USA > Iowa > A history of the Sixth Iowa infantry > Part 16
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On Sunday, October 11th, the command broke camp and started under rush orders, marched 15 miles to German- town and camped for the night. General Chalmers had attacked Collierville during the day with a large Confed- erate force and was repulsed by the 66th Indiana regi- ment, the garrison force, and a battalion of the 13th United States Regulars, en route on the train and acting as escort for General Sherman, who arrived at the Col- lierville station at noon - just in time to take part in the engagement. Had General Chalmers known during
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the engagement that there was such big game at the sta- tion as General Sherman, no doubt he would have made a more determined effort to overcome the small garrison defending it.
On October 12th, the regiment started at 4 a. m., passed through Collierville, turned south to Nonconnah, thence to Mount Pleasant and camped for the night, having traveled a distance of 22 miles. The village of Mount Pleasant was burned at an early hour the next morning, and at 4 a. m. the column marched, and halted at 12 noon in Early Grove, where the election was held in the regi- ment for State and county officers in Iowa. For Gover- nor, Colonel William M. Stone, 22nd Iowa, the Republican candidate, received 175 votes, and Brigadier-General James M. Tuttle, former Colonel of the 2nd Iowa Infan- try, and commanding the Third Division, 15th Army Corps, the Democratic candidate, received 9 votes. At 3 p. m., the march was continued to La Grange, the distance for the day being 23 miles. October 14th, the regiment marched 12 miles and camped 2 miles east of Saulsbury.
The route of march from the city of Memphis had been over familiar roads and scenes of former campaigning, so Grand Junction and Fort Star were viewed with feel- ings akin to home and friends. The regiment marched 15 miles on the 15th and camped at Pocahontas. It struck camp at 4 a. m. the next morning, crossed the Hatchie River and camped at Chewalla, having marched 10 miles. On October 17th, the troops marched 15 miles to Corinth, the Sixth Iowa guarding the division wagon train. It rained all day, making the roads heavy for wheeling and disagreeable for marching.
There was a very noticeable change in the appearance of Corinth, made by the Union forces after the evacua-
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tion by the Confederates, more than a year before. Great forts and lines of fortifications had been erected, defend- ing every approach to the position, and all the troops do- ing garrison duty at the post were housed in neat dwell- ings or barracks. The camp of each regiment had the ap- pearance of a community village and everything about the position had a very smirky and comfortable appear- ance. The railroads were being operated west to Mem- phis and north to Columbus and many stragglers joined the regiment. They had taken advantage of the railroad facilities and arrived ahead of the command, on the cars.
On October 18th, the march was continued for 12 miles, through the almost bottomless mud, to Glendale [Glen], and on the next day the whole division was assembled at Iuka, having marched a distance of 15 miles. Every building in the little town was occupied by army sutlers, with immense stocks, which was certain evidence that the troops would be paid, while stopped at the place. A regular camp was laid out and the ground policed with great care, indicating a long halt.
On October 20th, the regiment started at 2 p. m. on a scouting expedition, with 3 days rations, marched 9 miles, and camped for the night at Eastpoint, on the Tennessee River. This was one of the points at which the enemy had a battery located at the time the regiment made the reconnoissance, while on board the "Crescent City" in March, 1862, before the battle of Shiloh. Dur- ing the 21st, companies F and I crossed the river in skiffs and made a thorough examination of the roads in the vi- cinity of the opposite shore, returning to the camp in the evening. On the evening of the 22nd, the regiment re- turned to the camp at Iuka. On the 23rd, the whole
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country was flooded by a heavy rainstorm, blocking all military operations.
The regiment received two months pay on October 24th, but it came too late to be of service to the horde of sut- lers, who had assembled with their goods. A general raid had been made by the troops on the establishments of the greedy vampires, and nearly every one of them suffered heavy loss. The men were mostly without money and the rich delicacies displayed in the stores were so tempting that they could not be restrained and the camp followers were unmercifully cleaned out, losing large quantities of provisions, and much wine and other liquor. A justified complaint had been made by the en- listed men on account of the exorbitant prices charged for goods and for unjust discriminations made against them by the sutlers. The men also took umbrage because the pay day had been deferred until they were far in the inter- ior and a long distance from any trading point, and, be- cause all the sutlers - by some strange intuition - were on the ground ahead of the paymasters, with all their wares.
There was instituted a little spasm of effort to punish the men for the breach of discipline, but active cam- paigning and a lack of sympathy throughout the army for the injured parties - who had followed the army solely for gain and speculation - caused the affair to "blow over" easily and no further action was ever taken.
Pursuant to orders, all of the armies operating in the west were combined in one command and designated as the Military Division of the Mississippi, with Major- General U. S. Grant, assigned by the President, in su- preme command. General Sherman succeeded to the command of the Department and Army of the Tennessee,
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with Major-General Frank P. Blair in command of the 15th Army Corps, then assembled in the vicinity of Iuka, en route to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The 15th Army Corps, as constituted October 31, 1863, consisted of four divisions with an aggregate strength, present and absent, of 30,951 men and 58 pieces of ar- tillery. 16 The 6th Iowa, commanded by Lieutenant-Col- onel Alexander J. Miller, was included in the Second Bri- gade of the Fourth Division, commanded respectively by Brigadier-General John M. Corse and Brigadier-General Hugh Ewing.
General Blair, with the advance divisions of the corps, had proceeded east along the line of the railroad to Tus- cumbia, Alabama, where he engaged the enemy's forces commanded by General Stephen D. Lee, at Cane Creek and Little Bear Creek, resulting in the defeat of the Con- federates and the occupation of the country by the Union forces.
On October 27th, the tents were struck in the camp at Iuka, and at noon the division marched out on the road 10 miles to Eastport, where the troops and trains were ferried across the Tennessee River by "Gunboat No. 32", that evening. The next day, at 3 p. m., the Second Bri- gade continued the march on the Huntsville road, which runs parallel with the Tennessee River, passing through the village of Waterloo and a section of country along the valley of the river most picturesque and beautiful to behold. The command bivouacked near Gravelly Springs at 10 p. m., after marching 13 miles.
For the purpose of carrying an increased supply of
16 The Fifteenth Corps is officially credited with an aggregate strength of 33,762 men and 62 pieces of artillery, on October 31, 1863. - War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Series I, Vol. XXXI, Pt. 1, p. 817.
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army stores, for the next stage in the progress of the march, the regimental wagon had been loaded with ra- tions at the railroad before departing from Iuka, neces- sitating the carrying of knapsacks by the men. This hardship was, however, remedied during the day by pressing into the service sufficient country teams to trans- port the personal baggage for the men and officers of the. command.
Heavy cannonading was heard during the day in the direction of Bear Creek on the south side of the river, but no harm was apprehended while the placid waters of the Tennessee flowed between. On the 29th, the brigade marched 20 miles and camped at Florence, having passed through a lovely country - the many picturesque land- scapes and rural scenery vying with the beauties and grandeur on the Hudson, or even the Rhine. The plant- ers of the Tennessee Valley were immensely wealthy, and, judging from the magnificent character and style of their palatial homes, a highly cultured and aristocratic class in their section of the country. The foragers levied heavy tribute upon their abundance of pork, poultry, sweet potatoes, honey, milk, and fruit.
The ruins of the Morton Factories, situated on Cypress Creek, 4 miles from Florence, were viewed as the column passed during the day. The dam across the creek and the blackened walls on either side were all that remained of what was once the famed Morton Factories, all of which said but too plainly: "I met the Kansas Jay- hawkers, and, alas ! have been demolished". The day had been warm, but ere the tents were pitched for the night in the beautiful grounds of Florence College, dark, gloomy, and foreboding clouds gathered in rugged masses, and soon the cold rain descended so fiercely and in such tor-
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rents as to almost rend into shreds the frail canvas covering.
October 30th, the dark cloud of the night had passed away and "Old Sol" again ruled over all, shedding his warm and genial rays upon the grass covered hills and the blue nosed "blue coats", who had emerged from their damp bivouac to bask in the warm sunshine of the carly morning.
Florence, not the "city of arts", but the town in which the Honorable Stephen A. Douglas, a candidate for President, was egged while making a political speech in 1860, was made up of scattering buildings, most of which wore the appearance of having been visited by the touch of "ruthless time". There was some attempt by the few remaining inhabitants of the town to carry on the usual business pursuits and many soldiers embraced the op- portunity to get a shave and hair cut by the native bar- bers, who charged 30 cents in "yu'alls" money or $1.25 in Confederate money. The troops were usually supplied with Confederate currency and did not hesitate to part with it like they did the Union greenbacks.
October 31st, the regiment was mustered for pay, and, at 3 p. m., filed out of the college grounds prepared for a scout, and marched out on the Huntsville road. At sun- down the column arrived on the bluff in the vicinity of the ferry at the foot of the great Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River, 7 miles above Florence. Captain Ba- shore guarded the ferry during the night with his com- pany. At daybreak the next morning only a small fish- ing boat was discovered, which was fortunately loaded with fine large fish, the catch of two rustic fishermen dur- ing the night. The boat was manned by a small detail and sent down the river to Florence, whereupon the regi-
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ment set out on the return march and arrived at camp at 10 a. m.
At 2 p. m., the whole brigade broke camp and marched out on the Huntsville road in all possible haste and camped one mile beyond Shoal Creek bridge, being only a short distance from the place where the regiment had been on duty the night before.
As an officer to march under, General Corse command- ing the brigade, far excelled them all, as he was always diligent in personally seeing after the welfare and com- fort of his command. The result was clean straw and fodder to sleep on and nice dry rails for firewood.
All the force operating along the railroad south of the Tennessee was crossed to the north side and assembled in the vicinity of Florence. The Confederate forces con- tended with after advancing from Iuka were commanded by General Stephen D. Lee and General Joseph Wheeler, while S. W. Ferguson's cavalry command hovered in front and on the flanks of the column. The First Ala- bama (Union) Cavalry was worsted in an affair with Ferguson's command, resulting in the capture of a por- tion of the loyal Alabamians. In all the other encount- ers had the enemy was severely punished and the coun- try cleared for the passage of the column with its im- mense wagon trains.
November 2nd, the brigade broke camp and marched out on the main Huntsville road at daylight, passing through a rough broken section of country, which was well watered with beautiful little rivulets of clear run- ning water, and occasional large creeks. At 3 p. m., the brigade camped on Second Creek, having marched 11 miles.
On November 3rd, reveille sounded at 4 a. m., break-
16
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fast call at 5, assembly at 6, which was quickly followed by the command to move forward, when the regiments and trains filed out into the road and marched away, leav- ing the smouldering and smoking camp fires to die out during the bright November day. The column passed through the little old dingy town of Rogersville and ar- rived at Elk River, a considerable stream, before noon, where the troops began crossing in canoes and old ferry boats; but when one regiment and a part of a battery had crossed over, the brigade was ordered back to Rogersville and bivouacked for the night, where the Third Division had already pitched their camps.
On the 4th, the column moved 15 miles in a northeast- erly direction on the Pulaski road and camped on Sugar Creek. The route of march for the day was through a country positively poor. A gray headed inhabitant be- ing interrogated, said: "I settled on this spot of ground in 1808". There he had existed ever since, but all he had to show for his lifetime of labor was ten acres of cleared and cultivated land, a log cabin, a cow, a few "razor- back" hogs, a pack of hound dogs, and a family of thir- teen children. The column marched 10 miles the next day, passed through Bethel and camped at Prospect. On the 6th, it marched on the Nashville and Huntsville Pike, crossed Richland Creek and camped at Fayette Mills, having marched 12 miles. On the 7th, the troops set out at an early hour and traveled parallel with and near to the Elk River, a distance of 15 miles. On the 8th, they arrived at Fayetteville at one p. m., where the column was reviewed by General Sherman as it passed through town. The Elk River was crossed at the edge of town on the fine stone bridge and camp was pitched 2 miles be- yond, the distance for the day being 15 miles. Novem-
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ber 9th, the division remained in camp all day, while regimental foraging parties were sent out to scour the country for provisions, the ten days rations, issued at luka and Eastport, having been exhausted. During the day caravans of wagons, mules, and horses, laden with supplies of flour, meal, hams, bacon, potatoes, fresh pork, poultry, and fruit, arrived in the camps and all "lived off the fat of the land".
Pursuant to orders from corps headquarters, General Corse commenced to mount the Second Brigade. This had been anticipated by the men and nearly half of the command was already in possession of captured horses and mules, secured while foraging in the country. On the 10th, the division, with the Second Brigade in front, started before daylight for Winchester, Tennessee, waded Bear Creek and camped at Salem, the distance for the day being 22 miles. The column passed through old Win- chester before noon the next day and went into camp one mile beyond the town, and two miles from the station on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, with a view of the Cumberland Mountains in the dim distance.
The officers and men who were mounted joined the other mounted detachments of the brigade, under Colonel J. M. Oliver of the 15th Michigan, and started over the mountain, leading the advance of the corps. The foot detachments guarded the long train of army wagons over the mountain, camping the first night near Anderson, with no supper and no blankets and the weather chill and cold. The distance marched during the day was 16 miles. The troops crossed over and descended the mountain, on the 13th, passing through Anderson and camped near Stev- enson, at the junction with the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, in the midst of a cold rainstorm, having
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marched 15 miles. On the 14th, the column marched 8 miles on the road to Bridgeport on the Tennessee River.
The terrible evidences of the destitution in the army besieged by the enemy at Chattanooga began to make their appearance in the vicinity of Stevenson, the point at which the supplies for the army had been transferred from the cars to the wagon trains and hauled over the mountains, a distance of 65 miles, to Chattanooga. The roads over the mountains, rough and difficult by nature, were made doubly so by continued rain and floods. The frequent raids made by the enemy's cavalry and guerril- la bands, added to the difficulties. At one place in a mountain pass on the route, a portion of General Wheel- er's cavalry command destroyed 250 loaded wagons and carried away 1500 mules and horses.
The brigade - those who were on foot - together with the rest of the division, continued the march 10 miles to Bridgeport, where the charred wreck and naked stone piers of the burned railroad bridge were conspicuous in the river.
The troops remained idle in camp during the next day, and, on November 17th, crossed the Tennessee River on the pontoon bridge, passed through Shellmound and out to Gordon's mines, and over the Sand Mountain by the Nickajack trace to the summit, which was above and over- looking the town of Trenton, Georgia. Here the com- mand camped for the night, having marched 16 miles.
On November 18th, with Cockerill's brigade leading and Corse's following, the column descended the moun- tain into the Wills Valley and drove the enemy out of Trenton and camped for the night, the distance marched during the day being 10 miles. The mounted detach- ments rejoined the brigade during the day at Trenton,
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where the enemy appeared in considerable force from the direction of Lookout Mountain, but retired before night. The three brigades of Loomis, Corse and Cockerill, com- posing General Hugh Ewing's division, were assembled in the vicinity of Trenton, threatening the passes over Lookout Mountain.
The Second Brigade, General Corse in command, start- ed south up the valley at noon on the 19th, with the Sixth Iowa in the lead, and drove the enemy from their camps, through Johnson's Crook - a narrow defile in the side of Lookout Mountain --- to the summit, where the forces of the enemy retired rapidly along the top of the mountain towards the north end. Captain George R. Nunn, with his Company H and other detachments, was left on top of the mountain as an outpost, while the brigade camped in the valley. A distance of 15 miles had been covered during the day.
At midnight, Captain Nunn's pickets captured a Con- federate Colonel who had been sent there in command of 150 men to hold the gap that the brigade was already in possession of. At daylight next morning, Captain Nunn, with his 40 men, advanced and attacked the forces of the enemy mentioned by the captured Colonel, and firing was commenced 50 yards beyond the outpost. The enemy was driven in a running fight to the far side of the moun- tain, and down through Stevens' Gap, closely followed by the advance. As the enemy wound down the narrow gap the men of Company H opened fire on them with ter- rible effect, killing and wounding 28, capturing 6 men, 7 horses, 9 rifles, and a wagon loaded with provisions and camp utensils.
In his report of the operations about Trenton, General Ewing mentioned the affair, thus:
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On the 20th, the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry ascended from Mclemore's Cove to drive us from the mountain. General Corse charged them with 40 mounted infantry, led by Captain Nunn, supported by infantry, routed and drove them beyond their camps in the cove, inflicting a heavy loss in killed, wound- ed, and prisoners, and capturing arms, horses, and equipage.
Private Thomas McEveny, taken prisoner, was the only loss sustained by the company. The demonstration made by General Ewing's division in the vicinity of Trenton and over the summit of Lookout Mountain had put in motion a large force of the Confederate army. This oc- curred four days before the capture of the north end of the mountain by the forces under General Hooker. A cold drizzling rain set in and continued almost constant- ly, day and night, causing much suffering among the men.
On November 21st, all of the scattered commands and detachments were called in and the division concentrated at Trenton, early in the day. The regiment passed through Trenton and camped with the rest of the division in the valley 5 miles north of Trenton near Nickajack Gap, the distance marched being 20 miles.
The extensive ironworks at Trenton, together with much other property there and in the vicinity, useful to the enemy, were burned and destroyed. The marching was very trying and had taxed the patience and endur- ance of the men to the extreme limit. The cold drench- ing rain had swelled the mountain streams into torrents, so that the men were compelled to wade in the water waist deep, and the roads were a sea of mud.
On November 22nd, the regiment, with everybody wet, tired and sore, broke camp and started at 7 a. m. The mounted men turned in their mules and horses to the Quartermaster during the day and took their places in the
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foot column. The troops drew 100 rounds of ammuni- tion per man at Wauhatchie station, crossed the Tennes- see River after dark on the pontoon bridge at Brown's Ferry and camped above Chattanooga, opposite the East Chickamauga River, at 10 p. m., having marched 15 miles.
November 23rd, the troops remained quiet in camp all day, screened from the enemy's view by the hills border- ing along the north bank of the Tennessee River. The hard rainstorms and cold frosty nights for the past four days had caused great suffering among the troops and many serious cases of illness were reported. The expe- dition up the Lookout Valley to Trenton and return was attended with as much hardship and exposure as any the regiment had ever experienced before.
Commanding officers were engaged during the day viewing the positions occupied by the enemy on the op- posite side of the river and completing the inspections and preparations for the crossing. Each man was re- quired to carry a blanket or overcoat, three days cooked rations, and as near 100 rounds of ammunition as possi- ble, including that in cartridge boxes. The camps and transportation, with all surplus baggage and knapsacks were left behind in charge of those unfit for duty. Heavy musketry and artillery firing was heard all day in the di- rection of Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain, where, at evening, the enemy opened fire with heavy guns from the point of the mountain.
General Sherman's battle orders, dated November 22nd, made dispositions as follows. The Fifteenth Army Corps, reenforced by one division of the Army of the Cumberland, was to cross the Tennessee at the mouth of East Chickamauga Creek, advance and take possession of the end of Missionary Ridge, from the railroad tunnel
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to Chickamauga, hold, and fortify. The Army of the Cumberland and General Hooker's command were to as- sist by direct attacks to their front. General Giles A. Smith's brigade was to man the 120 pontoon boats in West Chickamauga Creek and at midnight push out and drift down the Tennessee, landing two regiments above East Chickamauga and the remainder of the brigade be- low the mouth, and secure the enemy's picket at the mouth of the creek.
The whole of the Second Division was then to cross to the north of the Chickamauga and the Third Division, General John E. Smith commanding, was to cross to the south or below the mouth, each working smartly to forti- fy the ground and improve the landing. The First and Fourth divisions, Generals Osterhaus and Ewing com- manding, were to follow as soon as the first two were elear. The Fourth Division, under General Ewing, was moved out toward Tunnel Hill, keeping connection with the left division on Chickamauga Creek, which was the guiding flank.
The First Division commanded by General Osterhaus, was cut off by the broken bridge at Brown's Ferry and did not join the corps, but was attached to General Hook- er's command and operated against Lookout Mountain.
The crossing commenced at midnight as contemplated in the orders and by daylight, the 24th, the divisions of General Morgan L. Smith and General John E. Smith, 8000 men, were on the east bank of the river, and had thrown up rifle-trenches. General Ewing's division commenced crossing in the pontoon boats, when the steamer "Dunbar" arrived and relieved them of that la- borious task by ferrying the remaining troops over. At
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