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Chapter XXII
The Twenty-seventh Iowa Infantry
This regiment was made up of
companies recruited largely in the counties of Allamakee, Clayton,
Delaware, Floyd, Buchanan, Mitchell and Chickasaw. The
Twenty-seventh went into camp at Dubuque in August, 1862, and was
there organized by the appointment of the following officers:
Colonel James I. Gilbert, Lieutenant-Colonel Jed Lake, Major George
W. Howard and Adjutant C. A. Comstock. Soon after the regiment
entered the service it was ordered to Minnesota to assist in
protecting the frontier from the terrible massacre there inaugurated
by the Sioux Indians. General Pope was in command of that
department. Colonel Gilbert was sent with his regiment to Fort
Snelling, and was soon after sent, with six companies, one hundred
twenty-five miles northwest to Mille Lac to superintend the payment
of an annuity to a tribe of Indians. He returned to St. Paul on the
4th of November and learned that Major Howard with the
four companies left at Fort Snelling had, during his absence been
sent to Cairo, Illinois, where he was ordered to join him. The
united command was soon after sent down the river to Memphis to join
General Sherman’s army.
Not long after the army moved into
central Mississippi to operate against Vicksburg. The Twenty-seventh
regiment was sent to the Tallahatchee River to guard the Mississippi
Central Railway between that stream and Waterford. Parties of
Confederate cavalry were hovering near the railroad and on the 20th
of December one of them made a dash on the regimental hospital,
captured eleven men of the Twenty-seventh, hurried off some fifteen
miles and paroled them. The surrender of Holly Springs with its army
stores, by Colonel Murphy, compelled the abandonment of the
expedition against Vicksburg and the regiment was sent to Jackson,
Tennessee. Soon after it joined General Lawler’s command to
reinforce General Sullivan’s army beyond Lexington, making a hard
march the first week in January amid mud and cold winds, camping at
night in freezing weather without shelter. Early in the morning
without breakfast and shivering with cold the army started in
pursuit of the retreating enemy, but the Confederates escaped, and
our troops returned toward Jackson. The weather was very severe, the
army was without tents and many of the men had no blankets. To add
to the suffering the command was without rations and had to subsist
on corn meal obtained from the farmers along the line of march. The
hardships and suffering of this midwinter march brought to the
regiment an amount of sickness and death that surpassed its losses
in any battle in which it was engaged. Each company buried many
members and several officers were compelled to resign to escape a
similar fate. The winter was a gloomy one, almost every day of which
was saddened by the death of a comrade.
The second campaign under General
Grant against Vicksburg was now under way and many Iowa regiments
were sharing in the marches, battles and victories which marked its
onward progress. Others were performing important but less brilliant
service in guarding lines of communication, and holding captured
territory wrested from the enemy. Among these was the
Twenty-seventh, now posted in detachments at points on the railroad
in the vicinity of Jackson, where Colonel Gilbert was in command of
the post. Early in June the regiment was sent to Moscow where it
remained for two months guarding railroads and posts, occasionally
having a brush with guerrilla bands to vary the monotony of camp
life. As the news of great battles and victories in other parts of
the country reached them, the officers and men longed for the time
when they might share in the excitement and glory of more active
service in the field. On the 20th of August, 1863,
marching orders came, the regiment broke camp and passed through
Memphis on the way to join General Steele’s army then moving on
Little Rock, Arkansas, and participated in that campaign and the
capture of the city, remaining near that place about two months on
guard and picket duty, Colonel Gilbert being most of the time in
command of the brigade. In November it moved to Memphis, remaining
there until near the end of January, 1864. Although the
Twenty-seventh did not take an active part in any battle during the
year 1863 its losses from other causes were large; from death,
discharge and transfer to invalid corps it lost one hundred
eighty-eight men. When it left Memphis there were two hundred
seventy less officers and men on its rolls than when it entered the
service. Of these, sixty-four had died during the year 1863, and one
hundred eight had been discharged for disability.
On the 26th of January,
1864, the regiment embarked on transports and moved down the river
to Vicksburg, where it became a part of a brigade commanded by
Colonel W. T. Shaw of Iowa, made up with one exception of Iowa
regiments. Soon after it was sent to join General Banks’ Red River
expedition. The regiment participated in many of the skirmishes and
general engagements of that disastrous campaign. In the Battle of
Pleasant Hill, where Shaw’s brigade stood like a rock against the
terrible onslaughts of the enemy and rolled back the tide of
disaster that threatened to stampede the army, the Twenty-seventh
regiment was long and heavily engaged. It lost four killed, seventy
wounded and fourteen captured. Among the wounded were Colonel
Gilbert, Captain J. M. Holbrook and Lieutenants Brush, Smith and
Granger. In the retreat from Grand Ecore the Twenty-seventh was one
of the regiments under General Smith which protected the rear of the
army and had several engagements with the enemy. Near Alexandria
there were several skirmishes before the city was evacuated and
burned on the 13th of May. A severe battle was fought at
Yellow Bayou, where the Confederates were defeated with heavy loss.
The Twenty-seventh Iowa had four men killed and thirteen wounded.
Soon after it moved to the mouth of Red River and was transported by
steamer to Vicksburg and ten days later was in the expedition under
General A. J. Smith which was sent to dislodge General Marmaduke,
who was blockading the Mississippi at Greenville. On the 16th
of June after a sharp engagement the enemy was defeated and the
blockade raised. In the latter part of June the Twenty-seventh took
part in the expedition against Tupelo and shared the hard marches
and skirmishes of the campaign. The Battle of Tupelo began at six
o’clock on the morning of July14th, lasting until noon, when the
enemy was defeated with very heavy loss. Our regiment was here
engaged and had one man killed and twenty-five wounded. It was also
in the Oxford expedition under General Smith and returned to Memphis
the latter part of August. The next service was under General
Rosecrans in Missouri, who made a series of rapid marches in
pursuits of Price into Arkansas, traveling nearly seven hundred
miles in forty-seven days but accomplishing nothing of importance.
Early in December General Smith’s forces were sent to Nashville to
reinforce the army under General Thomas operating against Hood’s
army. In the Battle of Nashville, fought on the 15th and
16th of December, where General Thomas won a great
victory, Colonel Gilbert had command of a brigade in which were the
Twenty-seventh and Thirty-second Iowa regiments, commanded
respectively by Lieutenant-Colonel Jed Lake and Lieutenant-Colonel
G. A. Eberhart. This brigade did excellent service in the engagement
and joined in the pursuit of the defeated Confederates. Colonel
Gilbert was soon after promoted to Brigadier-General. During the
year 1864 many changes had taken place in the Twenty-seventh
regiment; several officers had resigned, and the losses from death,
discharges and transfers had been about eighty. On the other hand
many recruits had been secured, so that there were about eight
hundred names on the roll. In February the regiment was sent down
the river to the Gulf of Mexico and to Dauphin Island, near Mobile
Bay, and soon after joined General Canby’s army in a movement
against Mobile. While on the march, to open communication with
General Steele, General Gilbert had a narrow escape from death by a
torpedo buried in the road which was exploded by his horse walking
over it. After joining General Steele’s army the Twenty-seventh
regiment did good service during the parallels by night, continually
under fire. On the 9th of April under Major Howard it
joined in the assault which resulted in the surrender of the fort
and garrison. General Gilbert’s brigade captured six hundred
prisoners and eight pieces of artillery. Soon after this victory the
brigade joined the Sixteenth Corps marching upon Montgomery, where
it remained more than two months. On the 16th of July,
1865, the Twenty-seventh regiment began the journey home by way of
Selma, Jackson and Vicksburg and up the river by steamer to Clinton,
where it was mustered out on the 8th of August. General
Gilbert was brevetted Major-General, serving until he close of the
war. Colonel Lake, in his farewell address to the regiment as it was
disbanded, states that it had traveled since it entered the service
a distance of more than 12,000 miles.
The Twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry
This
regiment was composed of Company A of Benton County, Company B of
Iowa and Tama counties, Companies C and H of Poweshiek County,
Company D of Benton County, Company E. of Johnson County, Company F
of Tama County, Company G, Iowa County; Company I, Iowa County,
Company K, Jasper County. It was organized in the autumn of 1862
with the following officers: Colonel William E. Miller,
Lieutenant-Colonel John Connell, Major H. B. Lynch, Adjutant J. E.
Pritchard. It went into camp at Iowa City, where several weeks were
spent drilling. On the 10th of October the regiment was
mustered into the United States service, numbering nine hundred
fifty-six men. The regiment reached Helena, Arkansas, on the 20th
of November, three hundred men under Major Lynch being sent to join
General Hovey’s command in Mississippi, then marching to reinforce
General Grant’s army operating against Vicksburg. The detachment was
absent nearly two weeks, marching most of the time, losing one man
killed by guerillas The men at Helena suffered greatly from
sickness. The smallpox broke out in the army and many died before it
was subdued.
On the 11th of January,
1863, the regiment was sent with General Gorman’s expedition up the
White River by steamer to Duvall’s Bluff. Heavy storms of rain, wind
and snow drenched the men’s clothing, then froze, causing great
suffering. The expedition accomplished nothing; many soldiers died
from the effects of exposure and hardships encountered. Rude winter
quarters were now built in which the men endured a gloomy existence
with almost every form of discomfort imaginable. Fevers seized them,
hospitals were crowded with the sick and dying, every day muffled
drums were beating funeral marches. The troops were unpaid, their
clothing was in rags, their shoes worn out, misery, homesickness and
despair prevailed through out the desolate camp. In February the
well men of the regiment were sent with General Washburn’s command
to remove the obstructions from Yazoo Pass, where they worked in the
water for a week clearing the channel for the passage of steamers.
Soon after the return to camp Colonel Miller resigned and was
succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Connell. On the 11th of
April the regiment began the campaign that resulted in the capture
of Vicksburg. IT was in a brigade with the Twenty-fourth Iowa, an
Indiana and an Ohio regiment commanded by Colonel Slack. At the
Battle of Port Gibson, for the first time under fire, it fought with
the coolness and courage that had characterized all of the Iowa
regiments. The loss was one killed and sixteen wounded. From this
time until the 16th of May marching and skirmishing
composed the daily movements of the army. At the Battle of
Champion’s Hill the regiment won the commendation of its superior
officers and in his report General Hovey says:
“Of the Twenty-fourth and
Twenty-eighth Iowa, in what language shall I speak! Scarcely more
than six months in the service and yet no troops ever showed more
bravery or fought with great valor. Of them and their commanders the
State of Iowa may well be proud.”
In this battle the Twenty-eighth
had twenty-two men killed, sixty-five wounded and thirteen taken
prisoners. Four companies came out of the fight without a
commissioned officer. Captain B. F. Kirby and Lieutenant J. J. Legan
were killed, Captain A. J. Staley was captured and Lieutenant John
Buchanan was wounded. The regiment served through the siege of
Vicksburg, having several killed and wounded. On the day of the
surrender it was sent to join the army operating against Jackson
with numbers now reduced by sickness, wounds and death to two
hundred fifty men. Major Lynch had resigned on account of ill health
and Captain John Meyer had been promoted to the vacancy. In August
the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Gulf and went
into camp at Carrollton, where it remained a month, the men meantime
gaining in health and strength. In September the Twenty-eighth
joined General Franklin’s army which mad an expedition into
southwestern Louisiana to Brashier City, Vermillionville and
Opelousas. Upon retiring it was followed by the enemy and several
slight engagements took place. Nothing was accomplished by this
expedition which cost our army many valuable lives. The regiment
returned to New Orleans late in December and went into camp at
Madisonville near the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain. Here was
found a healthful location and strengthened by recruits and the
return of many from the hospitals early in March the regiment went
to Brashier on the way to join General Bank’s Red River expedition.
Marching up Bayou Teche, through Opelousas and Washington to
Alexandria, it united with General A. J. Smith’s command. The army
left Alexandria late in March and began a slow movement toward
Shreveport. When the enemy was encountered near Mansfield, our
regiment was many miles in the rear. With other troops it hurried to
reenforce those engaged and was soon in battle line. When the
advance of our army was checked and soon after overwhelmed by
superior numbers in a crushing defeat, Colonel Connell was severely
wounded and captured and the regiment lost eighty officers and men,
killed and wounded and prisoners. The next day at the Battle of
Pleasant Hill, where several of the Iowa regiments in the brigades
of Colonels Shaw and Hill made a most heroic stand and saved the
army from destruction, the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-eighth were not
engaged, as they had been sent toward Grand Ecore to guard the
trains, General Banks having begun his retreat o the day previous.
Notwithstanding the repulse of the Confederate attacks on our army
at Pleasant Hill, our wounded were left on the field and the retreat
was continued to Grand Ecore. Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson and Major
Meyer were absent at this time securing recruits and after the
capture of Colonel Connell the command of the regiment devolved upon
Captain Thomas Diller of Company G. The army halted some time at
Grand Ecore, where Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson joined his regiment
with a number of recruits. In June it was at Carrollton, where
Colonel Connell, who had lost an arm, had been exchanged and was
able to again take command.
On the 22d of July the regiment
embarked on a steamer for Virginia, reaching Alexandria on the 2d of
August. In camp, not far from the National Capital, it found the
Twenty-second and Twenty-fourth Iowa regiments and with them was
soon sent to join General Sheridan’s army then about to open the
brilliant campaign which cleared the Shenandoah Valley of
Confederate armies. In the Battle of Winchester the Twenty-eighth
participated, doing gallant service and bringing additional honors
to Iowa soldiers. This was the first battle in Virginia in which
Iowa regiments were engaged and, side by side with the veterans of
the eastern armies, they won additional fame for their State. No
regiments engaged in this desperate conflict contributed more toward
the brilliant victory won on this field than the tree from Iowa. The
Twenty-eighth lost nearly ninety men in killed and wounded. Captain
John E. Palmer was slain and Captain Scott Houseworth mortally
wounded. Adjutant J. G. Strong, Captains J. B. Wilson and J. W. Carr
and Lieutenants C. E. Haverly, D. S. Dean, J. C. Summers and M.
O’Hair were among the wounded. The regiment joined in the pursuit
and on the 22d took part in the Battle of Fisher’s Hill where
Sheridan won his second victory over General Early’s army. It
captured six guns and many prisoners here, and lost but four men.
There was little more fighting until the 18th of October,
when General Early made the unexpected assault at Cedar Creek, where
the Twenty-eighth lost nearly one hundred men. Ingersoll says of the
Twenty-eighth in this battle:
“It was engaged early and late
in the severe contests. By failure of a Maine regiment to connect on
its right, it was left in an exposed position, but held it manfully
until driven back by overwhelming numbers. Here it lost nearly fifty
men killed and wounded. Falling back half a mile the regiment was
rallied and again offered a stout resistance to the enemy. Here
Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson was severely wounded and Captain
Reimenschneider was slain. Major John Meyer, who led the regiment
through the rest of the battle with great skill and courage,
declares in his official report that no officers or soldiers ever
fought better than those of his command on the field of Cedar Creek.
As they had been among the last to retire, so they were among the
first to press forward in the charge and pursuit when the tide of
battle had turned.”
The regiment remained in the
vicinity of Cedar Creek, Martinsburg and Harper’s Ferry the
remainder of the year and was transferred to the brigade of General
Molineaux to which the Twenty-second Iowa had for many months been
attached. In January, 1865, the Twenty-eighth was sent by water to
Savannah, Georgia, and for several weeks formed a part of the
garrison of that city. In March it was sent to Newbern, North
Carolina, to re-enforce the army under General Schofield. After the
surrender of General Johnston it returned to Savannah and on the
last day of July was mustered out of the service. Owing to the loss
of his arm Colonel Connell relinquished command of his regiment, and
on the 20th of March had been honorably discharged.
Wilson was commissioned colonel on the 15th of June,
1865. The regiment reached Davenport in August, where it received a
cordial welcome and was disbanded. The Twenty-eighth had done
service in nearly every State of the Confederacy and everywhere
nobly performed the duties that will for all time reflect the
highest honors upon the gallant men who marched and fought under its
flag.
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