USA > Iowa > A history of the Sixth Iowa infantry > Part 3
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A regular camp routine of duty was established by or- ders, the calls were sounded from headquarters by drums and bugles, and guards were placed in and around the park, bringing the men under strict military discipline for the first time. The orders required that no one could pass in or out during the day unless provided with a pass properly approved by the commanding officer, and at night a camp countersign was put out. Any one at- tempting to pass the guards was promptly arrested and taken to the guard house.
In the absence of skilled instruction and the almost
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total lack of knowledge, on the part of officers and men of the elementary military duties to be performed, there were many comical and almost tragical occurrences, wherein officers and men alike shared in the humiliation.
The band received their instruments and were at once organized to furnish music, and this, as well as the soldierly bearing of the men, was an attraction in making the evening parades of the regiment - held in the street in front of the camp- so popular.
Instruction in company and squad drill was commenced in real earnest and from four to six hours each day was devoted to that exercise. The large vacant space south and west of the park was utilized as the drill ground, and from morning till night it was dotted with detachments maneuvering in the primary lessons of Hardee's Military Tactics,* which was adopted by both Unionists and Con- federates at the beginning of hostilities.
A prevalence of fever and diarrhoea in camp caused a large number of patients to be sent to the general hos- pitals established in the city, where they would receive better treatment and have more comfortable accommo- dations, than had yet been provided in the camp hos- pitals.
It was while the regiment was undergoing its first stage in enforcing strict military discipline that Colonel Me- Dowell issued his famous orders providing fines and penalties for using profane language or common swear- ing about the camp, by officers or men. It was a camp story, and probably strictly true, that Major John M.
4 William J. Hardee, who became a Lieutenant General in the Confederate army, prepared, in 1856, by order of the War Department, The United States Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics. - Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. III, p. 77.
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Corse reported at the Colonel's tent immediately after the orders had been read on parade and said: "I report, sir, to swear away my army pay".
On the 28th of August, the body of General Nathaniel Lyon, killed at the battle of Wilson's Creek, passed through the city on the way to his home in the State of Connecticut, for burial. The escort was composed of all the armed and equipped commands in the city, making the largest and most imposing military demonstration ever witnessed in the city. The patriotic and heroic stand taken for the Union and the successful military oper- ations conducted by him at the first appearance of hos- tilities greatly endeared him to the Union people in St. Louis, Missouri, and in the whole north country; and his tragic death on the battlefield, where he was in command, caused universal grief in the army and throughout all the northern States. The military display and the great crowds of citizens assembled all along the route of march to witness the funeral procession and pay their respects - in the last sad rites - to the great captain and hero of the western army was a sight to inspire the young vol- unteer with enlarged ideas of the spirit of patriotism, the magnitude of the war, and the sacrifices to be made for the preservation of the Union.
Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Markoe Cummins, com- missioned by the Governor of Iowa as second officer in command of the regiment, and Dr. Albert T. Shaw - a highly reputable and skilled physician of Fort Madison - commissioned as Major and Chief Surgeon of the regi- ment, joined the command at Camp Jessie and entered upon their respective duties. It had been determined by the State authorities to hold vacant a field position in each one of the newly organized regiments to be filled by
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promoting men who had served in the First Iowa Volun- teers and had fought at Wilson's Creek, and in pursuance of that arrangement Colonel Cummins, late Captain of Company A, First Iowa, of Muscatine, Iowa, came to the regiment.
The orchards and gardens adjacent to the camp furn- ished an abundance of delicious fruit which was con- sumed in great quantities, both raw and cooked. Ripe peaches were so plentiful that they were to be had by simply going after them. The fruit season was just in its prime during the stay of the regiment in the park and added much to the pleasure and satisfaction of all, and, no doubt, was highly beneficial to the general good health that prevailed in the command.
At the hotels, theaters, and on the streets in the city was a throng of gorgeously uniformed officers, day and night, making an impression that the army was com- posed almost entirely of officers. Officers were granted greater freedom and more privileges to visit the city and attend at places of amusement than were accorded to en- listed men. This was annoying to many high spirited young men in the ranks, who, at their homes, moved in the best circles of society and enjoyed the highest priv- ileges. But time and a vigorous enforcement of army rules and discipline soon brought about a proper subjec- tion and harmony among all ranks and conditions in the command.
The long delay in furnishing the regiment with arms and equipment for active field services caused much com- plaint, bitter criticism, and not a little discouragement among officers and men alike. The camp reports were current, from day to day, that the regiment would re- ceive new guns and complete equipment but disappoint-
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ment followed disappointment until it became distress- ingly monotonous and discouraging in the extreme. All knew there was no hope of active services, while the command was without arms or field equipment; but all did not understand the extent of the herculean efforts being made by the departments of the governmental ser- vice to arm and equip the great armies forming for the war. Many blamed the commanding officers with the delay, thinking they preferred to remain in the city park and enjoy the privileges of the city, to campaigning in the country and engaging in the numerous skirmishes and battles occurring almost daily in the interior and southwest part of the State.
While the wearisome delays dragged along the com- mand was being improved by daily drills, guard duty, camp ceremonies, and an occasional detail to work on the fortifications being erected about the city, which made life tolerably burdensome; but, nevertheless, the stay in the park was a pleasant season and all received much useful instruction in camp life and the duties of soldier- ing. Those who were disposed to enter heartily into the active duties of a soldier were uniformly happy, enjoyed camp life, and had a good time.
On September 16th, the camp resounded with the glad- some news, "Marching Orders".
The regiment broke camp in the park, on September 17th, and marched to Benton Barracks, situated on the fair grounds in the northern portion of the city, then being erected to accommodate a large number of troops. The stay at the barracks was only for a day and two nights, when the line of march was again taken up, with the regiment formed in column of companies and the route of march down Grand Avenue and Washington
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Street to the river. The men were in fine spirit and made a proud display as they marched to the inspiring music by the band and the martial strains of the fife and drum corps. The marching column and the music were repeatedly cheered by the citizens along the route.
The troops and baggage were at once embarked on board a river steamer when it dropped down the river about a mile where it landed and was tied up. Pur- suant to orders the regiment and its baggage were trans- ferred from the boat to the cars on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which were convenient to the boat landing. When all had become comfortably located on the train, orders were received from headquarters in the city, di- recting that the regiment be reembarked on the steam- boat, which was promptly effected, but the limit to patience and good order was reached, when an order was given to transfer everything back to the train again. It was far into the night when the last transfer was com- pleted and much of the good missionary work done in the regiment by the venerable Chaplain, Dr. John Ufford, was hopelessly wrecked while the command was vibrat- ing between the landing and the depot.
The destination of the regiment was finally deter- mined upon at headquarters and the train pulled out for Jefferson City, the capital of the State of Missouri, where it arrived on the morning of September 20th, and the men marched out to Camp Curtis - named for Sam- uel R. Curtis, Iowa's first Brigadier-General in the war - where the camp was pitched on the site of Governor [Claiborne F.] Jackson's recent camp of Missouri State troops. These, with the Governor, had joined Price's army at the time they abandoned the capital and State to join the Confederacy.
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On the next day arms and accouterments and a large supply of clothing were issued to the regiment, each man receiving a gun and equipment, 2 shirts, 2 pair drawers, 2 pair socks, 1 pair shoes, 1 pair pants, 1 cloth cap, 1 blue jacket, 1 sky blue overcoat, 1 wool blanket, knap- sack, and canteen. The guns were the old Austrian musket pattern, with fuse primers. At the first dress parade Major Corse tested the quality of the guns by trying to fire a volley, when only about a dozen guns in the line fired. Colonel McDowell's swearing order had no effect in restraining men and officers from expressing their disgust in vigorous language.
An epidemic of measles broke out in the camp and in a few days there were nearly one hundred cases in the regiment, together with a large number of serious cases of chills, fevers, and camp diarrhoea. The hospitals were soon filled, and the doctors taxed to the limit of en- durance. It is greatly to the credit of the surgeons, in their first field service, that very few deaths occurred in the regiment, considering the number of men who were stricken with measles and fever - both typhoid and pneumonia.
The men in the regiment who were reported for duty were called upon to perform laborious and exacting ser- vice at camp and picket guard duty, working on fortifi- cations, drills, and parades, and large fatigue details to unload army stores and supplies at the depot and the boat landing.
Mules and wagons were received by the regimental quartermaster, who soon had a corps of teamsters or- ganized with David C. Ely as chief wagon-master and William T. Ogle as his assistant. The process of lasso- ing the mules and breaking them to work in six mule teams was like a day at a circus.
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Almost daily the camps were thrown into a fever of ex- citement over false rumors circulated that large forces of the enemy were in the vicinity, and on several occas- ions the troops were assembled in the breastworks to re- sist an expected attack.
On the 6th of October, the regiment received its first pay, being the amount due from July 17th to August 31st. General [James] Totten inspected the regiment and then it passed in review before him, making a creditable show- ing.
General Fremont had concentrated in Missouri an army of 40,000 men and 100 guns prepared to advance from Rolla, Jefferson City, Tipton, Sedalia, and Kansas City, south into the enemy's country about Springfield. The divisions were commanded by such distinguished generals as John Pope, Jefferson C. Davis, Franz Sigel, David Hunter, Samuel D. Sturgis, J. Mckinstry and James H. Lane. Orders were issued directing a con- certed movement by all the columns, all to converge on Springfield and the Confederate army. General Sterl- ing Price was located along the line of the Osage River, where he had taken position after his brilliant success at Lexington, on the Missouri River, with the Missouri State Guard, composed of 5000 infantry and artillery, and 8000 horsemen armed with all sorts of guns, without discipline, and commanded by distinguished Missour- ians, as follows: Harris, Steen, Parsons, Rains, McBride, Slack, and Clark. General Benjamin McCul- loch, in command of the Arkansas division of 7000 men of all arms, was at Springfield, and the aggregate force of Confederate troops was 20,000 men.
The last days at Camp Curtis were devoted to making preparations for commencing the campaign to redeem Missouri and destroy the Confederate forces in that
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section. Every department and each soldier was busy getting everything in order for the march - cooking rations, packing knapsacks, loading the wagons, filling up with ammunition, cleaning guns, burnishing ac- couterments, making comfortable arrangements for those who were sick and unable to march, and attending to a thousand little details that later in the war gave the soldier very little concern. The regiment had waited a long time before receiving arms and a full supply of equipment, but when the order to march was received each man found he was supplied with twice as much as he was able to carry on a long march.
The regiment was supplied with a train of 25 large government wagons, each drawn by six mules and loaded with the camp and garrison equipage of the regiment, with from three to five tons to each wagon.
On October 7th, the regiment, along with the other troops, struck camp and marched through the city and out on the main wagon road leading west from the capi- tal. When the top of the first long hill was reached and the column halted, many men in the ranks - then and there - decided that it would be impossible for them to continue to carry the sixty to eighty pounds of equip- ment each man had been provided with, and at once commenced to reduce the burden. Coats, blankets, un- derwear, and rations were abandoned, reducing the bur- den in many instances fully one-half. Even after so great a sacrifice large numbers were compelled to drop out and were taken to the hospitals and were never able to return to the regiment. It was the first test of en- durance in campaigning and those who were constitu- tionally weak and those who had recently been stricken with measles and camp fevers were so prostrated by the
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severe test that many of them never recovered to do duty in the regiment. The command marched 10 miles and camped for the night at what was designated as Camp Fremont.
At an early hour the next morning the march was con- tinued to the town of California, a distance of 15 miles, where the camp was pitched on the west edge of town in a nice clean pasture filled with a grove of native oaks, where wood and water, and a supply of nice fresh straw - for the bedding in the tents - were provided. On October 9th, the regiment marched 15 miles to Tipton, through a cold rain and deep mud. It remained in camp at Tipton during the next day, and, on the 11th, con- tinued the march 5 miles to Syracuse.
Regular camps were laid out on the big open prairie surrounding the village. The regiment was assigned to a brigade composed of the 7th Missouri, and the 6th and 8th Iowa Infantry regiments, commanded by Colonel Frederick Steele, of the 8th Iowa, and to the division commanded by General J. Mckinstry, both being dis- tinguished regular army officers.
The far extending camps of white canvas tents, spread- ing out over the broad level prairie, and covering the 8000 men composing General Mckinstry's division, was a scene that inspired the young volunteers with enlarged ideas of the magnitude of the undertaking they were engaged in.
On October 13th, the whole division was formed in line on the prairie adjacent to the camps where it was inspect- ed by Honorable Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, ac- companied by General Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-Gen- eral of the army, and General John C. Fremont. After the inspection, the troops were formed in column of
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companies and marched in review for the distin- guished officials and officers, who were attended by a brilliant array of staff officers, and large escorts of cavalry in gorgeous uniforms and superbly mounted. General Thomas, in his report to the Secretary of War, stated in regard to Mckinstry's division that it was said to be the best equipped in the army. He also reported that the force designated to act against General Price consisted of five divisions, numbering in all, 38,789 men.
The march from Jefferson City had been along the line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and in close proximity to the Missouri River, both of which furnished easy and convenient transportation for troops and supplies for the gathering army. The next movement in the con- templated campaign would be to the south, leading away from the base on the railroad and the river, so that wagon transportation would have to be depended upon entirely. The task of transporting the food, forage, ammunition, and other supplies for an army of 40,000 men and 20,000 animals, through a hostile country 150 miles from the railroad and river base, was an under- taking that appalled even the old freighters from the western plains.
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With only wagon transportation, an inferior quality of unserviceable foreign-made guns, a lamentable lack of military method in the plans for the campaign, a want of confidence and harmony among the commanders who were to lead the army, and, in many regiments discip- line little better than that of a huge mob, the orders were promulgated to commence the grand forward movement into the heart of the enemy's country.
It was very evident, though, to observing men in the ranks that commanders and leaders were paying more
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attention to military pomp and display than they were to the details of administration and organization, so essential to the efficiency and strength of an army, as well as to its success in campaign and battle. The army was surcharged with an abundance of patriotic enthus- iasm, but almost helpless for want of proper drill and training in the school of a soldier, and for want of skill- ful leadership.
IV CAMPAIGNING IN MISSOURI
While in camp at Syracuse awaiting orders for the for- ward movement, Major John M. Corse embraced the opportunity and instructed the regiment daily in battal- ion drills and field maneuvers. For three days he chased the whole regiment over the prairie in battalion and skirmish drills. The recent arduous campaigning and drilling had operated to develop the officers and men alike in the regiment, and they were improving rapidly in all the duties of soldiering. Many who had been the most conspicuous in the beginning were hunting for easy jobs or seeking to get out of the service honorably be- fore more serious service was required of them. All of the sick and those not likely to endure the hard march- ing contemplated were sent to the hospitals at Jeffer- son City and St. Louis, and many procured furloughs and returned to their homes in Iowa.
It was while in camp at Syracuse that the contention and wrangling going on in the regiment concerning pro- motions and the administration of its affairs began to be generally known throughout the command, but the near approach of active operations served to scatter the contending elements, while those who took their places in the ranks were full of hope and loyal enthusiasm. The thinning out process inaugurated had gone on until all of the companies were greatly reduced in numbers, and no company had over fifty men in ranks ready to march to the front.
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Strict orders were issued and read to the troops for- bidding the taking of private property from any person, and for any purpose whatever, unless authorized by a general officer, requiring frequent roll-calls and inspec- tions, and declaring for the prosecution of the war with the utmost vigor against armed focs of the government. Plundering and marauding, doubly disgraceful in soldiers, were to be punished by the severest penalties of the military law.
After many delays and sore disappointments, it was on October 21st that camp was struck and the whole command took up the line of march south across the forty-mile prairie. After traveling twelve miles, the di- vision camped in the open plain. The troops were hilar- . ious with patriotic enthusiasm, the bands joined in the prevailing ardor by playing popular and familiar music, and all were filled with buoyant hope and inspiring military zeal.
When the division in marching order was stretched out for miles across the broad level prairie - the dark blue uniforms of the soldiers strikingly contrasting with the green sea of wild prairie grass - the immense trains of white canvas covered wagons, together with the ar- tillery and cavalry, presented a scene of superb military splendor and magnitude, inspiring to behold.
The column marched 7 miles the next day and camped at the place made famous by General Lyon in a skirmish with the enemy, during his advance on Springfield, in July. October 23rd was an ideal fall day and at an early hour the division was stretched out on the Warsaw road in full marching array. When it had proceeded five or six miles from camp, there was discovered away in the far distance to the east a column of troops marching
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in the same direction, which was viewed with much con- cern and considerable alarm. The column was halted and the brigade brought into line of battle facing the threatened danger, and it was soon apparent that the threatening column had performed the same movement and both lines were soon rapidly marching toward each other.
Mounted staff officers rode back and forth along the line giving orders and exhibiting great excitement. While regimental officers were giving directions for the proper alignment and guides, the company officers were giving timely precautionary instructions to stand firm -- touching elbow to elbow - to shoot low, not to leave the ranks to care for wounded men, and to promptly close up the files of those who should be killed. They also spoke words of encouragement, which were only too visi- bly the reflection of their own excited feelings. Many of the young fellows in the lines were thinking of all the bad things they had ever done and of the many good things they had neglected to do, while the cold chills were chasing up and down their backbones, and their knees were knocking together with a genuine attack of buck ague, until matters looked very critical and the con- dition of many was really and truly deplorable.
That a great battle was going to be fought, then and there, every one firmly believed. During the trying or- deal each one was trying to swallow the great lump in his throat and appear cool and courageous. All the time neither side had displayed their colors, and it was when Major Corse ordered the colors of the Sixth Iowa unfurled to the breeze that those approaching in the op- posing line displayed the same flag, which stopped all further hostile demonstrations and it was at once ascer-
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tained that the column of supposed enemy was the di- vision of General Hunter.
The command marched 15 miles on October 24th and camped 4 miles from Warsaw at "Camp Persimmons", so named on account of the abundance of that delicious fruit found in the groves. The puckering qualities of a green persimmon were remembered for a long time by many of the young soldiers who were not familiar with the fruit and its unpalatable qualities while in a green state. On the 25th, the whole command continued the march to Warsaw, an old county seat town, situated on the north bank of the Osage River. The next day the regiment crossed the river on a temporary bridge con- structed by the engineers and troops of an advance di- vision of the army, and camped with the rest of the bri- 'gade 8 miles south on the Pomme-de-Terre River -- known as "Camp Starvation", or "Bran Hollow". The camp was pitched in an abandoned field, covered by an almost impenetrable bur patch. Large policing details soon cleared the ground and the tents were pitched in regular order, it being announced that the column would halt for a few days until supplies were brought forward.
Company and battalion drills, and the usual daily cere- monies were resumed and continued during the three or four days the troops were halted, but the officers and men were foot-sore and did not enter into the spirit of the Hardee tactics with any degree of enthusiasm. On October 31st, the camp was broken at an early hour and the command marched 10 miles to Quincy. It was a cold and disagreeable day and the route traveled over was hilly and rocky. The advance forces of General Fremont's army had reached Springfield where they were threatened by a superior force of the enemy, which
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