USA > Iowa > A history of the Sixth Iowa infantry > Part 6
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In the organization and administration of an army the soldier is necessarily a machine, until the rank of Colonel commanding a regiment is obtained. It is specified when he shall move, and when he shall not move; when he shall
6 The Third Division is listed in the official records as having an aggre- gate of 7561 men present for duty. - War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Series I, Vol. X, Pt. 1, p. 112.
7 These five divisions are listed as having only fifty pieces of artillery. - War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Series I, Vol. X, Pt. 1, p. 112.
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eat, and what he shall eat; when he shall go to bed, and when he shall get up again. He is penned up in a little sphere, and knows scarcely anything beyond it. He con- tracts his services to his government for a stipulated period, and he must sacrifice his life, if required, at any moment. He is just one in a great body of men, under military organization, bound by strict rules of discip- line and the army regulations.
The brigade and division commanders in the army at Pittsburg Landing were all men of the highest personal character, noted for the high order of their intelligence, and great skill in the line of their civil professions. They were, also, great leaders in the political affairs of their States and the nation. General Sherman was the only division commander who had a military education, and only a very limited number of the brigade commanders had received military training or had come to their com- mands from the regular army. General Grant, the com- mander of the army, had graduated at West Point Mili- tary Academy, and ranked as a Captain at the time he re- signed and left the regular service, several years before the war. He had seen service in the Mexican War, and had been promoted to First-Lieutenant for gallantry in battle.
None of the regiments in Prentiss' or Sherman's di- visions, occupying the front lines, had ever been under fire or seen an engagement of any consequence. The en- listed men and subordinate officers composing the rank and file of the army had been drawn from the farms, factories, shops, schools, and professions in that portion of the country, so recently carved out of the virgin forests and broad prairies of the great northwest portion of the country ; hardy, self-reliant, patriotic, and devoted to
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their free homes, free institutions, and the principles of liberty. Inured to frontier life and pioneer hardships; schooled in the principles of freedom and the dignity of labor; they stood in the ranks as volunteer soldiers - not for the glory and circumstance of war, but for a prin- ciple in human goverment, dear as life itself. Each man stood with unselfish devotion to duty - elbow to el- bow --- ready, if need be, to sacrifice his life on the altar of his country.
The concentration of the Confederate forces at Corinth began about March Ist and was continued with great ac- tivity till April 1, 1862. General Albert Sidney Johnston was assigned to the chief command of the combined armies by Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President, with General P. G. T. Beauregard, second in command. The troops were organized into four army corps com- manded as follows: First Corps, General Leonidas Polk; Second Corps, General Braxton Bragg; Third Corps, General William. J. Hardec; Fourth or Reserve Corps, General John C. Breckinridge. The regiments, brigades, and divisions were commanded by such dis- tinguished soldiers as Alexander P. Stewart, B. F. Cheatham, Bushrod Johnson, Daniel Ruggles, Randall L. Gibson, Patton Anderson, Preston Pond, J. M. Withers, A. H. Gladden, James R. Chalmers, J. K. Jackson, Thomas C. Hindman, Patrick R. Cleburne, R. P. Trabue, John S. Bowen, William B. Bate, John H. Morgan, Na- than B. Forrest, Joseph Wheeler, John S. Marmaduke, Thomas Jordan, and Charles Clark; nearly all of whom were educated and trained soldiers and also distinguished citizens in their several States.
General Albert Sidney Johnston had been educated at the West Point Military Academy, and had remained in
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the U. S. army for eight years, where he received a thorough knowledge of details in the military service. He resigned from the army and joined the cause of the infant Republic of Texas and became her Adjutant-Gen- eral, Senior Brigadier-General, and Secretary of War. He raised a regiment of Texans and joined General Zachary Taylor in the war with Mexico, where he was distinguished in battle. General Taylor declared him to be the best soldier he had ever commanded. He was made Colonel of one of the two new cavalry regiments provided for in 1855; breveted a Brigadier-General in 1858, and placed in command of the expedition in that year against the Mormons in Utah. He was in com- mand of the U. S. forces on the Pacific coast at the be- ginning of the war, and resigned to join the Confed- cracy.
General P. G. T. Beauregard graduated at the military academy and was a highly accomplished officer in the en- gineer department of the U. S. army. He had come to the Western Department with great prestige, having com- manded the Confederate forces in Charleston harbor at the bombardment of Fort Sumter and led the victorious Confederate legions at the battle of Bull Run.
General Leonidas Polk graduated at the military acad- emy and then became a bishop of great learning and in- fluence in the church. General Braxton Bragg was also a West Pointer and greatly distinguished in the artillery service of the U. S. army. General William J. Hardee graduated at the military academy, served in the army and was particularly distinguished as the author of Har- dee's Tactics, adopted by both Unionists and Confeder- ates in the war. General John C. Breckinridge was the Vice President of the United States in the Buchanan
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administration, and a Kentuckian of great prestige and influence.
Isham G. Harris, Governor of Tennessee and serving as Special Aide on the staff of General Johnston; George W. Johnson, Provisional-Governor of Kentucky and Special Aide on the staff of General Trabue; Colonel Jacob Thompson, late a member of President Buchanan's cabinet, Special Aide on the staff of General Beauregard, - all men of distinguished character in the political affairs of the country - were present with the army in- spiring and encouraging the troops.
On April 3, 1862, a field return was made showing the strength of the Confederate army at Corinth to be 59,774 men, present and absent; present in camp 49,444; total effective strength in line, with arms in their hands, 39,598 men.8
The battle order was issued by General A. S. Johnston, on April 3, 1862, with detailed instructions to corps com- manders as to routes of march and battle formations, "it being assumed that the enemy is in position about a mile in advance of Shiloh Church, with his right resting on Owl Creek and his left on Lick Creek". The Third Corps, General Hardee commanding, formed the front line of battle with the brigade's of Gladden, Hindman, Wood, and Cleburne; the Second Corps, General Bragg commanding, formed in the rear in the same order; the First Corps, General Polk commanding, formed in the rear of the Second, in column of brigades supporting the left; and the Fourth Corps, General Breckinridge com- manding, formed in the same order supporting the right, with both wings guarded by the cavalry.
8 The official report lists a total of 38,773 effective men. - War of the Rebellion: Official Records, Series I, Vol. X, Pt. 1, p. 398.
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In no other engagement during the war was there a battle formation so correct tactically or the attack so successfully delivered, as that of the Confederate army, on the field of Shiloh. The last paragraph in the battle order as read to the troops is significant :
The troops, individually so intelligent, and with such great interests involved in the issue, are urgently enjoined to be ob- servant of the orders of their superiors in the hour of battle. The officers must constantly endeavor to hold them in hand and prevent the waste of ammunition by heedless aimless firing. The fire should be slow, always at a distinct mark. It is ex- pected that much and effective work will be done with the bayonet.
The Confederate plans contemplated that the attack should be made on Saturday morning, April 5th, but on the night of April 4th, the troops were no farther ad- vanced than Monterey, and did not reach the vicinity of the Tennessee River, until about 4 p. m., on Saturday, when a council was held by Generals Johnston, Beaure- gard, and the corps commanders, and the attack post- poned until the next morning.
VI THE BATTLE OF SHILOH
The locality and topography of the battlefield is very accurately described by General Hardee in his report of the battle made to the Confederate authorities, thus :
The Tennessee River runs nearly due north from above Lick Creek to the mouth of Owl Creek, which creeks, after flowing nearly parallel to each other, empty into the river about 4 miles apart. Pittsburg Landing is situated near the foot of the hills, and nearly midway between the mouths of the two creeks, on the west bank of the river. This bank of the Tennes- see is a range of bold, wooded hills, bordering the stream close- ly, which, as they recede from the river, gradually diminish, the slopes falling away from a ridge on the south toward Lick Creek and on the north toward Owl Creek. From Mickey's, 8 miles west from Pittsburg, rolling uplands, partially cultivated, interspersed with copses, thickets, and forests, with small fields, cultivated or abandoned, characterize the country from that point to the river.
Colonel John Adair McDowell's First Brigade of Gen- eral William T. Sherman's Fifth Division, embracing the 40th Illinois, 46th Ohio, and 6th Iowa regiments, and the Morton Battery, Indiana Artillery, occupied the right of the Union lines at Owl Creek - the Sixth Towa at the extreme right of the line. The brigade was alert during the night and before daylight, on Sunday morning, April 6th, the reveille was sounded at brigade headquarters. The troops were then quietly formed in line on the parade grounds in front of the camps, the arms stacked and the men allowed to return to quarters for breakfast.
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At the first break of day musketry firing was heard at about the same point on the Corinth road where the en- gagement had occurred on the Friday evening before. An intermittent musketry fire continued for half an hour and the sun arose in cheering brilliancy without a cloud in the sky, when the firing was increased and rapidly ex- tended along the front in both directions from where it had commenced. The bugles sounded "attention" and the men of the First Brigade quickly took their places in the line of their stacked guns, where they anxiously awaited developments. The long roll was beat in all the camps and the troops formed for action. The firing in- creased in volume and was plainly receding towards the camps to the left on the main Corinth road.
It was about 7 o'clock when the first cannon shot was fired by the enemy, which was quickly responded to by the Union batteries immediately in front of the Shiloh Church. The roar of battle steadily increased and it was plainly noticeable approaching nearer and nearer to the camps, until the loud cheering and battle vells of the enemy were distinctly heard, intermingled with the crashing volleys of musketry fire and the thunder tones of the artillery, as the storm of battle broke and extend- ed along the front of Prentiss' and Sherman's divisions.
Company D, Sixth Iowa, Captain Walden commanding, posted at the Owl Creek bridge, guarding the approach to the right flank of the army on the Purdy road, had been wakeful and vigilant during the whole night. Outposts were advanced beyond the creek and the wide swamp bordering it on the far side, with posts up and down the creek and to the left rear along a small branch, which had its source near the Shiloh Church and flowed down in front of the camps and emptied into Owl Creek
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a short distance above the bridge. The enemy made no attempt to reach the field of conflict by the Purdy road during the early morning, but did display a large force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery in the woods across the open field lying beyond the branch leading up in front of the camps. Lieutenant John L. Bashore, in charge of the picket posts along that portion of the line, opened a brisk fire on the marching columns and advance scouts of the enemy, without drawing the fire of their main columns.
Company I, Sixth Iowa, Captain Brydolf commanding, was sent to the front as skirmishers - deployed in front of the brigade camps, where they were engaged with the advance scouts of the enemy's forces visible from the Owl Creek bridge.
Company K, Sixth Iowa, Captain White commanding, was detached and joined Captain Walden at the Owl Creek post, and also one gun of Captain Behr's Morton Battery was placed at the brow of the hill on the Purdy road as a support to the companies at the bridge. At about the same time, Lieutenant-Colonel Markoe Cum- mins (the only field officer with the regiment) moved the Sixth Iowa out in front of the parade ground to a position in the woods, where Company E, Captain Henry Saunders commanding; Company G, Captain John Williams commanding; and Company C, Lieutenant Robert Allison commanding, were designated to support one section of the Morton Battery, on a more distant ele- vation to the left and front. The 40th Illinois was sent to the support of the brigade on the left, where it be- came hotly engaged. The Morton Battery opened fire on the moving masses of the enemy marching to the at- tack far out in front of the camps. The infantry and artillery had opened a brisk fire along the line to the left
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and the battle became general, as evidenced by the un- remitting roll of musketry and artillery along the entire front.
Up to 10 o'clock McDowell's brigade had not been ser- iously engaged, but was held in line of battle in sight and hearing of a most desperate conflict, amid the crash and roar of 200 pieces of artillery, a continuous roll of musketry, rising and falling as it was wafted by the warm spring-day breeze, like the distant roar of a great falls, the smoke of battle ascending into the clear sky high above the scene of conflict, where it spread out into a great cloud, obscuring the sun.
Between 9 and. 10 o'clock, the 8 companies were as- sembled and formed with the other regiments of the bri- gade in the woods near the brigade headquarters, the Sixth Iowa forming on the left of the brigade. The Mor- ton Battery was unlimbered for action, but Captain Fred Behr was almost immediately shot from his horse, and five of his six guns fell into the hands of the enemy. It was painfully evident that the Union lines were being steadily pressed back at all points and that the enemy was then between the brigade and the landing at the river.
Colonel McDowell moved his command by the left flank to the rear through the woods to a point where it re- ceived the first volley fire from the enemy, which was re- plied to with great spirit by the skirmishers. The re- maining howitzer of the Morton Battery, which had been guarding the Owl Creek bridge, rejoined the brigade and with a few well directed rounds of canister cleared the field to the left and front of the column, of the enemy's scattered forces. It was during this engagement that Private James Mardis, of Company F, was killed; Lieu-
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tenant John T. Grimes, also of Company F, was severely wounded, and Lieutenant Joseph S. Halliday, of Com- pany I, was dangerously wounded and borne from the field.
The Sixth lowa was again moved with the brigade through the woods, passing over an old field and into the woods beyond it, where Lieutenant-Colonel Cummins halted it, about faced the left wing and marched it back to the field fence, leaving the other four companies standing in line in the woods. Colonel McDowell, who was person- ally directing the maneuvers of the brigade, appeared and asked: "What does all this mean?" -- to which Captain Calvin Minton, commanding Company F, re- plied : "It means, sir, that the Colonel is drunk." Colo- nel McDowell then ordered the Adjutant of the regiment, Lieutenant Thomas J. Ennis, to relieve the Colonel of his sword and thereby place him under arrest. Captain Daniel Iseminger, of Company B, the ranking officer, as- sumed command, the two wings were united, and the regiment resumed its place in the brigade.
It was at this point while the regiment was being re- formed in the woods, at about the hour of 11:30 a. m., that Captain Walden and Captain White, with compan- ies D and K, rejoined it and took their places in the line.
Captain Walden's orders had been to hold the Owl Creek bridge until relieved or forced by the enemy to abandon the position. At about 10 a. m., when the po- sition at brigade headquarters was being abandoned, Corporal George Albertson, of Company B, clerk in the Assistant Adjutant-General's office at the headquarters, was dispatched by Colonel McDowell with orders for Captain Walden, directing him to join the regiment with his command. To execute the orders Corporal Albert-
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son made a hurried trip on foot along the Purdy road, then gay with peach blossoms and the perfume of wild flowers scenting the air-mingled with rather lively notes of whistling bullets and screeching shells. Though completely exhausted he was well repaid for his gallant efforts by the welcome he received from the men who had "kept the bridge", and were thus relieved from their perilous position.
The camps having been abandoned by the troops and occupied by the enemy - cutting off all hope of joining the regiment by that route, Captain Walden marched bis command in good order, from the post and camp he had occupied with his company since the time the army arrived and went into camp, keeping under the lee of the bluff bordering on Owl Creek, and following down its course through mud and water until the overflow in the swamp was an impassable barrier to farther progress. Then a reconnoitering party was sent over the high bluff where the regiment was found in the woods a short dis- tance from the brow of the hill.
The position at Owl Creek was at once occupied by Colonel John A. Wharton's regiment of Texas Rangers. In his report of the battle, Colonel Wharton said that he passed over the Owl Creek bridge with his regiment at 11 a. m., on Sunday morning, April 6, 1862. Being or- dered to pursue the retreating force, he did so, but had not gone over 300 yards when the head of his column re- ceived a withering fire from a large force who lay in am- bush, which ended the pursuit. Those Union soldiers who were sick and not able to march, and those who at- tempted to march and were overcome with exhaustion in the swamp, including Corporal Albertson, were captured by the Texas Rangers.
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The Sixth Iowa in concert with the rest of the brigade, and under the personal direction of Colonel McDowell, moved by the left flank for a long distance through the woods and across small fields to a point where the brigade was formed in line of battle and the whole marched for- ward to a position, with the left flank of the regiment resting among the tents at the end of a large camp, the colors and center occupying the parade ground and a wagon road in front of the camp, while the right wing extended to the right on gently rising ground and slight- ly deflected to the rear, with the 46th Ohio still extending to the right and rear, guarding the extreme right flank of the line. The 40th Illinois was advanced to the sup- port of a battery on the left where it connected with the right of the general line then established in General McClernand's camp.
It was by order of Colonel McDowell that Captain John Williams took command of the regiment while it was passing through the woods to the position taken at Mc- Clernand's camp. Orders were given for companies B and H to advance from the right of the regiment, under command of Captain Daniel Iseminger, and hold a slight ridge just in front of the line; companies D and I, from the left of the line, to charge upon a battery about 300 yards to the front, which had opened a destructive fire of shot and shell, and the center companies to lie down and commence firing upon the enemy at the guns and the in- fantry columns forming and advancing in heavy force through the open woods to the front and right of the po- sition.
These orders were all cheerfully and promptly execut- ed and it was while engaged in that position of the move- ment assigned to him that Captain Iseminger received
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the mortal wound which caused his death where he fell on the battlefield. Companies D and I were led in the charge by Captain Walden and Captain Brydolf with great spirit and gallantry to the muzzles of the guns. when the enemy opened a galling cross-fire from the left front and pressed forward heavy lines of fresh troops in front, causing the companies to fall back to the line held by the regiment.
The battery renewed the fire with such destructive ef- fect to the line that the same companies were again or- dered to advance and silence the guns. It was while giv- ing the order to his company to charge that Captain Brydolf exhibited the greatest energy and determination - inspiring his men to the highest tension of heroic effort. In the midst of a terrific canister and musketry fire his sword arm was struck and broken, and a second shot inflicted a serious and dangerous wound in the neck, after which he was borne from the field permanently dis- abled. Again finding the resistance of the enemy over- powering, the men, by order of Captain Walden, slowly and sullenly returned to their position in the line with the regiment and joined in the firing.
The companies holding the line where it crossed the open parade ground and wagon road, which led up to the enemy's battery and his heavy lines of infantry then as- sailing the right flank of the Union line, were in the storm center of the raging battle. For more than three hours a, rapid and destructive fire was maintained by the regiment from its position against the repeated assaults of the enemy made in great force and sustained by a most ter- rific artillery and musketry fire. The parade ground and wagon road clearing made an opening through the forest of large oaks, over which the battle raged with varying
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hope and despair for so many hours. Here Captain Henry Saunders, with his Company E as the color com- pany of the regiment, kept the colors flying amid the storm of bullets, canister, and bursting shells, until near- ly one-half of his company was killed or disabled. It was in this maelstrom of battle that Captain Richard E. White was instantly killed by a cannon shot, while di- recting his company with great skill and cool courage.
While passing along the line giving directions for fir- ing, Colonel McDowell was thrown from his horse and seriously shocked. Being a large man and somewhat corpulent he was unable to keep his seat while his horse was plunging through the thicket and across a ravine. He fell to the ground with great force and was seriously hurt. It was with difficulty that he arose to his feet and was conducted from the field. He did not command again during the battle.
General Sherman appeared along the line of battle fre- quently during the protracted engagement and personally gave directions to the regiment. It was by his order, delivered by him personally to the men and officers in the line, that they abandoned the position. At the moment the order was given to fall back Captain John Williams was severely wounded by a rifle ball through the left thigh, and was borne from the field.
General Hardee describes this final onset of the enemy, thus:
On my arrival in that quarter our forces were found hotly engaged with the lines of the enemy in front. Rapidly collect- ing four regiments under cover of a ravine, screening them from the view and fire of the enemy, I placed them in a position which outflanked their line. Availing myself of a critical moment when the enemy in front was much shaken, I ordered
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THE BATTLE OF SHILOH
these regiments from the ravine, and hurled them against the right flank of their line, and it gave way in tumultuous rout I ordered Colonel Wharton to charge their fleeing battalions. . The command was obeyed with promptitude, but in the ardor of the charge the cavalry fell into an ambuscade and was repulsed with some loss. The gallant Wharton himself was wounded. Simultaneously Morgan dashed forward with his usual daring on their left, and drove the scattered remnants of their regiments from the field.
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