of three additional regiments, and
took command. General Grant moved on the enemy immediately, meeting
with stubborn resistance, but after a sharp conflict, drove the
Confederates down the river bank, capturing their artillery and
setting fire to the camp and stores. While the men were destroying
the camp, Generals Cheatham and Polk, with five fresh regiments,
hastened across the river from Columbus, and with greatly superior
numbers attempted to capture Grant’s small force. But, in spite of
overwhelming numbers, the Union army charged with such gallantry as
to cut its way through the enemy’s lines, taking two of the captured
cannon, and gained the landing about five o’clock in the afternoon.
Seven hours the little army under Grant had fought and the last part
of the battle had been a conflict of the most desperate character.
Step by step the retreating army cut its way through heavy ranks,
while the Union gunboats opened a steady fire upon the enemy. At
last the steamers were reached, and the army safely embarked. The
object of the expedition had been attained, but at heavy cost, as
our losses amounted to five hundred and forty-six in killed, wounded
and missing. The confederate loss in men was nearly 1,000, while a
large amount of property was destroyed. It was near the beginning of
the war and very few of the Union soldiers engaged had ever seen a
battle, so that this conflict with superior numbers gave them great
confidence in themselves, and proved again that there was no better
material in either army than the volunteers from Iowa and Illinois.
General Grant said in his order congratulating the men upon their
coolness and courage in the battle:
“It has been my fortune to have
taken part in all the battles fought in Mexico by Generals Scott and
Taylor, save Buena Vista, and I never saw one more hotly contested,
or where troops behaved with more gallantry.”
The Seventh Iowa was in the
thickest of the fight all through the battle and General Grant said,
in his report, that “it behaved with great gallantry and suffered
more severely than any other of the troops.” Among the killed were
Lieutenant-Colonel Lauman, Captains Ream and Gardner, while Colonel
Lauman, Captains Gardner, Harper, Parrott and Kettrege were wounded.
The total loss of the regiment in killed, wounded and missing was
two hundred and twenty-seven. Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz was a
promising officer, and his loss was greatly regretted. It was
generally believed that he would have won high rank had he lived
through the war. The Seventh went to St. Louis soon after, where
Captain Parrott was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. Early in
February, 1862, the regiment was with General Grant’s army in the
expedition against the forts on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers.
After the capture of Fort Henry it proceeded with the army against
Donelson. The Seventh bore an honorable part in the battle, serving
in the brigade commanded by Colonel Lauman, losing thirty-nine men.
In March Colonel Lauman was promoted to Brigadier-General and took
command of a brigade in General Hurlbut’s Division. Major E. W. Rice
succeeded to the command of the Seventh Regiment, and Captain J. W.
McMullen, of company C, became major. The regiment joined Grant’s
army at Pittsburg Landing. It fought bravely at the Battle of
Shiloh, serving in the Iowa Brigade commanded by Colonel J. M.
Tuttle, and lost thirty-four men during the engagements. Moving with
Halleck in his slow and cautious approach on Corinth, following in
pursuit of the leisurely retreat of General Beauregard and returning
to Corinth, the Seventh rested until the middle of September, when
it was sent to Iuka, but was not engaged in the battle of the 19th.
In the two days’ battle at Corinth on the 3d and 4th of
October, the regiment took a conspicuous part, maintaining the
reputation it had won at Belmont, Donelson and Shiloh and losing
nearly one-third of its number. Captain B. K. Smith was among the
killed and Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott, Major McMullen, Captain Conn
and Lieutenants Bennett, Camp, Hope and Irvin were among the
wounded. The regiment remained at Corinth during the winter of
1862-’63 and most of the season following was engaged in uneventful
but necessary duties connected with guarding and occupying the vast
regions wrested from the Confederacy in Mississippi and Tennessee.
There were railroad lines to be held, bridges to be rebuilt and
guarded, wagon trains to protected over long routes and frequent
scouts and foraging parties to be sent out. At Pulaski the Seventh
remained some time and the men made themselves comfortable by
erecting “shebangs,” as the army named the huts erected at various
stopping places. Unoccupied buildings furnished the material and
there was always skill among the western troops to enable them to
construct comfortable houses to shelter them from sun, storms and
chilling winds. In raids for provisions the men often picked up
furnishings for their temporary homes, and where they remained
several months, they had a way of making their “shebangs” quite
comfortable. Some of them became ornamented with luxuries not
altogether appropriate to camp life, but the boys were not
discerning as to harmony and artistic effects. While at Pulaski,
orders were received allowing the men, who had been two years in the
service, to reenlist, thus becoming veterans, with the privilege of
a month’s furlough. Three-fourths of the men in the service, fit for
duty, reenlisted, and on the 20th of January, 1864, they
started for Iowa. After a month at home, where every honor was
bestowed upon them, they assembled at Keokuk and returned to the
army on the 27th of April the Seventh started with
Sherman’s army on the Atlanta campaign. In the march through Georgia
and the Carolinas the regiment participated in the numerous
skirmishes and battles which marked the progress of the army, always
doing its duty bravely, and winning honor in every conflict. At the
crossing of the Ostanaula River on the 15th of May,
Colonel Rice, in command of a brigade, led the advance of the Army
of the Tennessee. The day before he had made a demonstration at a
point higher up the stream. Early on the morning of the 15th
he rapidly threw his brigade across Lay’s Ferry by means of a flat
boat and pontoons. To engage the attention of the enemy he had first
sent a detachment of sharp-shooters over on the flat boats, which,
under cover of a heavy artillery fire, supported by the Sixty-sixth
Indiana, drove the Confederates from their rifle pits, while the
main body crossed. Hastily throwing up defense beyond view of the
enemy, he awaited the crossing of the Third Brigade, which took
position on his left. General Walker, with a whole division, now
confronted the three brigades. The Seventh Iowa, major McMullen
commanding, supported by an Indiana regiment, was now sent forward
against the enemy’s left flank. Charging, with loud shouts and great
vigor was now sent forward against the enemy’s left flank. Charging,
with loud shouts and great vigor, on the flank, the regiment
surprised and threw the enemy into confusion. Two batteries now
opened upon them, but they still advanced and after a sharp
engagement, drove the enemy from position and opened the way for our
entire army to advance. In this brilliant engagement the Union loss
was seventy-four men, of which sixty were in the Iowa regiment.
While the regiment was at Rome the Presidential election took place.
The Iowa Legislature had provided by law a method by which our
soldiers could vote in the field.
General McClellan, having failed as
a military commander, was now the candidate of the “peace” wing of
the Democratic party for President, against Lincoln, who was giving
every energy of his grand character to the subjugation of the armed
enemies of the Nation. Out of the three hundred and twenty-two votes
cast by the gallant Seventh Iowa, Lincoln received three hundred and
twenty and McClellan two. From Rome, our regiment marched to Atlanta
and from there to Savannah, meeting with but slight loss. Colonel E.
W. Rice had been promoted to Brigadier-General on the 20th
of June, 1864, having entered the service in 1861 as a sergeant of
Company C, in the Seventh. Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Parrott was now
in command of the regiment; Samuel Mahon, major, and W. W. Sapp,
adjutant. The army moved from Savannah on the 28th of
January, 1865, on its march through South Carolina, amid the storms
of mid-winter, wading swamps, swollen creeks and rivers. For four
hundred and eighty miles to Goldsboro, North Carolina, the Seventh
bravely endured the hardships without complaint, losing but three
men. The campaign ended here, where camp was made on the 24th
of March. During this march, Sherman’s army had built thirty-nine
miles of corduroy road through the otherwise impassable swamps. The
regiment marched to Washington by way of Richmond and participated
in the grand review. Soon after it was transported to Louisville
where it was mustered out, as the war closed. The record of the
Seventh Iowa, from the day it left its first camp to the end of the
war, was one of which every member had reason to be proud. The
people of the State will never cease to remember its deeds of valor.
Eighth Iowa Infant
This regiment was raised during the
months of August and September, 1861. The ten companies were
enlisted largely in the counties of Scott, Clinton, Luisa,
Washington, Benton, Linn, Marion, Keokuk, Iowa, Mahaska and Monroe.
They went into camp at Davenport, in September, nine hundred and
twenty strong. The first field and staff officers were: Frederick
Steele, colonel; J. L. Geddes, lieutenant-colonel; J. C. Ferguson,
major; G. H. McLaughlin, adjutant; William McCullough,
quartermaster; James Irwin, surgeon; and C. G. Vanderveer, chaplain.
The regiment was sent to reinforce
General Fremont’s army in southwest Missouri and suffered severely
in the hard marches over bad roads. Returning to Sedalia in
November, most of the winter was spent in camp and field in that
vicinity. Early in February, 1862, Colonel Steele was promoted to
Brigadier-General; Geddes became colonel of the regiment; Major
Ferguson was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and Captain Joseph
Andrews, of company F, became major. On the 12th of March
the Eighth joined General Grant’s army at Pittsburg Landing. In the
Battle of Shiloh, on the 6th of April, the regiment was
in the division commanded by General W. H. L. Wallace, which was
stationed in the rear of General McClernand, with its right near the
Landing. As the Confederate army advanced, gradually forcing our
troops in the front from their positions, the Eighth came under
fire. For an hour it supported a battery on the front and suffered
from the enemy’s artillery. Later the regiment was ordered forward
on a line that was making a most obstinate resistance, where the
enemy was held in check until near four o’clock in the afternoon by
the splendid fighting of the Union troops. The Eighth was the
connecting link between the Division of General Wallace and what
remained of General Prentiss’ command. Here it was assaulted by a
battalion of Confederates and for an hour a severe engagement
ensued. Charge after charge was made on the Eighth and Fourteenth
Iowa, which held their position, beating back and charging in turn
the shattered columns of the foe. During the desperate efforts of
the Confederates to break our lines at this place, General Prentiss
placed a battery in front of colonel Geddes’ position and the
regiment was ordered to defend it at all hazards. It was now one
o’clock and all along the lines the fighting was of the most
desperate character. The confederate army, in greatly superior
numbers, was gradually forcing the Union army back toward the river.
Grant had sent courier after courier to find and bring General Lew
Wallace’s strong division of veteran soldiers into the battle, but
he did not appear. The battery placed by General Prentiss was mowing
down the enemy at a fearful rate, and column after column was hurled
against it, charging up to the muzzles of the guns. But they were
met by Colonel Geddes’ men but it saved the battery and held the
position for two hours. At last Prentiss’ line gave way, the enemy
followed, swung around to the rear of the Eighth Iowa which was now
surrounded, and forced a surrender at half past five. All day long
it had made a most heroic fight and, to the last, stood firm and
undaunted, refusing to save itself by flight as did several
regiments on that terrible day. General Prentiss, who was also
captured, in his official report, says of Geddes and his regiment:
“He acted with distinguished
courage, coolness and ability. His regiment stood unflinchingly up
to the work the entire portion of the day during which it acted
under my orders.”
The loss of the regiment in
killed and wounded, was nearly two hundred. Captain W. F. Hogin was
killed; Colonel Geddes, Major Andrews, Captain F. S. Palmer and H.
H. Benson, and Lieutenants E. Tichenor, D. J. Craigie, C. S. Wells
and W. T. Hayes were wounded. About four hundred were captured,
including most of the officers of the regiment.
That portion of the regiment not
captured went into the Union Brigade, and participated in the
campaign of the summer and fall in Tennessee and Mississippi under
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel J. P. Coulter of the Twelfth Iowa,
and fought bravely at the Battle of Corinth. This brigade consisted
of soldiers of the Eighth, Twelfth and Fourteenth Iowa Volunteers
who escaped capture when their regiments were compelled to surrender
at Shiloh. The prisoners of these regiments captured at Shiloh were
confined in various Confederate prisons, suffering from sickness,
starvation and every kind of inhuman treatment, resulting in death
and life-long disability to many. Most of them were released on
parole or exchanged in the course of eight months. The Eight
Regiment was reorganized at St. Louis early in 1863, and in April
joined General Grant’s army and participated in his brilliant
campaign against Vicksburg. The regiment was in General Tuttle’s
Division in the Battle of Jackson and took part in the assault on
Vicksburg, May 22d. It served with Sherman in the pursuit of General
Johnston’s army, where Colonel Geddes commanded a brigade. During
the siege of Vicksburg Lieutenant-Colonel Ferguson died from
sickness. He was a gallant and highly esteemed officer whose death
was a loss to the service. For many months after the fall of
Vicksburg the Eighth was engaged in service in Tennessee and
Mississippi. Toward the close of 1864 a large majority of the men
reenlisted as veterans and visited their homes on furlough. The
regiment was stationed at Memphis for a long time and took part in
the defense of that city against the attack by General Forrest,
losing over forty men in that battle. In this conflict Lieutenant A.
S. Irwin was killed; Captain C. P. Earl, Lieutenants J. A. Boyer and
J. L. Tinkham, wounded, and Lieutenant John Harver captured. Captain
William Bell, of Company C, was promoted to lieutenant-colonel after
the death of Ferguson, and Captain William Stubbs, of Company G, was
promoted to major in place of Palmer, resigned. Early in March,
1865, the regiment was sent to New Orleans and soon after joined in
the campaign against Mobile.
Capture of Mobile
General Gordon Granger, with the
Thirteenth Corps, and General A. J. Smith, with the Sixteenth Army
Corps, marched up to the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, while General
Steele, with an independent column, marched from Pensacola. There
were several Iowa regiments in the army that was concentrating
around the city. The defenses of Mobile were very strong; the
Spanish Fort on the left and Fort Blakely on the right commanded the
approaches by land. They must be taken before the city could be
occupied. Between these forts, which were several miles apart, were
numerous earthworks and redoubts, the approaches to which were
obstructed by ditches, trees, wires and torpedoes. At Spanish Forth
there were several lines of inferior rifle-pits for skirmishers
outside of the principal works. A formidable ditch added to the
strength of the position and a most elaborately constructed abattis
presented its sharp points to the assailants. Trees were felled and
laced together for an area of many acres around and the ground
everywhere was thickly strewn with torpedoes. Artillery of various
caliber bristled along the walls and 3,000 soldiers held the
interior of the fort, which was crescent-shaped, its right and left
defenses swinging back to near the river. At the northern extremity
of these defenses, a deep ravine runs down to the river, dividing
the high bluff along its eastern bank. On the northeast side of this
ravine was the Brigade of Colonel Geddes, in which was the Eighth
Iowa. At the mouth of the ravine was low bottom land and this was
the point selected from which to carry Spanish Fort. The Eighth Iowa
led the advance. For an hour and a half our artillery had been
sending balls and shells into the fort and the sun was just sinking
below the horizon when Colonel Geddes gave the order to charge.
Instantly, the men of the Eighth Iowa sprang to their feet and
rushed among the fallen trees, pushing their way through the
obstructions and across the mouth of the enemy. Those behind the log
breast-works fired on volley and fled. But from the extreme left of
the rifle-pits a heavy fire was poured into the ranks of the Iowa
men until the foremost of them mounted the bluff and took the enemy
in the rear. Three hundred Confederates were made prisoners on the
spot and the others retreated toward the interior of the fort and a
new line of battle was formed. For more than three hundred yards the
gallant Eighth had fought its way toward the enemy’s center. It was
now dark, and in obedience to orders the regiment halted and
constructed rifle pits. At eleven o’clock in the night the enemy
began to retreat and the whole Union army moved against the fort.
But little resistance was made, as our army took possession,
capturing six hundred prisoners, forty pieces of artillery, a large
quantity of ammunition, and other property. General Steele had been
equally successful at Fort Blakely. When the news of Colonel Geddes’
victory at Spanish Fort reached Steele, on the morning of the 9th,
he at once ordered an assault, and in a short time everything was in
our possession and the victory complete. This campaign, so
successful, reflected great credit on Iowa soldiers. General Steele
had been the first colonel of the Eighth Iowa, and his Assistant
Adjutant-General was Captain John F. Lacey. Twelve Iowa regiments
shared the honors of this brilliant campaign, which captured more
than 5,000 prisoners and more than one hundred and fifty cannon,
besides a vast amount of small arms, ammunition and other property.
Beside the Eighth, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, the following
Iowa regiments were in the assault: The Twelfth, Major Knee;
Nineteenth, Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce; Twentieth, Lieutenant-Colonel
Leake; Twenty-first, Lieutenant-Colonel Van Anda; Twenty-third,
Colonel Glasgow; Twenty-seventh, Lieutenant-Colonel Lake;
Twenty-ninth, Colonel Benton; Thirty-third, Colonel Mackay;
Thirty-fourth, Colonel Clark, and Thirty-fifth, Colonel Keeler.
General Gilbert, Colonels Geddes and Glasgow commanded brigades.
These regiments all won high honors in this
closing campaign of the war. It was conceded that Colonel Geddes’
assault on Spanish Fort, in which the Eighth took such a conspicuous
part, was the most brilliant achievement of that notable campaign.
Lieutenant-Colonel Bell and Lieutenant Henry Vinyard were especially
commended for their gallantry. This was the 1st battle in which the
Eighth took part, but it was not mustered out of service until April
20th, 1866. Colonel Geddes was made brevet
Brigadier-General June 5, 1865, and Captain S. E. Rankin was
promoted to major July 1, 1865.
~~~~~
End Note:
1. Dr. Amos Witter had been a
distinguished member of the Legislature, representing at various
times the counties of Scott, Cedar and Linn. He was the author of
the first Prohibitory Liquor Law and an eminent physician. He was
captured at Belmont while attending our wounded soldiers, and died
from the effects of his arduous duties after the battle at Fort
Donelson |
