CHAPTER V.
ANTE-WAR AND WAR PERIODS (CONT'D).
The Fourth Iowa Infantry was the first command sent from the State which was well represented by residents of Cass county. Gil. B. Kirkpatrick and John A. Mills were quarter-masters of the regiment. Lieutenant Kirkpatrick died while in the service, November 16, 1864. Mr. Mills returned to Cass township, became somewhat prominent in county affairs, and died October 2, 1869, while serving his second term as a supervisor.
Company A was represented by John Binns, Henry C. and Eri C. Chapman, and James W. Whittlesey. In Company B were Victor M., Harvey and Henry L. Bradshaw, sons of Jeremiah, the last-named being killed at Mission Ridge; John R. Kirk, who served one year, was discharged for disability, and afterward became a large land owner in Atlantic township, of which he had been a pioneer; Jasper Berry, who died during the war at Rolla, Mo.; Thomas G. and Lloyd B. Forrester, John Auspagh, Daniel Bryan, Nathaniel Curry, Fred W. Humerick, William H. Kirk, Alexander Morris, Frederick Seamon, and William Seamon, Benjamin F. Walton, Iradel A. Horney, W. J. Ferguson, Elijah H. Brown, William Bryan, Josiah Coombs, D. Henry Haymaker, Philip Michael, and Orran D. Nelson. Augustus L. Kidder was second lieutenant of Company B.
Company E was represented by G. Higden, of Cass county, and Company H by Coursen J. Straight (first lieutenant), Patrick Archer (killed at the siege of Vicksburg), Amasa Chapman, John Archer, George Rose, William J. Coon, George W. Smith and David Wilson.
Although the Fourth Iowa was raised in a dozen different counties in the State, because of this large contingent from Cass county its movements and fortunes were followed with breathless interest by the people at home, and its record satisfied their fondest hopes. It was mustered into the service at Council Bluffs in August, 1861, under command of Grenville M. Dodge, proceeding on the 9th of the month to Jefferson Barracks, Mo. There it remained until the 24th, when it took up its line of march to Rolla, where it went into camp for organization and drill. The command here joined the Army of the Southwest, under Major General Samuel R. Curtis, which in March of 1862 advanced by means of a series of difficult marches, over muddy roads and through the forest of the Ozark hills, to meet the oncoming Confederates under Major General Price.
At dawn upon the 7th the Union army reached Pea Ridge, near the Elkhorn tavern, where they went into camp with a light snow upon the ground. The enemy, consisting of 25,000 troops, considerably outnumbered the Federal forces. General Curtis had prepared to receive their attack from the Fayetteville road, but was flanked by a masterly movement and changed front. In the fourth division, which was the right of his army, was the Fourth Iowa, and about 10:30 o'clock, almost simultaneously with the first advance of the Union forces, the Confederates attack this division with an overwhelming force near the Elkhorn tavern. Although General Carr was severely wounded and thus overmatched in numbers, he yielded ground only slowly and stubbornly, until decisive assistance arrived at 5 o'clock p. m. His troops had been seven hours under a terrific fire, during which they had been forced back but half a mile. Many of his field officers had fallen, with about one-fourth of his entire command. As Curtis came up he saw the Fourth Iowa falling back at a left oblique in perfect order, dressing their colors as if on parade, and ordered it to face about. Colonel Dodge explained that it was entirely out of ammunition, and was only retiring that the men might fill their cartridge boxes. Curtis thereupon ordered a bayonet charge, and the regiment at once moved steadily back to its former position. In this, its first battle, although it had participated in some slight skirmishes, the Fourth Iowa lost about one-third of its effective men. In this bloody engagement its conduct was so heroic as call forth the admiration of even the Confederate General Van Dorn, who said "I have never seen men stand and fight so before;" and Major General Curtis incorporated in his general order the words "The Fourth Iowa Regiment won immortal honors."
After the battle of Pea Ridge the Army of the Southwest marched across northeastern Arkansas to Helena, on the Mississippi, where it became a part of the Second Brigade, First Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps, and on the 22nd of December, 1862, embarked on transports with the right wing of the Army of the Tennessee under General W. T. Sherman. They passed down the river to the Yazoo and some twelve miles up that stream, where they were disembarked, and on the 28th and 29th of the month participated in the valorous but fruitless attack on the superb fortifications at Chickasaw bayou. The waters of the bayou covered the Rebel front, and the lofty bluffs of the Yazoo beyond had been splendidly fortified, as the result of months of hard work on the part of slave labor. On the 28th the Fourth Iowa, together with the balance of Thayer's Brigade of Steele's Division, were re-embarked and landed at the junction of the bayou with the Yazoo, and the advance was ordered.
In the midst of a rain the Fourth, leading the brigade, plunged into the bayou, both banks of which were covered with tangled abattis, and crossed the 300 feet of quicksand and fifteen feet of water in the face of a merciless fire from the Rebel sharpshooters in their rifle pits, with the artillery pouring out a storm of grape and cannister. But its rapidly thinning ranks toiled on for fifteen minutes and carried the first line of works, only to find that through some mistake in the orders the balance of the brigade had not advanced. When recalled, therefore, they retired rather sullenly from the contest, realizing how many valuable lives had been sacrificed in vain. But the hardy valor of the Fourth Iowa drew forth the encomiums of all, and the regiment was instructed by general order to inscribe upon its colors the proud legend "First at Chickasaw Bayou."
After the fall of Arkansas Post, on the 11th of January, 1863, in which they bore a conspicuous part, the regiment marched to Young's Point, in front of Vicksburg, reaching camp on the 22d of the month. It took part in such preliminary work as canal digging and outlying raids, and participated in the famous assaults of the 9th of May. It was the Fourth which gained the outer slopes of the enemy's works and held their ground until ordered to shelter by Sherman, who saw that their ranks were being decimated to no advantage. On the 22d a more determined effort was made to carry Vicksburg by assault, but after a severe contest in which the noble Fourth acted with the accustomed gallantry, the troops were all retired and the slow operations of the siege took their course.
Vicksburg surrendered on the 5th of July, 1863, and, not even allowing the besiegers to enter the stronghold, Grant ordered a general forward movement. The Fourth, which was still a portion of Steele's Division, was in the center of Sherman's army which crossed the Big Black river, on the 6th, about 50,000 strong. They advanced over a region wasted by war, parched by drought, and whose wells and springs were filled with the carcasses of the enemy's horses. They boiled the water, skimmed off the scum, ate green corn and crackers, and despite all these obstacles forced Johnson to evacuate Jackson on July 17th. After one indecisive engagement and a few days spent in the destruction of railroads, the Fourth returned to Black river, fourteen miles from Vicksburg, where it went into camp on the 29th of July.
"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 77-80.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, August, 2018.
