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Chapter XVIII
Pictures included in this chapter are: Battle Field of Prairie
Grove,
Major General Francis J. Herron, Major Wm. B. Thompson
The Nineteenth Iowa Infantry
The opening days
of July, 1862, brought a feeling of despair to thousands of
patriotic people in the North. The great Union Army of the Potomac
organized, equipped and drilled under the personal supervision of
General George B. McClellan, from which so much had been expected,
after seven days of fierce battles near Richmond had been defeated,
and by direction of its commander had retreated to the protection of
the gunboats. President Lincoln, however, undismayed by the great
disaster, promptly issued a call on the 2d of July for 300, 000 more
volunteers to reinforce the ranks of the Union armies. Under this
proclamation Iowa raised twenty-two additional regiments. The first
of these was the Nineteenth, which was composed of companies raised
in the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Jefferson, Henry, Louisa and
Washington. The regiment numbered nine hundred eighty-two officers
and privates, the first field officers being Colonel Benjamin Crabb,
Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel McFarland, Major Daniel Kent. The
Nineteenth went into camp at Keokuk in August, where it remained
about two weeks. Arriving at St. Louis on the 4th of
September it was soon after attached to a brigade commanded by
General F. J. Herron, which was sent to Springfield. About the
middle of October the Army of the Frontier was organized, and the
Nineteenth was attached to the Third Division under the same
General. On the 17th began a campaign of hard marching,
passing the battle-fields of Pea Ridge and White River, a distance
of one hundred miles, over a rough mountain region, in three days
and nights. Returning to Camp Curtis, twelve miles south of
Springfield, the regiment enjoyed a rest of two weeks, when it was
ordered to join the army of General Blunt just before
The Battle of Prairie Grove
General J. G. Blunt, in command of
the Army of the Frontier, had recently defeated a Confederate army
under Marmaduke at Cane Hill in Arkansas and was camped near the
battle-field. In the meantime Marmaduke had effected a junction with
a large army under General Hindman and the combined forces turned
back, making a rapid march to overwhelm the Union army. Blunt called
upon Herron to come to his aid. Herron started on the morning of
December 3 with his two divisions, and moving by forced marches
reached Elkhorn on the evening of the 5th. From there he
sent a large part of his cavalry, including the First Iowa, to
General Blunt’s assistance, while the infantry made a night march
over the mountains to within fifteen miles of the battle-field. In
the meantime General Hindman, with his large army, had taken a
position between the two Union armies to prevent their junction. The
battle began on the 5th, when General Blunt’s pickets
were attacked by a large force of the enemy’s cavalry, which was
repulsed. The next morning, largely reinforced, the enemy renewed
the attack and drove the pickets several miles. General Herron was
hastening forward to reach Cane Hill and had sent two more regiments
of cavalry to join Blunt. These regiments, the Seventh Missouri and
Fifth Arkansas, soon encountered a greatly superior force under
Marmaduke and were driven back in confusion. Upon a further advance
General Herron found the main body of the Confederate army drawn up
on a high ridge, covered with timber and underbrush, beyond Illinois
River. The approach must be made over an open prairie of meadows and
corn fields. General Herron formed his line of battle with the
Second Division on the right and the Third on the left. The
Ninety-fourth Illinois Infantry and a section of a Missouri battery
crossed the river and opened fire on the enemy, but were soon
compelled to retire before a heavy fire of artillery concentrated on
them by the Confederates. Opening a road through the woods half a
mile away to divert attention of the enemy and draw their fire of
eighteen pieces of artillery, threw his infantry across the ford and
deployed into line on the south side of the river. The artillery
opened on both sides of the river. The artillery opened on both
sides with increased energy and for an hour the steady roar of
cannon continued. Many of the enemy’s batteries were disabled and
General Herron firmly holding his ground determined to assault the
confederate lines on the protected ridge, trusting that General
Blunt, hearing the roar of artillery, would hasten to his aid. He
realized the danger that confronted his little army facing a foe
whose numbers exceeded his own more than three to one. With a river
in his rear, on an open plain, he kept the enemy in check by the
skillful handling of his artillery which poured a constant storm of
missiles into the Confederate lines. At length a strong force was
seen moving from the ridge to charge on our left. Colonel Orm’s
Brigade was sent to was sent to meet the assault, while the First
Brigade, under Colonel Bertram, charge directly upon the enemy’s
right center. The batteries supported by the Nineteenth and
Twentieth Wisconsin advanced over the open ground, hurling shell
and canister into the woods in front. Their ranks were thinned by a
battery on the hill and a continuous fire of musketry as they moved
steadily on to the assault. When within a hundred yards of the hill
the artillery halted, and with fixed bayonets the two regiments
captured the guns and moved steadily on to the assault. When within
a hundred yards of the hill the artillery halted, and with fixed
bayonets the two regiments charged up the hill, drove the support
from the battery, captured the guns and moved on. Colonel McFarland,
who was leading the Nineteenth Iowa in this desperate charge, was
pierced through the heart while cheering his men to deeds of valor,
his manly form being a conspicuous mark for the storm of bullets
poured into the ranks. Overwhelmed by superior numbers the gallant
brigade was finally driven back with heavy loss. The enemy followed,
charging en masse on our artillery which met them with a terrific
fire, but on they came with reckless daring to within one hundred
yards of the guns when they received a fire so terrible that they
were hurled back, shattered, broken and dismayed. The batteries that
did such heroic service and saved the day were those of Backof,
Foust and Boeries. Another gallant charge was now made by the
Twenty0sixth Indiana and the Thirty-seventh Illinois, led by Colonel
Houston, which captured a battery, but was finally driven back with
heavy loss. While the little Union army was still holding its ground
by magnificent charges against vastly superior numbers, and was
anxiously listening and watching for the coming of General Blunt, at
three o’clock came the joyful sound in the distance of the roar of
cannon on the extreme right as his advance batteries hastily
unlimbered and opened on the enemy.
Early on the morning of the 7th
General Blunt discovered that a large portion of the Confederate
army had disappeared from the field, and surmising that it had gone
to intercept Herron’s approach, he instantly put his army in motion
for the battle-field. Hurrying forward by forced march in a few
hours he heard the distant roar of cannon which told the story of
Herron’s peril. On double-quick his army made the last five miles in
an hour, and with loud cheers appeared on the enemy’s left. His
artillery soon opened on the right to the great relief of Herron’s
sorely pressed regiments. The battle was now waged with great fury
all along the line. Colonel Dye of Iowa, commanding a brigade of the
Second Division, in which was the Twentieth Iowa, led by
Lieutenant-Colonel Leake, made a vigorous charge on the enemy’s
lines.(1)
Charges and counter-charges were continued, while the destructive
fire of artillery thinned the ranks on either side until darkness
put an end to the desperate conflict. Now despairing of victory
General Hindman, under cover of night, began his stealthy retreat.
Muffling the sound of his artillery and wagons by wrapping the tires
with blankets, he silently moved his defeated army in the direction
of Van Buren, and when morning dawned the main portion of his army
was many miles from the battle-field in rapid retreat. The
Confederates’ loss in this bloody battle was reported by General
Blunt to be over, 2,000, while that of the Union army in killed and
wounded and missing was 1,143, more than nine hundred being in
General Herron’s command. When the greatly superior strength of the
Confederate army is considered, this victory must be regarded as one
of the most remarkable of the war.(2)
The Nineteenth Iowa remained in the
vicinity of the battle-field until the close of the year. For
several months the regiment was employed in southwestern Missouri,
marching to various places threatened by the enemy, guarding trains
and property. In May it was for a time at Salem, attached to the
command of General Thomas Ewing. Early in June it was sent to
reinforce General Grant’s army before Vicksburg. Here it remained,
participating in the various duties devolving upon the army of
investment, until the surrender of that stronghold. On the 4th
of July the regiment was a part of the conquering army that marched
triumphantly into the captured city of Vicksburg. A week later it
was sent with General Herron on an expedition to Yazoo City,
participating in the hard marches of that midsummer campaign,
returning to Vicksburg on the 21st of July. The regiment
was next sent with the army that moved by transports down the river
to Port Hudson, where it suffered greatly from sickness, of which
many died. In August the command continued down the river to
Carrollton, near New Orleans, and camped in a beautiful grove on dry
and healthy ground, where for three weeks the men regained spirits
and vigor. Early in September General Herron was sent with his
command up the river to disperse parties of the enemy who were
attempting to blockade the Mississippi near the mouth of Red River.
The army first landed at Morganza and made a fortified camp, sending
out scouting parties in various directions. Constant skirmishes were
taking place between small forces of the two armies.
On the 12th of September
Lieutenant-Colonel Leake of the Twentieth, was sent seven miles to
Stirling Farm in command had frequent skirmishes with the enemy. On
the 29th a large force suddenly came upon his command,
making a fierce attack in front, flank and rear. This attack was met
with a sharp fire. But soon rallying in vastly superior numbers the
enemy surrounded the small Union force and opened a deadly fire at
close quarters. Seeing no hope of escape, to avoid the useless
sacrifice of the lives of his brave soldiers, Colonel Leake at last
surrendered. Ten members of the Nineteenth were killed and
twenty-four wounded in the fight.(3)
The prisoners were taken to Texas,
and it was nearly a year before they were exchanged. The remainder
of the regiment was now in command of Captain William Allen. About
two-thirds of the members had fortunately been absent owing to
sickness, and the captured numbered but two hundred thirty-one, two
of whom were mortally wounded. The enemy lost fifty killed and many
wounded. The next service of the Nineteenth was under General Banks
in an expedition into Texas. At Brownsville it formed a part of the
garrison under command of Colonel Dye, where it remained until July,
1864. Returning to New Orleans on the 7th of August one
hundred eighty of those captured at Stirling Farm, who had been
exchanged, joined the regiment. IT was a joyful meeting of comrades
long separated. Many had died during the imprisonment, and Captain
William Adams died from its effects soon after reaching New Orleans.
On the 14th of August
the regiment embarked for Pensacola, Florida, where it remained
scouting in the adjacent country until the 6th of December, when it
was sent to Fort Gaines in Alabama, and from there into Mississippi,
where it had frequent skirmishes with the enemy. In January, 1865,
the Nineteenth was back at Fort Gaines, and took a conspicuous part
in the brilliant campaign of marches, siege and engagements which
resulted in the capture of Mobile. The regiment was in the assault
on the Spanish Fort where the Eighth Iowa covered itself with glory.
In this battle the Nineteenth lost four killed and seventeen
wounded. The fall of Mobile was substantially the last battle of the
war and in July the Nineteenth Iowa was there mustered out of
service. Returning to Davenport it was disbanded the last of the
month, being then under command of Colonel John Bruce.
The Twentieth Iowa Infantry
This was one of the first regiments raised in Iowa under the call
for 300,000 volunteers issued in July, 1862, and was formed of ten
companies raised in Scott and Linn, each of these counties
furnishing five companies. They were rendezvoused at Clinton, where
the organization of the regiment numbering nine hundred two men, was
completed on the 20th of August. Captain William McE.
Dye, who had served in the regular army, was commissioned colonel;
J. B. Leake, lieutenant-colonel; William G. Thompson, major; C. S.
Lake, adjutant. Leake and Thompson had been prominent members of the
Legislature. A week after organization the regiment went to Camp
Herron at Davenport, where it remained a few days before embarking
for the seat of war. On the 8th of September arriving at
St. Louis it remained in Benton Barracks about a week, when it was
sent to Springfield under a command of Lieutenant-Colonel Leake,
Colonel Dye being in command of a brigade consisting of the
Twentieth Iowa, Thirty-seventh Illinois, First Iowa Cavalry and a
section of the First Missouri Light Artillery. This brigade was
assigned to the division under command of General Totten and for two
months was kept moving through the rough country of southwest
Missouri and western Arkansas.
During the months of October and
November the Twentieth marched more than five hundred miles over bad
roads, encountering cold rains, mud and swollen streams, which had
to be forded. The baggage trains and artillery were often mired in
the water-soaked roads, while the soldiers in drenching rains,
shivering in their wet clothing, waited for them for hours
unsheltered. The sufferings were so great that hundreds were
prostrated by sickness until the hospitals were overflowing and
deaths were frequent. At no time during the entire term of service
did the Twentieth regiment endure more wretched discomfort than
during these first tow months of hard marching unrelieved by any of
the exhilaration of a conflict with the enemy. To the common
soldiers it seemed like a useless, fruitless and even a cruel
campaign as they could see no results. But General Curtis, who
commanded the department and was more competent to judge of its
effects, held a different opinion. Hard marches sometimes
accomplished more far-reaching results in a comprehensive campaign
than a brilliant battle. Toward the last of November the Second
Division, in which was the Twentieth regiment, was back in Camp Lyon
near Springfield, where it remained about two weeks. On the evening
of December 3d a courier arrived from General Blunt calling for
reinforcements as he was about to be attacked by a largely superior
army. Early the next morning the Second Division was on the road and
made the march of one hundred ten miles in three days, reaching the
field just in time to take a glorious part in the Battle of Prairie
Grove. An account of the gallant service of the Twentieth Regiment
has already been given in the description of this battle found in
the history of the Nineteenth Regiment. The loss in that conflict
was eight killed and thirty-nine wounded out of two hundred seventy
who were in the engagement. After the battle the regiment went into
camp on the field, remaining until near the last of December resting
from its arduous services of the past three months.
The defeat of the Confederate army
at Prairie Grove was most beneficial to the Union cause in Missouri,
saving that State from pillage, waste and the horrors which an
invading army inflict upon the loyal people along its line of march.
The army of the Confederates, numbering more than 20,000 at the time
of the battle, was now defeated, demoralized and dispersed over the
southwest in small bands. It was two years before another large army
of Confederates could be mustered in that region north of the
Arkansas line.
The Twentieth Regiment participated
in General Blunt’s capture of Van Buren, where General Hindman’s
army was further dispersed and several steamers and a large amount
of army supplies destroyed. Upon the return of the Union army to
Prairie Grove, General Schofield assumed command and soon after
began a series of hard marches and counter-marches in pursuit of
General Marmaduke’s army among the passes of the Boston Mountains.
Rain, snow and mud brought great discomfort to the troops in this
exhausting campaign. Late in April the Twentieth Regiment was sent
to St. Louis and there divided, performing various duties in and
about the city until the middle of May, when it was sent to Pilot
Knob. In June the Twentieth rejoined the command of General Herron.
Captain Barney, in speaking of the services of the regiment in
Missouri says:
“We had marched on foot since
leaving Rolla on the 10th of September one thousand one
hundred and twenty-seven miles, most of the marches being made
during the winter season, exposed to rains and at times over roads
almost impassable on account of the mud. Much of the time we had
been on half rations and with inadequate supplies of clothing. The
hardships endured on these marches had thinned our ranks more than
would as many hard fought battles. And now, even after the lapse of
time, and more stirring scenes of sieges and battles in which we
took part, our memories still retain vivid recollections of the
lonely wayside graves where we deposited the bodies of our comrades
along the route of those unparalleled marches. They fell not in
battle, but by disease contracted while in the performance of duties
beyond their strength, and under circumstances of peculiar hardship.
We shall never cease to honor their memories for the heroism which
enabled many of them at times while even suffering under disease to
still continue in the discharge of their duties.”
The command was soon ordered
to join Grant’s army, then pushing the siege of Vicksburg from the
rear, reaching its position on the left on the 14th of
June. Here it remained taking an active part in the various duties
required until the surrender of the Confederate army and the
strongly fortified city. On the morning of the 4th of
July our regiment marching at the head of the division entered the
Confederates’ works and was the first on the left to plant the Stars
and Stripes on the battlements of Vicksburg. Soon after the
surrender General Herron’s Division was sent to reinforce the army
of the Gulf, then under the command of General N. P. Banks. The
change from the command of the great General who never lost a battle
to that of one who brought only disasters to armies he led, was most
unwelcome to the Twentieth, taking it from the stirring scene of
brilliant victories to a region of monotonous marches and weary
garrison duty. At Post Hudson the regiment suffered greatly from
sickness and many brave soldiers died during the three weeks’ stay.
Early in September the Twentieth was sent with the expedition to
Morganza, during which Lieutenant-Colonel Leake was sent out with a
small command, including part of the Nineteenth Iowa, to hold an
untenable position. Attacked on all sides by overwhelming numbers
his small force made a heroic attempt to cut its way out, but the
odds were too great and after fifty men had fallen in the struggle
Colonel Leake was compelled to surrender. Colonel Dye being in
command of a brigade, that of the regiment now devolved upon Major
Thompson. Early in November the regiment was stationed on the island
of Brazos Santiago in Texas, and remained among the islands of this
vicinity and on the mainland for a long time, afterward doing
garrison duty on Mustang Island seven months, making trips along the
bay and coast of the mainland in the spirit of adventure. A
detachment of the regiment under Captain Barney captured the “Lizzie
Bacon,” a blockade running vessel, and took her to Mustang Island in
May. Major Thompson resigned on the 18th of May, leaving
Captain M. L. Thompson, of Company C, in command of the regiment. On
the 24th of June, 1864, the regiment was relieved from
there marched to Brownsville, where it remained until the 29th
of July. In August it was sent to Fort Gaines, Alabama, and later
participated in the siege and bombardment of Fort Morgan without
loss. Early in September it was carried by transport to New Orleans
and up the river to Morganza, the old camp near which its commander
was captured by the enemy nearly a year before. Her
Lieutenant-Colonel Leake again joined his regiment, having been
exchanged after a long imprisonment in Texas. The regiment was
employed at various points along the river and in Arkansas until the
8th of January, 1865, when it was moved to Pensacola,
Florida. IT was actively engaged in the Mobile campaign, doing
excellent service in the brilliant achievements of the Union army.
The Twentieth took part in the investment and assault of Blakely and
was in the column that stormed and captured the works in the face of
a terrific fire of artillery and musketry on the 9th of
April. On the 14th the regiment was moved into Mobile,
where it remained until the 8th of July, 1865, when it
was mustered out. It was disbanded at Clinton, Iowa, on the 27th
in the presence of a large gathering of citizens, friends and
relatives who welcomed the return of the gallant and war-worn
soldiers who had survived the ravages of three years of hard
service.
Footnotes
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The loss of
the regiment in this charge was forty-seven men. Major Thompson
was among the wounded.
2. The
Nineteenth Regiment lost forty-five killed and one hundred and
fifty-five wounded in this battle. Among the killed were Lieutenants
L. M. Smith and Thomas Johnston.
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Among the
killed were Lieutenants Silas Kent and J. W. Roberts, while
Captain Andrew Taylor and Lieutenants L. M. Woods and Thomas A.
Robb were wounded
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