USA > Iowa > A history of the Sixth Iowa infantry > Part 14
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On May 15th, the column marched 15 miles to the camp at La Grange, by 10 o'clock in the forenoon, having marched in all 160 miles and captured 600 mules and horses. The casualties had been slight - 2 men missing and 2 wounded.
A. supply of new clothing was issued to the regiment and the next five days in camp were occupied with in- spection, battalion drills, parades and reviews, amid al- most intolerable heat and stifling dust. Marching orders were then received to proceed on a five days scout, down in the enemy's country.
Each day while in camp a company had been detailed from the regiment to patrol the roads leading south. Some exciting chases after roving bands of partisans and sharp engagements occurred, with losses on both sides.
On May 21st, at 4 a. m., Colonel Hatch broke camp
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with his command to execute the orders of General Hurl- but, directing him to beat up and disperse the force of General Chalmers, capture stock and negroes, and destroy the crops in the Tallahatchie country. The column passed through Early Grove and Mount Pleasant, and camped at Byhalia, where the column joined the brigade, commanded by Colonel L. F. McCrillis, he having driven the enemy out of the town. Much valuable property was burned and destroyed in the town by those who first en- tered the place and Colonel Hatch was very indignant at the wanton destruction of private property.
On May 22nd, the march was continued to the south, the enemy in considerable force disputing the ground steadi- ly all day, doing no damage, except occasionally killing a horse. Camp was pitched at night on Jim Wolf Creek. At daylight on the 23rd, the enemy assailed the pickets with great spirit, so both brigades were formed in battle array and the enemy driven away. The column resumed the march at an early hour in the direction of Looxahoma, skirmishing to and through the town. The enemy was found in strong force in the swamps along Senatobia Creek, where the cavalry engaged them and after a sharp skirmish they broke and fled to Panola and west towards the Mississippi River.
The column moved forward and entered the town of Senatobia, which a few minutes afterwards was fired on the windward side. By great exertion, on the part of a large number of well disposed men in command, a por- tion of the store buildings were saved and all of the dwell- ing houses. The buildings destroyed had been abandon- ed for months by their owners. The fire was supposed to have been set by a company of citizen scouts, tempor- arily attached to the command. The whole section of rich
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farming neighborhoods about Senatobia was scouted during the day, gathering in the mules, horses, and ne- groes. The next day a portion of the regiments was sent 10 miles north, with the artillery, to Coldwater sta- tion, while the rest continued to pick up stock and ne- groes, and in the evening the whole command crossed the Coldwater River at Coldwater Depot, and camped on the plantation of Dr. Atkins, 4 miles south of Hernando.
On May 25th, each command was sent by different routes to their respective camps along the railroad. The Sixth Iowa passed through the country town of Hernan- do and camped on the Widow Ward's plantation, 10 miles south of Germantown. The next day it passed through
Sand Hill, ate dinner at Collierville, and camped for the night at Moscow, where a whiskey "gigger" was again issued to the men, to the great satisfaction of all. On May 27th, the regiment marched 10 miles to the camp at La Grange, where all were glad to have the opportunity to wash and get cleaned up after the long siege of heat and dust. The campaign had proved equally as fruitful as former campaigns and it was evident that the enemy's strength and resources in North Mississippi were crushed and destroyed.
Regardless of the extreme heat, the daily battalion drills and ceremonies were kept up until June 4th, when the regiment turned in, to the Post Quartermaster, all the cavalry equipment and, on the 5th, turned in the mules and horses. This was the end of the mounted service, but not many regrets were expressed by the officers and men in the regiment.
General Chalmers in a communication to General John- ston, at Jackson, gave a vivid description of the situ- ation in North Mississippi, as follows:
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I do not know what the exigencies of the service are else- where, but it is evident that the main effort of the enemy now is to starve us, and in their late raids here they have stolen every horse and mule they could catch, and if this country is not protected the greater portion of subsistence in Mississippi will le destroyed.
Considering the character of the service, the losses had been exceedingly light. The capture of Lieutenant John L. Cook of Company K, and six men near Looxahoma, on May 13th, who were carried off to southern prisons, was the most serious loss sustained. The officers and men of the regiment had formed a most cordial and friendly attachment for the members of the 2nd Iowa Cavalry during their short association, and the only re- gret at parting with the mules was the separation from the gallant soldiers of that command.
A. 2rd Iowa cavalryman is at his best, when relating the incident of a dress parade had by the Sixth, while mounted on the mules at La Grange, Tennessee. The climax of the ceremony came after Colonel Corse's order to present arms, when, in less than a second, the whole command was hors de combat.
XIII VICKSBURG AND JONES FORD
The campaign for the reduction of Vicksburg was ac- tively inaugurated in the latter part of April, 1863, by General U. S. Grant, who had assumed the command of all the forces operating on the Mississippi River. The flank movement with his whole army; running the batter- ies with the gunboats and his fleet of transports; cross- ing the army to the east side of the river below the city; cutting loose from his communications and fighting a series of successful battles; capturing the city of Jack- son, the capital of the State of Mississippi; and, on May 21st, closing in upon General Pemberton's Confederate army in Vicksburg, the great Gibraltar of the Mississippi Valley, had consumed less than a month, and the regular siege was begun.
In the distressed condition of affairs, General Joseph E. Johnston began the collection of a formidable army at Jackson to raise the siege and relieve General Pember- ton's army cooped up in the Vicksburg fortifications, the plan being to attack General Grant's investing forces in the rear, from the line of the Big Black River. This was the pressing situation, June 1st, when reinforcements were called for to oppose the new element of danger to General Grant's heroic army.
The division of Brigadier-General William Sooy Smith, composed of 14 regiments of infantry and 4 batteries of field artillery, organized into four brigades, and number-
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ing 7581 effective men and 16 guns,14 stationed along the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, was or- dered to assemble in the city of Memphis and from there proceed by steamboats down the river to Vicksburg.
The division was organized for the campaign as fol- lows: First Brigade, 26th and 90th Illinois, 12th and 100th Indiana, Colonel John M. Loomis commanding ; Second Brigade, 40th and 103rd Illinois, 15th Michigan, and 46th Ohio, Colonel S. G. Hicks commanding; Third Brigade, 97th and 99th Indiana, 53rd and 70th Ohio, Colonel Joseph R. Cockerill commanding; Fourth Bri- gade, 48th Illinois and 6th Iowa, Colonel William W. San- ford commanding and Captain William Cogswell com- manding the 4 batteries of artillery.
On June 5th, the tents were struck and all camp and garrison equipage loaded upon the army wagons, which were started overland for Memphis. The regiment marched to the depot in La Grange the next morning at S a. m., embarked at 2 p. m. on the cars, started for Mem- phis at dark and arrived in the city at 9 p. m., where the camp was pitched for the night on the east edge of town. On June 7th, the regiment marched through the city to the levee and was embarked on board the fine large river steamer "Henry Von Phool", at 9 a. m. The wagon trains arrived during the afternoon, and were embarked with the regiment. It rained very hard all the next day, while the fleet remained tied up at the levee. Com- panies A and I were transferred during the day to the steamer "New Kentucky".
The scene presented at the levee was grand and inspir-
14 The official return, dated May 31, 1863, credits this command with an aggregate of 8796 men present and 26 pieces of field artillery. - War of the Rebellion : Official Records, Series I, Vol. XXIV, Pt. 3, p. 371.
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ing. The shore was lined with large river steamers load- ed with troops and army equipment, gunboats were ply- ing up and down the river, and bells were ringing, whistles blowing, bands playing, and soldiers cheering.
Passes were liberally granted to visit familiar scenes and friends in the city, but those were fortunate who se- cured a leave good to attend the evening entertainment at the old Memphis Theatre.
June 9th, at 2 p. m., all the boats laden with the divis- ion swung out into the current of the great river amid the uproar of clanging bells, screeching whistles, bands playing, and the shouts of the stalwart soldiers ringing out above the mighty din and noise of all. The fleet steamed down the river and formed in column according to the rank and position of the commands on the boats. They arrived at Helena, Arkansas, at 9 p. m., and tied up for the night. The fleet passed down by the old town of Napoleon and tied up for the night again at Lake Provi- dence. The rain, which had begun the previous night, continued without abatement. On June 11th, the camps at Milliken's Bend and Young's Point were passed and the whole fleet passed into the Yazoo River, and the di- vision was disembarked at Snyder's Bluff.
The heavy cannonading going on at the siege around Vicksburg was heard during the day, while the whole scene and surroundings gave striking evidence of grim war. The regiment went into camp on the high bluff ov- erlooking the sluggish Yazoo River and the great swamps and lagoons tributary to it. The river strikes the bluff at Snyder's and then turns almost abruptly westward for some distance, thence southward to the Mississippi River.
From Vicksburg to Snyder's, a distance of 12 miles, is
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a line of abrupt hills, commanding the Yazoo Valley, which had been fortified by the Confederates to resist General Sherman's attack in December. They had also constructed batteries of great strength for heavy guns .
on the bluff commanding a long sweep of the river. Just above the frowning batteries was a solidly construct- ed boom or raft of huge logs, completely blockading the stream against the passage of steamers and gunboats. The country lying back of the bluffs is a series of high hills, intersected by deep and narrow ravines, all covered with a dense undergrowth of cane, and heavily timbered, from whose huge spreading branches drooped the ever pendent moss, and whose trunks were covered with clinging vines, all forming a luxuriant growth of a nature peculiar only to tropical climates.
The regiment occupied recent camping grounds of the 3rd Louisiana, an organization composed of the sons of wealthy planters in the Red River country, who had won great distinction at Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge, and later at Iuka and Corinth. They had erected artistic and comfortable quarters, gathering about them many of those little conveniences which become actual luxuries to the soldier after a two years service in the field.
On July 12th, camp was moved half a mile and the con- struction of a line of fortifications was commenced, guard- ing against an attack from the rear by land forces. The work was continued every day, causing great prostration among the men on account of the extreme hot weather, until the 15th, when the camp was moved up the river one mile. During the night, the heated atmosphere was cooled by a refreshing shower of rain. There was a heavy rainfall during the afternoon, on the 16th, drench- ing everything thoroughly.
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The labors continued, alternating between working on the fortifications and drilling, until the 23rd, when the troops marched out, leaving the tents standing and also leaving behind the knapsacks and all heavy camp and garrison equipment. Camp was pitched on the Adams plantation at Oak Ridge, 9 miles from the bluffs, and the troops were employed blocking the wagon roads with felled timber, doing picket guard duty, and scouting to the front towards the Big Black River and out on the Yazoo road. They secured an abundance of blackberries, peaches, apples, figs, and green corn. General Sherman was placed in command of the forces guarding the rear at Black River, where he was received with wild demon- strations of joy by his old command.
On July 3rd, the word was passed around the camps that Vicksburg had surrendered, which was hailed by the troops with great rejoicing. This information was pre- mature, but on Saturday, July 4, 1863, the surrender took place. The garrison marched out, stacked arms, and re- turned within their lines, and General Grant, with his victorious army, marched in and occupied the city and the forts. Everyone from General Sherman down to the humblest private in the ranks of his army, gave full vent to their joy.
In the exuberance of his joy, General Sherman penned a note to General Grant, saying: "Surely will I not pun- ish any soldier for being 'unco happy' this most glorious anniversary of the birth of a nation, whose sire and father was a Washington". At the same time he wrote to Admiral Porter, thus:
In so magnificent a result I stop not to count who did it. It is done, and the day of our nations birth is consecrated and
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baptized anew in a victory won by the united Navy and Army of our country. Thus I muse as I sit in my solitary camp out in the woods, far from the point for which we have jointly striven so long and so well, and though personal curios- ity would tempt me to go and see the frowning batteries and sunken pits that have defied us so long, and sent to their silent graves so many of our early comrades in the enterprise, I feel that other tasks lie before me and time must not be lost. Without casting anchor, and despite the heat and dust and the drought, I must again go into the bowels of the land, to make the conquest of Vicksburg fulfill all the conditions it should in the progress of this war. Whether success attend my efforts or not, I know that Admiral Porter will ever accord to me the ex- hibition of a pure and unselfish zeal in the service of our coun- try.
For the moment the magnitude of the victory, which culminated in the surrender of Vicksburg, could hardly be comprehended by the victors; neither could the surren- dered Confederates at first fully realize the overwhelm- ing disaster that had befallen them. Taken in connec- tion with the decisive victories won at Gettysburg and Helena, at the same time, all felt that the day of jubilee and for great rejoicing had surely come to the tired and patient troops. They had, with tireless energy, with sleepless vigilance by night and by day, with rifle and battery, in rifle-pits and forts, in trenches and mines, in skirmish and charge, through heat and storm, driven over 30,000 brave and gallant soldiers to lay down their arms and surrender as prisoners of war.
On the same day of the surrender an expedition was planned, with General Sherman in command, and put in- to immediate motion against the Confederate army, gathered by General Johnston, and occupying the coun-
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try between the Big Black River and the city of Jackson. In a note to Sherman, dated July 4, 1863, General Grant said: "I have no suggestions or orders to give. I want you to drive Johnston out in your own way, and inflict on the enemy all the punishment you can."
Two divisions of General Burnside's 9th Army Corps, commanded by Major-General John G. Parke, and com- posed almost entirely of troops from the New England States, had arrived at Snyder's Bluff just before the sur- render and joined the forces in the rear of the investing army. For the purposes of the pending expedition the division commanded by General William Sooy Smith was attached to the 9th Army Corps and came under the command of General Parke.
The plan of forward movement contemplated that the 13th Army Corps, Major-General Ord commanding, should cross the Big Black River at the railroad bridge; the 15th Army Corps, at Messienger's Ford; the 9th Army Corps, at Birdsong's Ferry; and that the cavalry force, commanded by Colonel Cyrus Bussey, should cross at the mouth of Bear Creek. All the columns were en route for the designated points by 12 noon, July 4th.
The Sixth lowa, at 3 p. m., took its proper place in the column of the division and marched 10 miles to the Big Black River in the vicinity of Birdsong's Ferry and camped for the night at Hill's house.
The troops remained idle in the camps all day, on the 5th, with slight skirmishing between the pickets along the river. At dark, Colonel W. W. Sanford's brigade was ordered to Jones' Ford on the Big Black River to effect a crossing. A guide selected to direct the Sixth Iowa lost his way and led the men a merry chase, from early
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evening until midnight, through fields, forests, cane- brakes, across creeks, through dismal swamps, over high- land and lowland, for a distance of 8 or 10 miles, when, in fact, it was only two miles in a straight direction from Hill's house to the ford, with a good plain road the great- er part of the distance.
The regiment was marched nearly all the way in the order of single file, each man holding on to the bayonet scabbard or blanket roll of the man in his front. In that manner the command passed almost impenetrable thick- ets of brush, briers, and canebrakes, for the night was pitchy dark. A break and separation in the line caused much confusion in the darkness, and the temper and patience of the most circumspect were sorely tried.
It is hardly possible to describe the vexed situation and do the subject justice, or attempt to repeat the start- ling expressions of disgust at the bungling management. Had the poor unfortunate guide, who was the cause of all the grief, fallen into the clutches of the men while in their tired and frenzied condition, it would have been a sorry adventure for him. It was understood by the offi- cers and men in the regiment that the expedition was an especially hazardous one, so that the toilsome march and long suspense were agonizing in the extreme.
The river was finally reached at about midnight and then, by following along the bank, Colonel Sanford with the rest of the brigade was found where they had been in waiting for fully two hours. Volunteers were called for to explore the ford. They soon made the discovery that the stream was so deep and the current so swift that it would be impossible for the men to ford it, and carry their arms and equipment. In their exhausted condition,
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the men stretched themselves out on the ground, where they had halted, and were soon fast asleep.
Additional exploring parties continued the search up and down the river for means of crossing. Two large canoes were secured and lashed together, and then a few venturesome volunteers commenced to ferry the men across, just before daylight. They had made several successful trips, landing the men under the opposite bank, when at daylight they were discovered by the enemy, who opened a galling fire with muskets from the cover of trees and logs all along the opposite bank of the river. The men being suddenly aroused from their deep slumbers at once fell back a few paces from the bank to a less exposed position where the line was formed and two companies deployed as skirmishers along the river bank where they opened a brisk fire on the enemy.
A few men were so situated near the bank that an at- tempt to retire under fire of the enemy at such short range would have been attended with fatal results and they were compelled to remain under the partial cover for several hours. A spirited fire was opened and maintained up the river a short distance by a portion of the regiment, which drew the forces of the enemy to that point and thereby relieved the men under the bank on the opposite shore, when they were recrossed in the canoes with slight damage.
A strong line of skirmishers was established along the river who kept up such an incessant fire during the day that the enemy was led to believe the attempt to cross would be made at that point. This permitted Colonel Cockerill's brigade to effect a crossing farther up the river. Late in the afternoon the regiment was with-
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drawn, joined the 48th Illinois and crossed the river on a pontoon bridge constructed with old flatboats found in the river. The brigade marched out and bivouacked for the night at Birdsong's house, two miles from the river. The casualties in the regiment were as follows: killed, Private Oliver Boardman, Company E; severely wound- ed, sergeants George W. Clark and James Turner, and privates Austin P. Lowery and Oliver H. Lowery, Com- pany I.
The quick and successful crossing of the Big Black River - defended by a large Confederate army which had been concentrated by General Johnston in that vi- cinity for the purpose of crossing the same stream and raising the siege at Vicksburg - was a tactical maneuver highly complimentary to the military genius of the in- trepid Sherman and his gallant veterans.
The Confederate troops who opposed the crossing and were engaged at Messienger's and Jones' Ford were com- posed of the 3rd, 6th, and 9th Texas Cavalry and the First Texas Legion, commanded by Brigadier-General J. W. Whitfield, who were supported by the strong di- vision of infantry commanded by Major-General John C. Breckinridge.
On July 7th, the brigade moved to the front in sup- port of the 48th Illinois, who drove the enemy from their position and camps at Queen's Hill, from which they fled precipitately leaving their camp and garrison equipage, a large number of rifles and muskets, commissary stores, and their sick soldiers.
In their abandoned camp were found large kettles of meat and "nigger peas" in process of cooking; large quantities of "jerked" meat - prepared by drying fresh beef over trenches in the ground, filled with hot embers; .
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and "corn-dodgers", baked on the ground in hot embers or on a hard board before a camp-fire. All of these were diligently sought after and keenly relished by those who were fortunate enough to secure a supply. Camp was pitched for the night at Colonel Robinsons's plantation on the Clinton road. A heavy rainstorm occurred at night, accompanied by vivid flashes of lightning and ter- rific peals of thunder.
On July 8th, the regiment marched 10 miles with the advancing column on the Clinton and Jackson road and went into camp at 10 p. m. The extreme heat during the day and the lack of suitable water for drinking caused intense suffering and many prostrations. On the next day, before leaving the camp, a supply of clothing and shoes was issued to the men who were in need of such articles. The troops marched through the town of Clin- ton and camped within six miles of the city of Jackson. The advance skirmishers had spirited engagements with the enemy's outposts during the day, and there was heavy cannonading all along the lines.
On July 10th, Sanford's brigade led the advance on the right of the division and passed to the north of the city in the vicinity of the insane asylum. At 4 p. m., two companies of the Sixth Iowa were deployed as skirmish- ers covering the right flank of the division, with Colonel Corse in command. The line was advanced across the open plantations and the Jackson and Canton Railroad track, with its left resting at the asylum grounds. The resistance made by the enemy was feeble although the firing by the skirmishers was spirited and supplemented by heavy artillery firing at long range.
The maneuver for position by General William Sooy Smith's division and the 9th Army Corps, across the
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open plantations north and west of the asylum, was a grand display of troops marching in close order and in large masses. All lines and columns moved forward in the direction of the city along the general course of the Canton wagon road. The enemy made slight resistance at the Petrie house, but were quickly driven out by the skirmishers and never halted again until they were safe on the inside of their main fortifications, which were in plain view from the advance positions held by the skir- mishers.
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