portant character from this time until January, 1864. They had control of an important guerrilla-infested region, requiring duties as arduous and daring as the front, and they were well performed. Numerous raids were carried on, and in January, 1864, they embarked for Vicksburg, under Maj.-Gen. Hurlbut. In February they were with that raid under Maj.-Gen. Sherman, and on their return the entire regiment was reunited amid rejoicings, and eager for active service. They were soon ordered to the Department of the Gulf, and on the disastrous Red River campaign probably suffered more than any other regiment engaged. In the attack on Fort De Russey the Thirty-second made the chief assault, and " the men on the right took the fort," as the prisoners put it; these " men on the right " were the brave Thirty-second. They next moved to Grand Ecore, and on April 9, Shaw's " Iron Brigade," of which Scott's regiment was a part, led in the victory of Pleasant Hill, " stood the brunt of the fight, being the first in the battle, fighting longer than any others, in the hardest of the contest, the last to leave the field, and losing three times as many officers and men as any brigade engaged."* In this action the Thirty-second held the center of the Union lines. "Of Col. John Scott, Thirty-second Iowa," says the brigade commander, " it is sufficient to say that he showed himself worthy to command the Thirty-second Iowa Infantry, a regiment which, after having been entirely surrounded and cut off from the rest of the command, with nearly one-half of its number killed or wounded, among them many of the best and most prominent officers, forced its way through the enemy's line, ready and anxious to meet the foe, in less than thirty minutes." Says one writer: "It is certain no regiment ever fought with a sublimer courage than did the Thirty-second on the field of Pleasant Hill." The loss was great-210 officers and men killed, wounded and missing, many of the missing also wounded or killed; eighteen of these were from Capt. Cadwalader's company. After mentioning the loss of many officers and men, Col. Scott's official report says: "Language fails me when I would attempt to tell you how much I, in common with their comrades, deplore the irreparable loss we have sustained in these gallant men. The painful circumstances surrounding the abandonment of these and other wounded comrades, on a field we had so gallantly contested and won, must live only in our hearts." Further on he says, modestly: " Undaunted courage is a virtue so common among the troops from our noble State, that it is no boast for me to say that my command fought bravely, skillfully and well." The bravery and losses of the Thirty-second spread through Iowa and evoked the following lines from one of Iowa's gifted ladies-Mrs. Caroline A. Soule:
" Cold are the sleepers
Wrapped in their shrouds-
Pale are the weepers
The battle has bowed;
Softly they slumber,
Our soldiers in death-
While hearts without number
Cry, with hushed breath-
O God, are they dead!".
After various movements, the regiment reached Memphis on June 10, having taken part in the battle at Point Chicot. It then took active part in the Tupelo and Oxford expedition, and in a severe campaign of marching in Missouri after Price. By November it was at Cairo, Ill. It then won great credit at Nashville battle, in Gilbert's brigade, where it made some valuable captures. Early in 1865 it was moved to Eastport, Miss., to take part in the Mobile campaign, under Gen. Canby, which it did with accustomed honor. Later in the sum-
*Ingersoll.