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Chapter VII
Chapter XIX
Pictures included in this chapter
are: Colonel Samuel Merrill, Colonel W. R. Kinsman, and the Siege of
Vicksburg
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The Twenty-first Iowa Infantry
This
regiment was made up largely of companies raised in the Third
Congressional District. Company A, however, had been recruited in
Mitchell, Worth and Black Hawk counties for the Eighteenth, but, as
that regiment was full, it was placed in the Twenty-first. Companies
B, D and G were raised in Clayton County; C, E, I and F in Dubuque;
H and K in Delaware; making nine hundred seventy-six men. The field
officers first commissioned were: Colonel Samuel Merrill,
Lieutenant-Colonel C. W. Dunlap, Major S. G. Van Anda, Adjutant
Horace Poole. The Twenty-first went into camp near Dubuque late in
August, 1862, where it remained until the 16th of
September, then embarking on a steamer for St. Louis. From there
proceeding to Rolla it was armed and equipped and for a month
drilled for service. On the night of the 24th the brigade
with the Ninety-ninth Illinois, Thirty-third Missouri, artillery and
cavalry under command of General Fitz-Henry Warren, of Iowa. Early
in November the command marched to Hartsville. On the night of the
24th the brigade train was moving from Rolla to
Hartsville, when it was attacked by a large force of mounted men,
captured and burned. The small guard in charge was nearly all killed
or captured after a short resistance. Three of the slain and fifteen
of the prisoners were members of the Twenty-first Regiment, which at
once marched to the scene of the disaster. The enemy had
disappeared, leaving only the charred wreck of the train. Early in
December the command marched to Houston, thirty miles northeast of
Hartsville, where it remained a month.
The Battle of Hartsville
On the 7th of
January, 1863, General Brown, who was in command of the Union forces
at Springfield, learned that General Marmaduke, with an army of
4,000 men was on the march to make an attack upon that place. He at
once called on General Warren, who was eighty miles distant from
Springfield, for reinforcements. Colonel Merrill was sent with about
1,000 men from the Twenty-first Iowa, Ninety-ninth Illinois, Third
Iowa Cavalry, and the Third Missouri cavalry, with two pieces of
artillery. The command started on the 9th, marched
twenty-two miles and camped for the night on Beaver Creek. Long
before daylight the next morning the march toward Hartsville was
resumed, when the news came that a large force of the enemy had
occupied that place the night before. A reconnaissance was made
while the command halted to learn the result. No enemy being found
Colonel Merrill pushed on, going into camp on the night of the 10th
within eight miles of Hartsville and but one mile from a Confederate
encampment. Early the next morning, it was discovered that a large
force of the enemy was approaching from the direction of
Springfield. This proved to be the advance of General Marmaduke’s
army, which had been defeated by General Brown in an attack upon
Springfield a few days before. Colonel Merrill formed his men in
line of battle and kept up a warm fire on the advancing Confederates
for an hour, holding them in check, while the main body occupied the
town. About eleven o’clock Merrill advanced upon Hartsville, and
placing his artillery on a commanding ridge made his dispositions
for the battle. The Twenty-first Iowa, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Dunlap, held the left, the Illinois infantry was on the right, with
the cavalry on the extreme left, all sheltered by a dense growth of
brush. General Marmaduke had formed his line of battle on the open
field and in the town facing the Union lines, while a large force
held the Springfield and Houston roads and banks of the Gasconade on
the south of the town. Five pieces of artillery were in battery on a
high bluff east of the town.
The
battle was opened with artillery, and soon after a charge was made
on our lines by Jeffery’s cavalry, seven hundred strong. Our
infantry lying flat on the ground, sheltered by the brush, with guns
cocked, coolly awaited the onset. With fierce yells the troopers
came on at a gallop until close to our line, when a deadly fire
smote them, horses and riders going down in death and confusion. The
artillery opened on the disordered mass, which turned and fled from
the field. All day charge after charge was made by the infantry on
our lines, all of which were repulsed. Toward night the confederates
begun to retire on the Houston road, while Colonel Merrill, with the
main body of his troops, retreated toward Lebanon. But the
Twenty-first Iowa, not having received orders to retire, remained on
the field long after dark, alone repulsing three charges of the
enemy after their comrades had gone. After the last of the
Confederates had retired from the field the Twenty-first moved off
deliberately toward Lebanon, where the next day it joined the main
body of the command. Of the two hundred twenty members of the
regiment engaged in this battle, twenty-one were killed, wounded or
missing. General Warren issued an address to his troops commending
them in high terms for the gallant fight made against greatly
superior numbers. It was a stubborn fight of 1,000 Union soldiers,
with two cannon, for six hours, against more than 3,000 Confederates
supported by five pieces of artillery. The enemy lost General
McDonald and two colonels among the three hundred killed and
wounded, while the Union loss was seven killed and seventy-one
wounded and captured.
During
the winter the Twenty-first, thinly clad and with insufficient food,
endured hard marches over roads almost impassable. The men suffered
greatly from disease contracted from exposure and hardships until
death carried off scores of them. In March the regiment was sent to
Milliken’s bend, in Louisiana, and was assigned to the Second
Brigade, Fourteenth Division of the Thirteenth Army Corps, under
command of General McClernand. After a toilsome march through a
swampy country, the army was embarked on transports which ran the
frowning batteries of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf, landing fifteen
miles below, to unite with General Grant’s brilliant movement which
resulted in the fall of Vicksburg. On the 30th of April
the Twenty-first was one of the regiments that made up the advance
guard which followed the retreating enemy and opened
The Battle of Port Gibson
Detachments of the Twenty-first under Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap led
the advance, supporting the First Iowa Battery, Captain Harry
Griffith, in a night march on Port Gibson. An old negro slave acted
as guide. The road led through a dense forest, over ridges and
through deep ravines lined with a heavy growth of underbrush. As the
skirmishers approached the forks of the roads, four miles from Port
Gibson, they came upon Magnolia Church, where a detachment of the
enemy was posted, who opened on the enemy, aided by Klaus’ Indiana
Battery. The Confederate batteries replied and for two hours the
rapid discharge lighted up the darkness of the night, the screeching
shells were hurled through the air, bursting with fearful explosions
as the artillery duel went on. Early in the morning of May 1st,
the artillery firing was renewed while the troops came p and
deployed into line. Soon after sunrise, General Osterhaus made a
vigorous attack on the enemy’s right, which occupied a strong
position, finally dislodging him after an hour’s stubborn fight. The
battle was now in progress all along the lines, and continued with
great fury throughout the day. Toward night the Union army had won
every position attacked, and had captured five hundred and eighty
prisoners and several pieces of artillery. No report was made of the
number killed and wounded. During the night the enemy retreated,
burning the bridges, and abandoning Port Gibson and Grand Gulf. The
Iowa regiments, aside from the Twenty-first, which participated in
this battle, were the Twenty-second and Twenty-third under
Lieutenant-Colonel Glasgow, both doing excellent service.
Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap and sixteen men of the Twenty-first were
wounded. The total Union loss was one hundred and thirty killed and
seven hundred and eighteen wounded.
Soon
after this battle, the army advanced toward Jackson and then on
toward Vicksburg, in pursuit of the Confederates. At the severe
Battle of Champion’s Hill, fought on the 16th, the
Twenty-first was posted with the reserve, and was not actively
engaged. The next day General Grant pushed on rapidly in pursuit of
Pemberton’s retreating army and fought another battle at Black River
Bridge. General Pemberton had here taken a strong position protected
in front by a broad, deep bayou, behind which was a line of rifle
pits. The Twenty-first and Twenty-third Iowa regiments were in a
gallant charge made on the enemy’s works, which were carried with
heavy loss. Among the slain was Colonel Kinsman of the Twenty-third,
while Colonel Merrill, of the Twenty-first, was severely wounded.
His regiment lost in that charge, thirteen killed and seventy
wounded. On the 19th, the regiment was in the lines
investing Vicksburg, and took an active part in the operations of
that famous siege. In the assault of May 22d, Lieutenant-Colonel
Dunlap was still suffering from a wound received at Port Gibson and
unable to lead his regiment in that charge, but rode on to the field
to watch the progress of the battle and was killed by a shot from
the enemy. Colonel Merrill was still prostrated from his wound and
Major Van Anda led the regiment in the assault and was wounded. Its
loss was one hundred and thirteen kin killed and wounded. The
command now devolved upon Captain William D. Crooke of Company B,
the regiment doing duty in the trenches until the surrender on the 4th
of July. It was then sent to reinforce the army operating against
General Johnson, participating in the siege of Jackson, until that
city was evacuated, when it returned to Vicksburg. While there, the
regiment suffered greatly from sickness, losing many of its members
by death from diseases which prevailed in the camps and city. On the
13th of August the regiment steamed down the river to
Carrollton, where a delightful and healthful camping place was found
just above New Orleans. Early in September, it was sent on an
expedition into western Louisiana to Vermillion Bayou, remaining in
a beautiful and healthy prairie country for a month, guarding
bridges and gaining health and strength. Early in November, it
started eastward by easy marches, stopping at New Iberia, Berwick
City and Brashear, reaching Algiers on the 21st of
November. Captain Crooke had now been promoted to major. The
regiment soon went to Texas, where it remained o various duties
until June, 1864. While at Indianola, a detachment of fourteen men,
while out on a scout, was surprised by a force of cavalry, captured
and sent to a Confederate prison at Tyler. Early in June, the
regiment was transported to New Orleans and from there to various
points in Louisiana. Late in July, it was sent to Morganza,
remaining in that unhealthy region until September, guarding the
property of cotton speculators. The winter was spent at St. Charles,
White River and Memphis. Late in December, a long march with General
Grierson’s cavalry was made through the interior of Tennessee. In
January, 1865, at Dauphin Island, Alabama, the regiment was assigned
to the Thirteenth Army Corps, in a brigade commanded by General J.
R. Slack. On the 17th of March, from Fort Morgan, it
joined in the march to Mobile, participating in the stirring events
of that campaign, the siege and capture of Spanish Fort and Blakely.
The Twenty-first remained on duty in the vicinity of Mobile until
near the close of the war, when it was moved to Baton Rouge, where,
on the 15th of July, 1865, it was mustered out of the
service.
The Twenty-Second Iowa Infantry
Seven
companies of this regiment were raised in Johnson County and one in
each of the counties of Monroe, Jasper, and Wapello. They went into
camp near Iowa City in August, 1862, and were mustered into the
United States service on the 9th of September. William M.
Stone, who had been major of the Third Infantry, was appointed
colonel; John A. Garrett, lieutenant-colonel; Harvey Graham, major;
and J. B. Atherton, adjutant.
Soon
after organization the regiment was sent by steamer to St. Louis,
and from there to Rolla, where it remained about four months. In
January, 1863, it was made a part of the First Brigade of the First
Division of the Army of Southeast Missouri. Colonel Stone was placed
in command of the First Brigade, which consisted of the
Twenty-first, Twenty-second and Twenty-third Iowa and the Eleventh
Missouri regiments. The Twenty-second was employed in service in
southeast Missouri until toward the last of March, when sent to Join
Grant’s army then starting on the Vicksburg campaign. The First
Brigade was assigned to the Fourteenth Division of the Thirteenth
Army Corps under General John A. McClernand. The corps was moved
down the river below Vicksburg and soon after joined the army in its
march toward the rear of Vicksburg. Under command of Major Atherton
the Twenty-second participated in the Battle of Port Gibson, where
it lost twenty men. This was the regiment’s first battle, and it won
the commendation of General Carr, commanding the division. At the
Battle of Champion’s Hill the Twenty-second was among the regiments
held in reserve and was not engaged in the conflict, but joined in
the pursuit and captured many prisoners. The next day it was
slightly engaged at the Battle of Black River Bridge, where two of
its number were wounded, and from there it marched with the army to
the rear of Vicksburg, where General Pemberton’s army was driven
into the defensive works of the city. In the after noon of the 19th
of May and attack was made on the enemy’s works, which proved too
strong to be carried by assault. General Grant’s army had now been
marching and fighting for twenty-five days, victorious in every
battle. General Johnston was gathering a large army in his rear for
the avowed purpose of raising the siege and relieving Pemberton.
Under these circumstances General Grant determined to risk a general
assault in the hope of being able to carry the works and take
possession of the city. He could not then know how nature and art
had combined to make it the stronghold of the Southern Confederacy.
The high bluffs commanding the river front made it impregnable from
that side, defended as they were by massive fortifications mounting
heavy artillery. In the rear, where it was now assailed, the best
engineering skill of the Confederacy had been employed to strengthen
the natural defense. The steep ridges were parapets and the deep
ravines were natural ditches, covered with a tangled growth of
vines, cane, brush and trees, through or over which no army could
advance in lines. There were detached fortifications connected by
rifle pits on all commanding points. The whole was manned and
defended by an army of veteran soldiers equal to the best in the
service on either side. IT was against such combined strength that
the western Union soldiers were to be led. The assault was ordered
to begin all along the line at ten o’clock on the morning of May
22d. In order that all should move promptly at the appointed time,
the watch of each corps commander was set by that of General Grant.
Early in the morning every piece of artillery in position, with the
great guns of the fleet on the river opened fire on the enemy’s
works. For three hours the earth rumbled beneath the thunder of
cannon. The air was filled with the missiles of destruction and the
explosion of shells and caissons. Many of the enemy’s guns were
silenced and breaches were made in some of the works. Sharpshooters
kept up a continuous fire at the enemy’s gunners, compelling the
garrison to keep behind the defenses. Suddenly every gun became
silent and the bugles sounded the charge as the hour of ten arrived.
Out of the smoke emerged the head of every assaulting column, with
fixed bayonets they moved forward without firing a gun. Pressing on
over the obstructions, disordered by the difficult advance, they
came within range of the enemy’s musketry. Suddenly the Confederates
arose in the trenches and poured volley after volley at short range
into our ranks. Hundreds went down beneath the deadly fire, dead and
dying, but their comrades pressed on to share the same fate in a mad
effort to carry the works. It could not be done. No troops could
stand before the deadly fire. Thrown into disorder they sought the
nearest shelter, holding their position by musketry fire.
McClernand’s corps won a slight temporary success. Charging on Fort
Beauregard the Twenty-second Iowa led the column, followed by the
Twenty-first Iowa and the Eleventh Wisconsin, with General Lawler in
command to charge was given the Twenty-second was sheltered behind a
ridge. Advancing rapidly to the assault, it was met by a deadly
fire, which killed and wounded many. Colonel Stone was disabled and
Lieutenant-Colonel Graham took command. Rallying about sixty around
him, they pressed forward, reached the fort and planted the colors
on the rampart. Sergeant Joseph E. Griffith and several others
scaled the walls, entered the effort, and captured some prisoners.
But assailed by a deadly fire all were killed or captured except
Sergeant Griffith and David Trine, who managed to escape.
Lieutenant-Colonel Graham and several of his men were captured in
the ditch at the fort. The entire assault was most gallantly made on
all parts of the bloody field and the defeat did not shake the
confidence of the army or its commander in final success. In this
assault Iowa furnished sixteen regiments of infantry and two
batteries.
The
regiments engaged were the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth,
Twelfth, Sixteenth, Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Thirtieth,
Thirty-first and Thirty-fifth. The First and Second Batteries were
also in the engagement doing excellent service. In his report of the
Vicksburg campaign General Grant said:
“No
troops succeeded in entering any of the enemy’s works with the
exception of Sergeant Griffith of the Twenty-second Iowa Volunteers
and some eleven privates of the same regiment; of these none
returned except the sergeant and one man.”
Those who participated with Griffith
in this most heroic achievement of that day’s terrible battle were
Alvin and Hezekiah Drummond, Ezra L. Anderson, Richard Arthur and
William Griffin, who were killed in the fort, and John Robb, M. L.
Clemmons, W. H. Needham, Hugh Sinclair, N. C. Messenger, Allen Cloud
and David Jordan, who were taken prisoners. Griffith and David Trine
alone escaped to our lines. The regiment lost one hundred sixty-four
killed, wounded and captured in the assault. Finding the defenses of
the city to strong to be taken by assault the army now settled down
to the he siege. Week by week General Grant pushed his lines of
intrenchments nearer to the doomed city. The men toiled patiently
early and late through the hot days and sultry nights, thoroughly
imbued with the indomitable determination of the commanding general.
Threatened in the rear by General Johnston’s army, Sherman was sent
to hold him in check while the siege was crowded with the greatest
energy. More Iowa regiments and batteries were sent to strengthen
the army until thirty were with Grant and Sherman before the end of
the campaign. Finally, on the 3d of July, the endurance of the
Confederate army reached its limit. All hope of assistance of escape
was abandoned and General Pemberton showed a white flag and proposed
to negotiate for terms of surrender. On the next day his entire army
of 27,000 men, together with artillery, arms and munitions of war,
for an army of 60,000, steamboats, locomotives, vast amount of
cotton and other property and the strongest fortified city o the
continent, were surrendered to General Grant. This was by far the
most brilliant campaign of the war. From the time Grant’s army
landed below Vicksburg he had won five battles, killed and wounded
10,000 of the enemy taken 37,000 prisoners and opened the
Mississippi River. It was the most crushing and ruinous blow ever
dealt to the Confederacy until the surrender of General Lee at
Appomattox. The great Battle of Gettysburg, which had just been
fought to save Washington and Philadelphia, so completely absorbed
the attention of the East, that the magnitude of the far greater
victory at Vicksburg was not immediately realized by the country.
Lee had been defeated at the end of a three days’ battle and turned
back for the invasion of the North. The losses on each side were
about equal Lee made and orderly retreat; and Meade, slowly
following, was unable to inflict any serious damage upon the
retiring army. At Vicksburg the enemy lost everything, the entire
army, city, arms, equipment and the blockade of the river.
Gettysburg on our part was a strictly defensive battle, which left
Lee’s army able to continue the war nearly two years. Vicksburg
annihilated all power of that army for further warfare. No State in
the Union made greater contributions of gallant soldiers to win this
unparalleled victory than Iowa. NO soldiers in that victorious army
won more undying fame than the fourteen who carried muskets in an
Iowa regiment and alone were able to scale the enemy’s works on the
day of the desperate assault.
After the
surrender, the Twenty-second Iowa joined the army operating against
Jackson, and participated in the arduous labors of that campaign. In
August the regiment was sent to Carrollton, where it remained in
camp until September, when it joined the army sent west on the Bayou
Teche expedition, which operated in western Louisiana until the
middle of November, when it returned to Algiers. From there it was
sent to Texas. Early in January, 1864, the regiment, under command
of Lieutenant-Colonel Graham, was sent by steamer to Indianola,
where it went into winter quarters with the First Brigade, now under
command of General Fitz-Henry Warren. Here, under the strict
discipline of that accomplished officer, the brigade was brought up
to a high standard of efficiency. The twenty-second lost six men
here, captured while on duty. Colonel Stone had resigned in August,
1863, and Lieutenant-Colonel Graham was promoted to colonel May 4,
1864. Early in July the regiment was assigned to the Second Brigade
of the Second Division of the Nineteenth Corps, commanded by General
Emory, and sent by ocean steamer to Fortress Monroe, and joined
there the army under General Butler, then operating on the James
River. About the middle of August it was sent to General Sheridan’s
army in the Shenandoah Valley. On the 19th of September
was fought the Battle of Winchester. The Twenty-second was in
General Molineaux’s Brigade and was stationed on the left of the
Nineteenth Corps, in the thickest of the fight. The position was as
much exposed to the terrible fire of the enemy as any on the field.
The Twenty-second held this position firmly until Dwight’s Division
on the left gave way, when it was forced to fall back, but soon
rallied and joined in a charge with great enthusiasm. It lost in the
battle in killed wounded and missing one hundred nine men. Among the
slain were Captains D. J. Davis and R. D. Parks, Lieutenant J. A.
Boarts and Sergeant-Major George A. Remley. On the 20th
the regiment joined in the pursuit of the retreating foe to the
vicinity of Strasburg, where the army went into camp. The enemy took
up a strong position at Fisher’s Hill near by. On the 22d, General
Sheridan led his army against the Confederates and fought the Battle
of Fisher’s Hill, where he won another victory over General Early.
The Twenty-second was but slightly engaged, losing but four men.
Early in October the army went into fortified encampment on Cedar
Creek, where on the 14th the last battle of that
brilliant campaign was fought. The Iowa regiments in Sheridan’s army
took a prominent part in this engagement and hared in the honor of
the great victory. The loss of the Twenty-second Regiment in this
battle was seventy-seven men. Early in January, 1865, the regiment
was ordered to Savannah to perform garrison duty for a month. In
April the brigade was reorganized under the command of Colonel
Harvey Graham, of the Twenty-second Iowa. Toward the last of July it
returned to Iowa having traveled more than 13,000 miles since
entering service, and on the 3d of August it was disbanded at
Davenport, numbering at the time four hundred thirty-six men.
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