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Chapter XXVI
The Thirty-fifth Iowa Infantry
Pictures included in this chapter are: Edmund L. Joy and General
Francis M. Drake
The county of Muscatine raised
eight companies for this regiment and Cedar County furnished the
other two. They went into camp on Muscatine Island late in the fall
of 1862, numbering nine hundred fifty-seven men. Sylvester G. Hill
was appointed colonel; James H. Rothrock, lieutenant-colonel; Henry
O’Connor, major; and Frederick L. Dayton, adjutant. The regiment was
sent to Cairo in November and during the winter performed duty at
Columbus, Kentucky, Mound City and Island Number Ten. In 1863 the
regiment joined the besieging army before Vicksburg. After the fall
of that city it was with the army of observation on the Black River
and moved with the army against Jackson, returning to Vicksburg.
About this time Lieutenant-Colonel Rothrock and Major O’Connor
resigned and were succeeded by Captains W. B. Keeler and Abraham
John. In November the regiment moved to Memphis, and served in
Tennessee during the remainder of the year. In March, 1864, it
joined the army under General A. J. Smith in the Department of the
Gulf, to take part in the Red River campaign. Colonel Hill was now
in command of a brigade in General Mower’s Division and
Lieutenant-Colonel Keeler commanded the regiment.
On the 22d of March the
Thirty-fifth Iowa and the Thirty-third Missouri regiments were sent
to capture a post at Henderson’s Mill, forty miles from Alexandria.
It was a cold stormy day of alternate rain and hail, the mud was
deep and night found the troops a long distance from their
destination. They pushed on, however, through the darkness and rain.
Lieutenant-Colonel Keeler and his regiment making a detour of the
place effected a complete surprise. There was a short, sharp
struggle and the post was captured with three hundred fifty
prisoners, four pieces of artillery, caissons, horses and other
property. The captured guns were named “Keeler’s Battery” in honor
of Lieutenant-Colonel Keeler then in command of the regiment.
The regiment was heavily engaged at
the Battle of Pleasant Hill on the 9th of April and met
with heavy loss. Captain Henry Blank was killed and Lieutenant Dugan
was mortally wounded. It fought with the greatest courage on that
bloody field and retreated with reluctance by order of a demoralized
commander-in-chief after a hard won victory. At the Battle of Yellow
Bayou on the 18th of May the regiment was actively
engaged and lost about forty men in killed and wounded. Here Captain
Burmeister received a fatal wound and young Frederick Hill, the
colonel’s son, a brave and generous youth, fell dead by his father’s
side. Five days after the battle the regiment went into camp at
Vicksburg, having lost on the Red River campaign, nearly one hundred
officers and men in killed and wounded. On the 4th of
June the troops were moved up the river on transports. Two days
later was fought the Battle of Old Red River which was a short,
severe, combat resulting in the defeat of the enemy. It was here
that the Thirty-fifth won additional fame. Coming suddenly upon the
enemy in strong force it never wavered for a moment, but stood like
a wall to its position, losing twenty men in the short time the
engagement lasted. Major Abraham J. John was mortally wounded and
died the same evening; his death was mourned by the entire regiment.
Captain William Dill was very severely injured. The Thirty-fifth
next proceeded to Memphis and joined the column under Smith which
soon after defeated Forrest at the Battle of Tupelo. In this
engagement the Thirty-fifth lost in killed and wounded thirty-eight
men. It returned to Memphis with the army and took part in the
Oxford expedition. About the last of August the regiment was again
in Memphis and early in September was moved to Brownsville in
Arkansas, where it joined the army in the pursuit of Price, first in
Arkansas and later in Missouri. In this campaign it marched several
hundred miles. Many of the soldiers were without shoes and all of
them destitute of sufficient food and clothing. The suffering of the
army was very great in the long marches through the States of
Arkansas and Missouri. Returning to St. Louis about the middle of
November, on the 23d, the regiment with General Smith’s troops
marched to reinforce the army of General Thomas in Tennessee.
The Battle of Nashville
When the Confederate General Hood crossed the Tennessee River,
General Thomas was but poorly prepared to meet him. The Battle of
Franklin had been fought on the 30th of November and was
practically a Union victory although General Schofield abandoned the
field. It checked, however the advance of the Confederate army and
dampened its ardor, but after a brief pause General Hood pushed on
and threatening a wide extent of country, invested Nashville.
General Thomas at once began to call in all of the garrisons from
points within reach and put his cavalry in good fighting condition.
There was great activity and often heavy skirmishing all along the
lines from a short distance below Nashville to Chattanooga on the
Tennessee River. At Nashville the Cumberland River makes a sharp
bend north and within this bend on the south side the city stands.
South of the city and two or three miles distant, General Thomas had
posted his army behind strong earthworks. General Hood took a
position on a range of hills about two miles beyond and extended his
lines from the river on his right to the river on his left. Here he
began to fortify, after making a slight demonstration, merely
feeling our position and sending his cavalry to cut our lines of
communication and harass our army.
On the morning of the 14th
Thomas issued orders for a general attack on the Confederate
position. The flanks of the Union Army rested on the Cumberland and
were covered by gunboats. The right was heavily supported by
cavalry. A body of colored troops held the left under command of
General Steadman. General Thomas’ plan was to demonstrate boldly on
the left but to deliver his real attack from the right. Steadman
moved a heavy force of white and black troops under General Cruft
against the enemy on the morning of the 15th. They made
an impetuous attack causing Hood to heavily re-enforce his left and
the assailants were repulsed with heavy loss.
Soon the plan of General Thomas
began to develop. Smith advanced o the right, supported by Wood and
covered by cavalry under Wilson; the whole right wing made a grand
left wheel, sweeping like an avalanche over the enemy’s left wing.
The first line was quickly crushed, the batteries stormed and
carried, his position flanked and his whole line doubled up in the
greatest confusion. Our cavalry dismounting joined in the charge and
it was not long before the whole left wing was hopelessly broken.
Hood saw the mistake he had made in sending his masses to the left
and now hurried long lines of infantry and artillery from that part
of his lines to support the center. He still held a strong position,
protected by breastworks, fringed with rifle pits and abates and
bristling with artillery that swept all approaches. Smith prudently
halted to reconnoiter. Wood came up on his left, Schofield swing
round to his right, the cavalry being still to the right of him and
well on to the enemy’s rear.
The army made a further advance,
feeling the enemy’s position under a heavy fire of artillery and
musketry and about nightfall Wood made a splendid dash against a
battery, and carrying it, closed the battle for the day. Many guns
and a large number of prisoners had been captured and so far Thomas
had been successful. During the night both armies made a disposition
for renewing the battle the next day. Hood drew back his right
center and right wing so as to straighten the new line he had been
forced to form. It was now about two miles in the rear of his
original line and but half as long. He occupied the crests of
closely wooded hills, with a line about three miles in length, and
admirably adapted for defense.
General Thomas pursued a plan
similar to that which had proved so successful the day before.
Steadman on the left and Wood in the center made strong
demonstrations against the enemy and the roar of battle was
continuous all the morning on the left of Thomas’ lines. On the
right it was comparatively quiet. Wilson’s cavalry was sent to the
rear of the enemy and about four o’clock the sharp rattle of
carbines was heard on the enemy’s left. Simultaneously with ringing
cheers and with leveled bayonets, the lines swept steadily forward
up to and over the Confederate works while Wood and Steadman on
their left pressed forward and in a general movement carried all
before them. For a short time there was hot work, the whole
Confederate line was ablaze with musketry and cannon. The shock was
awful as the contending forces met, but in thirty minutes the
conflict was over, as the Union army bore down all opposition and
Hood’s army was broken into a mass of flying fugitives, pursued to
the Tennessee River. The results of this great victory were the
capture of 8,000 prisoners, including five major generals, fifty-six
cannon and a large number of small arms.
The State of Iowa was represented
in this battle by the Second, Fifth and Eighth Cavalry, the Twelfth,
Twenty-seventh, Thirty-second and Thirty-fifth Infantry and the
Second Battery. The artillery and infantry fought under General
Smith; the cavalry under Wilson on the extreme right. Of the cavalry
General Hatch commanded a division which received the warm praise of
General Thomas.
The Twenty-seventh and
Thirty-second Infantry were in a brigade commanded by Colonel
Gilbert of the former regiment. This brigade did some of the most
intrepid fighting of the battle. The Twelfth, Lieutenant-Colonel
John H. Stibbs, and the Thirty-fifth, Major Dill commanding, were in
the brigade commanded by Colonel Hill of the latter regiment. An eye
witness thus describes a charge made by Hill’s Brigade:
“Meanwhile Hill’s men, who had
borne the brunt of the battle of Tupelo and had now witnessed the
splendid charges of their comrades, were eager to emulate their
heroism and storm the formidable redoubts far their front. As the
corps continued wheeling to the left, an opportunity was soon
presented. About six hundred yards in advance of the brigade, near
the Hillsboro Pike, on a high and bastion-like ridge, was another
strong redoubt where the Rebel guns redoubled their fire and seemed
striving to make good the loss of the two first redoubts and hurl
back our advancing columns. Shot and fragments of shell filled the
air. The roar of artillery was incessant and the flashes of
exploding shells quickly followed each other like vivid flashes of
lightning. The guns must be silenced and the redoubt captured
without delay. Colonel Hill saw that it could only be carried by
direct assault in front and immediately ordered a charge. The boys
welcomed the order with a battle cheer and fixed bayonets and under
a terrific fire of shot and shell, with uniform step and steady
columns, they descended a gentle slope, crossed a ravine and, on the
double quick, moved in front of the enemy’s fire, up the hill to
their works.
“Sergeants Clark and Grannis of
the Twelfth Iowa in advance of the charging line, first planted the
regimental banner and the National colors upon the Rebel
battlements. The brave Colonel Hill, mounted on horseback and
gallantly leading his brigade to the assault, fell form his horse,
shot through he head, just as the troops were carrying the
breastworks of the enemy. The men rushed forward to avenge the death
of their lamented commander. The enemy had hastily limbered up the
guns of the fort, withdrawn them to a redoubt, distant about three
hundred yards, and again opened grape, canister and musketry upon
our men just as they entered the first redoubt. Continuing to
advance, the brigade charged across the Hillsboro Pike, in the face
of another torrent of fire up to the second redoubt, captured its
guns, caissons, horses, one headquarters, thirteen baggage wagons
and two hundred and fifty prisoners. The wings of the brigade in
storming the redoubts had wheeled in toward the central point of
attack, thus creating some confusion. Lieutenant-Colonel Stibbs, of
the Twelfth Iowa, mounting a captured artillery horse, quickly
reformed the brigade in line of battle and dispatched Sergeant-Major
Burch forward to inform Colonel Marshall of the Seventh Minnesota,
of the death of Colonel Hill. Colonel Marshall not stopping to look
after captured property, nor even to receive the swords presented to
him by the Confederate officers, and Adjutant Reed, of the Twelfth
Iowa, with about one hundred men from each of their regiments, had
not stopped in the second redoubt, but pressed on after the flying
fugitives to a third redoubt in front of the right of the Fourth
Corps. Adjutant Reed entered it from the rear; with him a few men of
the Seventh and Twelfth just as those of the Fourth came over the
works in front.”
The Thirty-fifth marched in pursuit
of the enemy as far as Pulaski. Soon after the command embarked for
Eastport, Mississippi, and there encamped for the winter. Early in
February, where it went into camp. From this historic ground the
Thirty-fifth moved early in March to join in the Mobile campaign,
where its last military duties were performed. In this expedition
the regiment was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Keeler.
After the fall of mobile the regiment moved to Montgomery and from
there to Selma, where it remained until the 21st of July.
It was mustered out at Davenport on the 10th of August.
When the regiment reached Muscatine the veterans met a most cordial
welcome from old friends and neighbors. The ranks were sadly thinned
by battle and disease and many comrades were sleeping in southern
graves.
The Thirty-fifth had traveled more
than 10,000 miles, had unflinchingly fought in a dozen battles with
honor to itself and credit to the State it represented.
The Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry
This regiment was made up largely of
companies recruited in the counties of Monroe, Wapello, Appanoose,
Marion, Lucas and Van Buren, and was organized at Camp Lincoln near
Keokuk in September, 1862. While there a great amount of sickness
from small-pox and measles prevailed, resulting in loss to the
regiment of more than a hundred men. This was a gloomy beginning and
had a depressing effect upon the troops from which they did not soon
recover. From Keokuk they were sent to the malarias swamps of
the Yazoo River and from there to the deadly region about Helena.
Disease reduced their ranks until but a fragment was left of the
nine hundred seventy men who enlisted.
The field
officers were: Colonel Charles W. Kittredge of Wapello County,
Lieutenant-Colonel Francis M. Drake of Appanoose, Major Thomas C.
Woodward of Wapello, Adjutant A. G. Hamilton of the same county, and
Moses Cousin of Monroe, surgeon.
The
regiment was sent to Benton Barracks on the 24th of
November, from there to Helena where it was in camp the first of the
year 1863. For a time the Thirty-sixth was the only regiment at this
post where garrison duties were constant and severe. When the
regiment joined the Yazoo Pass expedition on the 24th of
February the ranks had been so depleted by sickness that but six
hundred officers and men were fit for duty. The Twenty-ninth,
Thirty-third and Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry regiments accompanied
this expedition, which started with a fleet consisting of thirty six
transports, two iron-clads, several gunboats for musketry and mortar
rafts. The object of the expedition was to clear the channel of
trees and brush which obstructed the navigation of Yazoo Pass. When
the channel was cleared the fleet entered the narrow pass and by
means of steam, ropes and poles dragged its slow length along making
but three or four miles progress a day. For five days the boats
moved forward smashing the projecting limbs which often tore off
their upper works, finally reaching Cold Water River. The entire
country was flooded so that it was difficult to find landing places;
the boats were densely crowded and the water was filthy and
sickening. The voyage brought disease and death to hundreds of brave
men. There were but few exciting incidents during the journey;
guerrillas fired on the transports and a few men were wounded. The
chase of a steamer loaded with cotton was one of the exciting
events. Finding that she would be overtaken, the crew set her on
fire and abandoned her. On the 11th of March the
transports reached Hell Mound, three miles above Fort Pemberton.
Here the troops were landed and the Thirty-sixth was immediately
formed in line of battle and marched to the support of a brigade
skirmishing with the enemy. They stayed at Shell Mound doing picket
duty, scouting among the cane-brakes and sadly burying their dead a
the base of a little hill until the morning of the 20th
when the army, having failed to accomplish its purpose, embarked on
the transports and retraced its way to the Mississippi. It returned
to Shell mound debarking on the 22d, the gunboats moving down and
engaging the fort. Cannon from the gunboats and from the batteries
on shore hammered away at the fort till the morning of April 4th,
the infantry standing picket, when not in camp, or assisting to
plant land batteries, laboring always under fire of the enemy. On
the morning of the 5th the expedition was finally
abandoned and the retreat begun. The fleet, badly injured, reached
the Mississippi on the afternoon of the 8th of April. The
Thirty-sixth soon fell into the old routine of garrison duty,
digging ditches and building breastworks. It was in the Battle of
Helena on the 4th of July and remained at that place
until the11th of August when began General Steele’s Arkansas
expedition. Major Woodward had resigned on account of ill-health,
Lieutenant-Colonel Drake was disabled by sickness, Colonel Kittredge
had command of a brigade, and so in the emergency Captain Varner of
Company A commanded the regiment until Lieutenant-Colonel Drake came
up at Rock Rea Bayou and assumed command. Major Hamilton, who had
been promoted from adjutant, rejoined the regiment at Duvall’s
Bluff. Here Captains Varner and Webb and Lieutenant Spooner obtained
leave of absence on account of illness but all died on the way home.
Before reaching Little Rock Colonel Kittredge assumed command of the
regiment which now marched in hourly expectation of a battle. The
army, however, reached the capital unmolested and went into winter
quarters on a beautiful hill not far from the arsenal.
There had
never before been a time since the organization when disease had not
been thinning the ranks of the regiment. Sickness and death had
followed it everywhere. Now the conditions changed and for the first
time good health and corresponding goods spirits prevailed in the
camp. The regiment now numbering six hundred thirteen men, toward
the last of March accompanied the army of General Steele on its way
to cooperate with General Banks then marching up the Red River. But
learning of the defeat of Banks at Camden, Steele went no farther.
In the campaign thus far the Thirty-sixth had taken part in a number
of skirmishes and was engaged at the Battle of the Little Missouri,
where it repelled an attack with coolness and courage. While at
Camden, on the 22d of April, a detachment of the Twenty-sixth with
other troops, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Drake, was sent to
escort a train of about three hundred wagons in which it was
proposed to bring back supplies for the army. The road taken bore
northwest crossing the Saline River near Mount Elba. On the third
day out the command went into camp on the western border of Moro
Bottom, a low marshy margin of a bayou of the same name.
Battle of Mark’s Mill
On the evening of the 23d the
little army escorting the train heard heavy firing in the direction
of Camden. On the morning of the 25th a body of one
hundred cavalry was sent forward to reconnoiter the road. It pushed
ahead five miles and reported no enemy in sight. Meantime the
Forty-third Indiana and one section of the battery were sent forward
across the bottom and the train put in motion. Receiving word from
the cavalry in advance, Lieutenant-Colonel Drake immediately
dispatched another body of cavalry to the rear, fearing the enemy
might come in from the south on the Princeton road. The rest of the
troops remained at the west side of the bottom till two-thirds of
the train had passed, when they moved forward taking the sides of
the road not to discommode the train and to occupy a position on the
eastern side of the lowlands. Hardly had the advance reached this
point when a courier rushed to the front and announced that the
enemy was in force two miles ahead. The Thirty-sixth marched on
double-quick to the field and hastily but coolly formed the line of
battle on the right of the artillery, the cavalry now reinforced by
about one hundred fifty horse and one howitzer from Pin Bluff, under
command of Major Spellman, taking a position on the left. The other
troops were being hurried as rapidly as possible. The troops in line
were posted in a small narrow clearing with skirmishers thrown out
about one hundred yards in advance. The country was rough, covered
for the most part with dense woods and almost impenetrable
undergrowth. No less than 5,000 Confederates under command of
General Fagan had here concealed themselves from the view of our
cavalry scouts and were now confronting our little army of 1,000
men. The Forty-third Indiana held the skirmish line and fought
manfully till overpowered and driven back by superior numbers, when
it retired through the thick underbrush in some confusion with each
man, however, fighting bravely on his own account. The enemy now
came on in heavy force against the main line and the action became
general. Our troops kept up a constant fire for more than two hours
without giving ground. The battery, having been deserted by its own
men, tow companies of the Thirty-sixth Iowa manned the guns with
great effect during the rest of the fight. The Confederates now
extended their lines and surrounded our small force. Having lost
about twenty killed and nearly one hundred wounded and being hemmed
in on all sides, the Union army was forced to surrender.
Lieutenant-Colonel Drake was severely wounded early in the action.
Major Hamilton was cool and courageous throughout the struggle. When
he saw there was no hope for the little army he advised his men to
escape as best they could and many tried but few succeeded. The
major with about three hundred forty of his regiment were taken
prisoners, and at five o’clock the prisoners were started southward
and marched fifty-two miles without rest or food. They were sent by
way of Camden to the Confederate prison at Tyler in Texas, reaching
that place on the 15th of May. From here Major Hamilton
and Captains Lambert and Miller succeeded in making their escape in
July and after enduring great hardships reached Little Rock on the
2d of September. Major Hamilton recovered from the effect of
imprisonment, but Captains Miller and Lambert died soon after
reaching home. On the evacuation of Camden the remnant of the
Thirty-sixth, consisting of two officers and sixty men, accompanied
the retreat. At the Battle of Jenkins’ Ferry thirty-nine of these
men and Lieutenant and seven of his men were wounded. On their
arrival at Little Rock they found a number of recruits for the
regiment so that the rolls showed six officers and two hundred fifty
men, including the sick. Colonel Kittredge soon after assumed
command of the post and the regiment thus reduced by capture,
disease and death remained there during the year, a sad remnant of
the 1,000 strong men who left Keokuk tow years before. From this
time to the close of the war the regiment was usually on post duty
at Little Rock, St. Charles and Duvall’s Bluff. Lieutenant-Colonel
Drake was brevetted a brigadier-General in February, 1865.
In April the survivors of those
captured at Mark’s Mill returned to the regiment at St. Charles.
They had been released from imprisonment in Texas in February, where
they had suffered great hardships and had been allowed to return
home on furlough. It would be impossible to describe the joyous
meeting of these old comrades after their long separation. The
regiment was mustered out of the service on the 24th of
August at Duvall’s Bluff. On the 2d of September, 1865, the
survivors of the Thirty-sixth reached Davenport, where they received
a most cordial welcome.
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