USA > Iowa > A history of the Sixth Iowa infantry > Part 32
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At the evening parade, on April 27th, orders were read announcing that the four corps of Sherman's campaign- ing army would proceed by easy marches to the city of Richmond, Virginia. The news was received through- out the camps with great rejoicing; each regiment, as it was dismissed after parade, giving three rousing cheers. Later in the evening, a grand jubilee of rejoicing was participated in by all the troops. Great shouting and singing, with bands and drum corps playing -all
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brought into requisition to celebrate --- created a medley of noise and confusion that only ceased when the men were exhausted. The fact of white-winged peace, which had created such universal joy in the armies and through- out the whole land, could hardly be realized and many would awake, believing it only the hallucination of a pleasant dream.
That the army was really, and in fact ordered, to take up the homeward march, and that too, through the now famed city and capital of the Confederacy, created the liveliest anticipations of historic places and war scenes to be seen en route.
Much acrimonious feeling had been engendered be- tween General Sherman and the leading officials of the War Department, especially the Honorable E. M. Stan- ton, Secretary of War, and General H. W. Halleck, Chief of Staff, concerning the terms of surrender stipulated in the first Johnston-Sherman agreement, submitted to and rejected by the Department at Washington. The objec- tion made was that General Sherman willfully assumed authority, involving civil and political questions of grave importance, and the welfare and future interests of the government.
Bitter and scathing criticism of his motives and action in entering into the agreement was indulged in by high officials of the government and the northern press, caus- ing the noble man and patriot soldier the most poignant suffering and causing him to say in the closing para- graph of a communication to the Secretary of War: "I had flattered myself that by four years' patient, unre- mitting, and successful labor I deserve no reminder such as is contained in the last paragraph of your letter to General Grant". This paragraph reads as follows:
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"The hope of the country is that you may repair the mis- fortune occasioned by Sherman's negotiations".
His sensitive feelings and wounded spirit were meas- urably consoled, through all the unfortunate and trying controversy, by the always enthusiastic demonstrations of devoted love and loyalty of the officers and men of his army.
On April 26th, the rolls of General Johnston's army in North Carolina, showed a force, present and absent, of more than 100,000 men ; but, owing to absentees who were sick, wounded, or had deserted, or who had recently be- come disheartened and abandoned their colors, his force present was reported at about 24,000 men. The parol- ing officers reported that final papers were issued to 39,012 men.
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The surrender of Johnston's army, following so soon after the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee's army, was generally accepted as the end of organized hostilities by the Confederate armies.
General Sherman designated the four army corps, com- posing his old army, as the first troops to commence the homeward march. In special field orders, dated at Raleigh, North Carolina, April 27, 1865, General Howard was directed to conduct the Army of the Tennessee, and General Slocum the Army of Georgia, to Richmond, Vir- ginia, by easy marches, via Louisburg, Shady Grove, Lawrenceville, Warrenton, and Petersburg.
The Third Division of the 15th Army Corps was brok. en up, before leaving Raleigh, and the regiments as signed to the other divisions of the corps. The 93rd Illi- nois and the 4th Minnesota were assigned to the First Brigade and the 26th Iowa was transferred from the First Brigade to the Third Brigade of the First Division, 15th Army Corps. This made the Third Brigade an ex- clusive Iowa organization, composed of the following regiments : 4th, 9th, 25th, 26th, 30th, and 31st Iowa regiments, commanded by Colonel George A. Stone of the 25th Iowa Volunteers.
It would have been impossible for General Sherman to have accomplished the great feats at campaigning, that he did, had the popular idea created in the north by newspaper correspondents of the discipline in his army
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been true. There was not much of tinsel in the army, but more of the substantial, a sturdy type of practical military methods and forms adapted to the severe ex- igencies of the service. There was cultivated in the men a manly and independent nature; the drills gave easy carriage and grace; forms and routine gave the business elements of punctuality; frequent inspections compelled neatness; and the observance of military etiquette culti- vated polished and refined manners, throughout the army.
Had the orders to march been other than homeward, the troops would have been sorry to abandon the pleasant camps established about the city of Raleigh; but, under the circumstances, they were received with demonstra- tions of great joy. On April 29th, the First Division left its camps at 7 a. m., and marched out on the Lewisburg road, crossed the Neuse River on the pontoons and camped at Rogers'Cross-Roads, one mile from the river; and 12 miles from the starting point. Sunday, April 30th, the different commands mustered for pay during the forenoon, and the whole army remained in camp for the day. The troops generally were impatient at the de- lay and the desire of all was to push forward.
Each army corps column was assigned to a separate road and route of march, to be conducted with particu- lar reference to the convenience and comfort of the troops. Stringent orders were published prohibiting foraging in the country, or straggling out of ranks, while on the march. Any marauding or pillaging of houses was to be summarily and severely punished. Besides the morning and evening roll-calls, the roll was to be called at every regular halt of the column during the march, and every absentee not properly accounted for was to be punished.
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It was the known desire of General Sherman, as well as of every officer and enlisted man, having the honor of the army at heart, to make the march from Raleigh to Richmond a model one for propriety of conduct, showing to the inhabitants en route that when the war ended civil laws and government would be obeyed and private prop- erty and personal rights respected with jealous care. The men of the army were proud of its record in war, and every officer and man desired to keep it unsullied in peace, while on the homeward march.
Monday, May 1, 1865, the First Division broke camp at daylight, crossed the Tar River at one p. m., on the pontoon bridge and after marching 25 miles, went into camp at 4 p. m. on the north bank of Cypress Creek. May 2nd, camps were struck again at daylight and the division moved out on the Halifax road, crossed Sandy Creek, passed through Shady Grove and camped on Fish- ing Creek, at 4 p. m. The distance marched during the day was 24 miles.
North from Raleigh the column passed through a very fine region of country, greatly in contrast to the low lands of South Carolina and the country about the Cape Fear River. The planters lived in fine well kept build- ings; tobacco took the place of cotton as the staple pro- duct, and, instead of cotton gins, there were huge tobacco houses and curing sheds.
On May 3rd, the division broke camp at 4:30 a. m., and marched 22 miles in a northerly direction, crossing the Roanoke Valley Railroad, mid-way between the Ma- con and Littleton depots, and halted for camp at 3 p. m., on the south bank of the Roanoke River along with the other two divisions of the 15th Corps. The Roanoke is the largest river in the South, flowing to the Atlantic
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coast, and is noted for the beauty of scenery along its banks.
May 4th, the pontoon bridge, 280 yards long, was laid across the Roanoke River at Robinson's Ferry, and Gen- eral Corse's Fourth Division commenced crossing at 10 a. m., followed by the Second Division at 12:30 p. m., and the First Division at 3:30 p. m., all marching out on the Lawrenceville road. The rear of the column reached camp at 9 p. m. The distance traveled during the day was 16 miles. The Sixth Iowa camped on Virginia soil, for the first time.
On May 5th, the division broke camp at the Taber- nacle Church at 4:30 a. m., marched to Pendleton's bridge, crossed the Meherrin River, following in the rear of General Hazen's Second Division, and camped at 5 p. m., on Spencer's plantation at Wyatt's crossing over the Nottoway River. The distance traveled by the whole corps was 26 miles. All the troops went into camp very tired, on account of the long distance marched and be- cause of the heavy roads, caused by a light rainstorm during the afternoon. On May 6th, the troops broke camp at 5 a. m., crossed the Nottoway River, marched 21 miles and camped on Stony Creek. May 7th, the First Division left the camp on Stony Creek at daylight and marched on country roads leading in the direction of Petersburg. Camp was pitched at 3 p. m., just south of the city, after a distance of 20 miles had been marched.
The route of march during the day had been over his- toric battlefields along the Weldon Railroad south of Petersburg. The country was mostly level and was cov- ered with a thick growth of pine timber. At Reems' Station, where a hard battle had been fought in July, 1864, skulls and the bleached bones of men killed in the
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action were seen strewn on the ground in the pine woods.
The Army of the Potomac's abandoned winter quar- ters, occupied by it during the siege, and the evacuated fortifications - Union and Confederate - were all ob- jects of great interest to the men of Sherman's army. The log houses, built and occupied by the 5th Army Corps, were as pretty and comfortable as a factory vil- lage. The fortifications about the city were not as for- midable as the famed siege had led the western troops to anticipate.
The 15th Army Corps remained in camp on the 8th, while the 17th Corps marched through the city and was reviewed by General Howard, General Blair, commanding the corps, and by many distinguished officers, from the Army of the Potomac. The men generally embraced the opportunity, afforded by the halt, to visit historic scenes in and about the city. Northern merchants and traders had flocked to the captured cities with their goods and wares, giving to the battle-scarred town the appearance of great commercial activity. Hundreds of Confederate soldiers were seen lounging about the streets and depots, looking discouraged and forlorn in their stranded con- dition. Some of the officers wore good clothes, but gen- erally they were all ragged and dirty.
May 9th, at 7 a. m., the First Division broke camp and led the 15th Corps column, followed by the Fourth and Second divisions, in that order, with General Logan in command. The column was reviewed by General How- ard, while it was passing through the city. The column crossed the Appomattox River on the pontoons, marched out on the Petersburg and Richmond pike, crossed Old Town and Swift creeks, and halted for camp at 2 p. m., on Proctor's Creek, having traveled 12 miles.
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Fort Darling, at Drewry's Bluff, on the James River, the battlefield where General Butler's army was defeat- ed by General Beauregard in July, 1864, and the fortifica- tions built and fought in by both armies were all criti- cally inspected by the veterans of Corinth, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Atlanta, and Savannah.
At 5:30 a. m., May 10th, the 15th Corps continued the march 9 miles to the vicinity of Manchester, camping at 10 a. m., on French's plantation overlooking the James River and in plain sight of the city of Richmond. On May 11th, all active operations were suspended and the troops enjoyed a day of much needed rest, after the tour of unparalleled marching, from Raleigh to Richmond.
Added to the enjoyment of the pleasant weather of May, the most fascinating month of the year, were the many interesting points and places to be seen about the locality, which had been made historic by the operations of two great armies, during four years of incessant war. The sojourn of the army on the banks of the James River marked a rare opportunity for viewing the great beauty of an abounding natural scenery, along with the wreck, relics, and ruin of cruel war.
The river was filled with steam and sail craft, both great and small, coming up from the coast, laden with all kinds and sorts of merchandise and army stores. The little city of Manchester, on the south side of the river opposite the city of Richmond, suddenly, on the arrival of Sherman's army, became a very busy mart for trade in sutler goods. The uniform extortionate prices maintained for their goods was the chief characteristic among the small traders.
On the night of May 12th, a severe electrical storm passed over the camps, during which Private Tobias Ulrick, Company I, and two other men belonging to other
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regiments were killed by lightning, while in the field hospital. Several other patients were severely injured by the same stroke. The hospital tent had been pitched under a large oak tree, where it would have the benefit of the shade during the daytime, and it was down the huge trunk of this tree that the fatal element descended to the bunks of the sick soldiers.
The corps still remaining in camp, officers and men were allowed to visit the many points of interest in and about the city of Richmond, including Belle Island and Libby prisons, the burnt district in the city, the State capitol building's, and the remaining hotels and churches. The town was swarming with paroled Confederate soldiers and colored refugees, nearly all of whom were stranded and without means to procure food or transportation to their homes. Army rations were issued to the desti- tute citizens and soldiers, in quantity and kind the same as issued to the Union troops, so that all who came under the protecting folds of the flag were fed alike.
During the evening the troops gathered at corps head- quarters, where an impromptu meeting was organized and rousing speeches were made by General Logan and other soldiers of the command, none of which was more enthusiastically received than the scholarly and patriotic address delivered by Lieutenant-Colonel William H. Clune of the Sixth Iowa.
General Sherman rejoined the army at Manchester, coming from Raleigh via the coast steamers. He at once issued orders for resuming the march northward, as follows : the left wing, General Slocum commanding, was to cross the James River on the pontoon, pass through Richmond, Warrenton Junction, Centerville, Fairfax Court House, and on to Alexandria, in the vicinity of Washington. The right wing, General Howard com-
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manding, was to follow at leisure, crossing the James River on the pontoon, passing through Richmond, Bowl- ing Green, Fredericksburg, Stafford Court House, and Dumfries, to a camp near Alexandria, a distance of 125 miles.
May 13th, the 15th Corps broke camp on Manchester heights, passed through Manchester, crossed the James River on the pontoons, and passed through the city of Richmond. The ill temper engendered at Raleigh was again manifested by the army passing through the city without making any display or demonstration in honor of the military and civil officials then in the city. The column was conducted through the principal streets at route step in the same manner that it marched through the pine woods of Georgia and the Carolinas, except that each regiment gave the marching salute at the Washing- ton statue, in the capitol grounds. The camp was made at 6 p. m., ten miles north of Richmond, on Wyatt's plan- tation in the Chickahominy River bottom.
May 14th, at 5 a. m., the First Division broke camp, took up the line of march in the corps column following the Second Division, crossed the Chickahominy River on the pontoons, and established camp at Hanover Court House, at 12 o'clock noon, having marched 9 miles.
As the column advanced through historic places and localities, where some of the great battles of the war had been fought, great interest was taken by the officers and men in the geographical lay of the country about the positions which had been held by the contending forces. The character of the fortifications which had been erect- ed was critically inspected by the men who had been en- gaged at battling and fortifying from Missouri to the capital city of North Carolina.
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That an unscarred tree or growing twig could be found in the swamp region of the sluggish Chickahominy was hardly to be expected; but it was a surprise to all that only slight scars remained of the terrific conflicts that occurred there in 1862 and 1864. Some of the trees showed marks of bullets and shells, but the most of them had been cut out by relic hunters. The farmers there- about were seemingly carrying on their peaceful pur- suits, as of old, not having suffered loss and damage to property as compared with some other localities.
May 15th, the troops broke camp at 6 a. m., and, marching in the center of the corps column, crossed the Panunkey River on the pontoons, the Mattapony River ai Recdy Mills, and camped near Bowling Green, on the plantation of Mr. De Jarnett. The distance traveled during the day was 22 miles.
On May 16th, at 4:30 a. m., the Sixth Iowa led the corps column 25 miles on the direct Fredericksburg road; passing through Bowling Green and camping at 3 p. m., on the north bank of the Massaponax River -- five miles from Fredericksburg.
May 17th, the 15th Army Corps marched out from the night bivouac at an early hour and moved up the valley of the Rappahannock River, between the heights and the river, to the city of Fredericksburg. Here the column crossed to the north side on the pontoons laid in the river near the stone piers of the burned railroad bridge, passed by the Stafford Court House, and camped on the Ossian Creek, at 5 p. m., having marched 19 miles. Ow- ing to the intense heat during the day and the suffocating dust, several men marching in the column were pros- trated with sunstroke.
The old Virginia town of Fredericksburg, nestled down
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in the valley, on the banks of the river and in the shadow of Marye's Heights, as viewed from the Stafford hills on the north side, formed a landscape of rare and pictur- esque loveliness. The town had been almost in ruins in December, 1862, when General Burnside had it bom- barded for a whole day with four hundred guns, posted on the Stafford hills. It was there, in that beautiful valley, that the Army of the Potomac, with 100,000 men, met with crushing defeat, so that it was properly named "Burnside's Slaughter Pen". The bleaching bones of men and animals, killed in the battle, were seen scattered up and down the valley, in the fields and in the woods, where the battle had raged with the greatest fury and destruction of life.
At 4:30 a. m., May 18th, the column moved out on the road leading toward Alexandria, crossed the Aquia Creek on the pontoons not far from the Potomac River, passed through the village of Dumfries, crossed the Occoquan River, and camped one mile beyond the stream late in the evening. The distance marched during the day was 20 miles. A heavy downpour of rain set in early in the evening and continued through the night, when every- body got thoroughly wet.
May 19th, at 4 a. m., the column moved out in the rain and marched to Pohick Church, where General Woods took advantage of the privilege granted in orders and marched the men of his division through the enclosure around Mount Vernon grounds, passing by the building's ยท and directly in front of the tomb of Washington, where each regiment came to "shoulder arms" and the colors saluted, while passing. It was six miles out of the regu- lar route of the day's march for the men of the First Division, 15th Army Corps, to visit the home and sacred burial place of Washington, but none regretted the ex-
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tra marching. Having marched 18 miles, the division camped at night with the rest of the corps, three miles out from Alexandria.
On May 20th, the commands all remained in camp dur- ing the day. General Sherman had traveled a part of the distance, coming up from Richmond, with each one of the corps columns of his army, visiting all the principal bat- tlefields en route and had pitched his headquarters camp three miles north of Alexandria. On the evening of May 19th, he sent a note to President Andrew Johnson, re- porting the arrival of his army, and saying:
I have marched from Richmond slowly on purpose to spare the men and by reason of the very hot weather, but I can as- sure you all are in good order and condition for serenade, re- views, or fighting.
He also reported his arrival to General John A. Raw- lins, General Grant's Chief of Staff. Having seen the orders for the grand review in the newspapers in ad- vance of receiving them officially, he jocularly wrote in his note to the General :
I am old fashioned and prefer to see orders through some other channel, but if that be the new fashion, so be it. I will be all ready by Wednesday, though in the rough. Troops have not been paid for eight or ten months, and clothing may be bad, but a better set of legs and arms cannot be displayed on this continent. Send me all orders and letters you may have for me, and let some one newspaper know that the vandal Sherman is encamped near the canal bridge halfway between the Long Bridge and Alexandria to the west of the road, where his friends, if any, can find him. Though in disgrace he is untamed and unconquered.
This note truly reflected the spirit and temper of the men in his army.
May 21st, the reveille was sounded at 2:30 a. m., and
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the First Division marched through old Alexandria at a very early hour, a distance of five miles to a designated camping ground above town, where the Sixth Iowa and the other regiments of the Second Brigade were en- camped on the bank of the Potomac River, between the wagon road leading up to the Long Bridge and the river. The day was made disagrecable by a steady downpour of rain, which continued into the night. All kinds of steam and sail craft covered the Potomac River, from the small fish and vegetable boats up to the large ocean going steamers and gun-boats.
The quaint little old Virginia town of Alexandria was suddenly expanded and made quite a business mart for merchants and traders and the distribution of large quantities of army supplies, by the assembling of the great armies in its vicinity. To again see the inhabi- tants of a town engaged in all the peaceful pursuits of trade and commerce was a very gratifying sight to the men, who had witnessed nothing but the destruction of business and property for four long years of war. On May 22nd, a supply of new clothing was issued to the regiments, but not enough to make a complete suit for each man. The best of the old uniforms was selected out and washed, by the men, in the Potomac River, and used to complete the preparations for the grand review.
General Grant issued orders for a grand review of the Army of the Potomac, the Ninth Army Corps, and Gen- eral Sheridan's cavalry, to be held in Washington City on Tuesday, May 23rd, commanded by Major-General George G. Meade and the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of Georgia, on Wednesday, May 24th, com- manded by Major-General William T. Sherman. During the afternoon, the 9th Corps passed through Alexandria
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and the camps along the route, going into position at the south end of Long Bridge, preparatory for the review next day.
May 23rd, the First Division broke camp at an early hour and was massed in position at the south end of Long Bridge, opposite to the city, where the troops of the 2nd and 5th army corps were then passing over the Potomac River on the bridge to the review in the city.
A considerable number of the men of the Sixth Iowa, with like numbers from the other regiments of the bri- gade, fell in with the marching troops and passed over the bridge to the city, where they witnessed the grand spectacle of the Army of the Potomac, marching in re- view along Pennsylvania Avenue, occupying the entire day in passing. The spirit of rivalry between the eastern and western armies ran high, and chaffing by the men was incessant; but underneath it all, the men were imbued with soldierly pride and patriotic impulse, to see each other do their part well.
Late in the evening of the 23rd of May, 1865, the First Division crossed the river and encamped about the capitol grounds, the distance marched being 7 miles.
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