History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 33

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 574

USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 33

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Thus organized, the army marched after the rebel Price, and on the fifteenth of February entered Spring- field from all sides, hoping to find the enemy there; but Price shrewdly "allowing " that it "wouldn't pay," was rapidly making his way to a warmer climate, though Curtis had succeeded in making that of Southern Mis- souri "too hot" for him. General Curtis marched in pursuit, and for several days the retreat and pursuit were equally rapid. Carr's division, containing the Iowa troops, had the advance, and skirmishing daily was the rule until Price was joined by McCulloch, eighteen miles south of the Arkansas line, at Cross Hollows, and the southward movement was continued by the rebels. Gen- eral Curtis took possession of advantageous ground at Cross Hollows, and determined to await an attack. It was in one of the skirmishes during the pursuit at Sugar creek, near the boundary. line between Missouri and

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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

Arkansas, that the Ninth lowa was first under fire. The command behaved like veterans on this, to them, im- portant occasion, charging and driving before them a rebel force outnumbering their own, after receiving with- out flinching the fire of a battery of artillery and its in- fanitry supports.

For convenience of forage and subsistence, the different divisions were posted at considerable distance from each other, but not beyond the reach of mutual support in case of the approach of the enemy. Colonel Carr's division was at Cross Hollows, headquarters of the army. On the fourteenth of March, Colonel Vandever, with a picked portion of his brigade, consisting of a battalion of cavalry, a section of the Dubuque battery, and a large detachment of his own regiment, moved from the camp of the division and marched fifteen miles in the direction of Huntsville. The command reached that place on the afternoon of the next day, and found it to be a dilapi- dated village which had just been abandoned by a body of rebel cavalry. From the bewildered citizens informa- tion was received of the advance of the rebel army, now under the command of Major General Earl Van Dorn, and heavily reenforced. Colonel Vandever received this information with the utmost apparent indifference, and allowed his command to remain in town some two hours, while he appeared to be attending to matters which naturally fell under his attention as a Union officer. Toward evening he leisurely marched his force out of town, and pitched camp some miles distant. During the night a courier arrived with dispatches from General Curtis, confirming the intelligence of the afternoon and ordering him to march with all possible dispatch to l'ea Ridge, where the army was being concentrated for battle. To avoid the rebel army, Colonel Vandever was com- pelled to take a route which involved a march of forty- one miles, and across the pathway lay the White river and other streams of smaller size, which had to be forded. To add to the difficulties of this forced march, snow fell during the night, making walking most disagreeable and laborious. At 4 o'clock on the morning of the sixth, the little column was in motion, and steadily the march con- tinued-tramp, tramp, all day long was the only sound that was heard, and that was heard as regularly as the ticking of a clock. Not a moment's time was lost throughout the day. At 6 o'clock in the evening, having marched for fourteen consecutive hours, the command reached the army. The famous march to Talavera of Wellington's light division was no more remarkable than this, in which some of the sons of Buchanan county took part. Napier enthusiastically relates how that division, which had been trained by Sir John Moore himself, crossed the field of battle after its great march, in com- pact order, and immediately took charge of the outposts. The column under Colonel Vandever fought throughout a pitched battle of two days' continuance, immediately after its great march.

The army under General Curtis numbered ten thou- sand five hundred men, cavalry and infantry, with forty-nine pieces of artillery, including four mountain howitzers. It is perhaps impossible to give the rebel

numbers with any exactness, authorities differing widely on this point. Pollard, the rebel historian, admits that they numbered sixteen thousand-but their own officers admitted to Captain McKenney, of General Curtis' staff, that they numbered thirty thousand; and this accords with the estimates current at the time, which made the rebel force engaged three times that of the Union.

Of this battle our author says: "Whether considered in reference to the skill with which the troops were manœuvred, or the valor with which they fought, this must be placed among the most memorable and honor- able victories of the war. The field was far removed from General Curtis' base of supplies; in a country much better known to the enemy than to him; that enemy outnumbered him, I think, three to one. Yet he defeated him so thoroughly and absolutely that his scat- tered squads were driven in panic for leagues-far away to the south-like leaves before a tempest. Among their killed were Generals McIntosh and McCulloch, while Generals Price and Slack were severely wounded. The American Almanac and Annual Record puts the en- tire rebel loss at one thousand one hundred killed; two thousand five hundred wounded, and one thousand six hundred prisoners. Our own loss, in killed, wounded and missing, numbercd one thousand three hundred and fifty-one."

Ceneral Curtis, in his official dispatch, very justly says that "Illinois, Indiana, lowa, Ohio and Missouri, may proudly share the honors of the victory which their gal- lant heroes have won over the combined forces of Van Dorn, Price and McCulloch at Pea Ridge, in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas."

His detailed report of the battle closes in language which all must feel to be that of just eulogium, and not of mere formal compliment. "To do justice to all," he says, "I should spread before you the most of the rolls of this army, for 1 can bear testimony to the almost uni- versal good conduct of officers and men, who have shared with me the long march, the many conflicts by the way, and the final struggle at the battle of Pea Ridge."

The part borne by lowa in the struggle was most con- spicuous. The commanding general was from our State, and any description of the battle must be most lame if it does not show him to have been a consummate tactician and obstinate fighter. Colonel Dodge and Colonel Van- dever commanded the two brigades which stood the brunt of the battle, which were handled with the most admirable skill and coolness, and which fought with a valor never surpassed in the history of wars. "The Fourth and Ninth Iowa," says General Curtis, "won im- perishable honors." There were innumerable acts of special bravery performed by lowa troops during the battle; and there never was an engagement, perhaps, in which good conduct was more universal. General Curtis especially commends Colonels Dodge and Van- dever, while these colonels, in their official reports, give long lists of regimental and company officers who dis- tinguished themselves for coolness and valor, "while all did well and fought nobly."

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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

In fine, all the Iowa troops behaved with that high degree of valor which distinguished their conduct throughout the war, and their losses were more severe than those of any other troops. The casualties of com- pany C, the Buchanan county company, were as follows: Killed-Lieutenant Nathan Rice, Private Julius Furcht. Wounded-Sergeant Jacob P. Sampson, Corporal Charles C. Curtis, Wagoner David Creek, Privates Isaac Arwine (mortally), George M. Abbott (mortally), Jesse Barnett, L. D. Curtis, John Cartwright (mortally), J. E. Elson, C. A. Hobart, Stephen Holman, Orlando F. Luckey, James Leatherman, Philip Riterman, Russel Rouse, Samuel Robbins, William Wisennand (mortally), Adonain J. Windsar (mortally).

Having buried the dead and cared for the wounded, the army moved from Pea Ridge a few days after the battle, and, encamping in the vicinity of Bentonville, had there a short rest. After this our regiment took up the line of march with the army, and moving through a part of Missouri and across Arkansas, arrived at Helena about the middle of July, after a campaign of unusual hardships. At Helena the regiment had its first and last permanent encampment, and there it remained in quiet for a period of five months. The history of the regi- ment up to this time had been one of almost constant activity, of movements in the face of the enemy; of severe marches, terminating in a sanguinary battle. It had been impossible, however, to give that attention to drill and discipline which had been desired by the offi- cers. There was a fine opportunity now to make up for any deficiencies in these respects, and it was improved by both officers and men, so that, when the regiment again commenced its active operations, which continued with but short intermissions of rest, it was one of the best drilled and best disciplined regiments in the service.

The fame of the army which won the victory of Pea Ridge, soon spread over the country and over Christen- dom. The Ninth received a most gratifying evidence of their own good name and fame, whilst at Helena, in the presentation to the command, by the hands of Miss Phœbe Adams, in behalf of a committee of ladies of Boston, Massachusetts, a stand of beautiful silk colors, elaborately embroidered in gold. Miss Adams presented the magnificent gift with the pleasing assurance that it was a testimonial of the appreciation on the part of many of the ladies of Boston of the conduct of the regiment in the battle of l'ea Ridge. These colors were guarded and cherished by the command with religious care and affection. After they had been borne many long miles and on many a proud field, riddled and torn with balls, and covered with a thousand scars of battle, they were presented by the unanimous voice of the regi- ment, one to the original donors, and the other to Brevet Major General Vandever, the old commander of the regiment, whom the men of his original command never ceased to hold in the warmest esteem.

The regiment having been assigned to Thayer's bri- gade, of Steele's division, joined the army under Sher- man, which moved down the Mississippi to attack Vicks- burgh. In the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, where the

Fourth lowa gained such unfading laurels, and where many Iowa regiments were engaged, the Ninth was under fire during the greater part of the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth of December; but was not itself actively engaged, except for about half an hour on the latter day. The attempt on Vicksburgh by Chickasaw Bayou having failed, the army slowly and sorrowfully reembarked and steamed down the dark sluggish waters of the Yazoo to the Mississippi, and to Milliken's Bend, where Major General McClernand assumed command. During the year just closed, the Ninth had lost, by death, discharge, and otherwise, three hundred and twenty five men, and had gained, during the same period, fifty-six by enlist- ment so that, when it commenced the year 1863, it numbered seven hundred and twenty-six, rank and file.

The regiment commenced the new year by taking an active part in the brilliant campaign of Arkansas Post, which resulted in the capture of a large number of pris- oners, and an immense quantity of supplies and arms. From this point the troops again embarked, and, moving down the Arkansas and Mississippi, disembarked at Young's Point, Louisiana; Steele's division moving down and going into camp below the mouth of the canal, which had been dug the year before. Here, near Young's Point, the army lay encamped many weary weeks, which formed the darkest era of the whole year to the troops who endured it. The encampment was a vast swamp. In front was the Mississippi, flowing moodily by, ever threatening to burst from its banks and engulf the half submerged army. Beyond, and in plain view, were the hills of Vicksburgh with their frowning batteries. From the oozy encampment vapors and fogs arose, which caused the sun to shine with a feeble, sickly power, whilst much of the time it rained, day in and day out, without cessation. The army was like an army of drowning rats. The troops sat gloomily within their tents in sullen silence, or moved ahout from place to place in the performance of necessary duties, like soulless, voiceless animals. Driven from one encampment to another, and to another, and still another, till the army at last "roosted on the levee of the Mississippi." The men moved with a list- less indifference, plainly showing that they cared very little whether their camps and lives were saved or swept away together by the floods. Death was holding high carnival in every encampment, and acres of graveyards were soon visible in these most dismal swamps. The dying increased as the flood increased, till at length the dead were buried on the levee, whither the army had been driven. There they continued to be buried till, it is not too much to say, the levee was formed, near its outer surface, of dead men's bones, like the layers of stones in a work of masonry. When, after more than two months' stay in this vicinity, the army moved away, it left the scene of its encampments, the Golgotha of America. Major Abernethy, in speaking of this period in the history of the Ninth, says the ordeal of these unpropitious months was the more grievous, because it had all the evils of the battle-field, with none of its hon- ors. And, as it was with the Ninth, so it was with the arge army of which it formed a part.

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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

Meantime, Colonel Vandever having been promoted a brigadier general, Captain David Carskaddon was elected and commissioned in his place. The first active cam- paigning in which the regiment was engaged after Col- onel Carckaddon took command, was in the expedition of General Steele into central Mississippi, by Greenville, which consumed about a month. Returning, the com- mand encamped for a short time at Milliken's Bend, and then joined the grand campaign against Vicksburgh. Leaving their tents standing, one regiment put themselves in light marching order, and, on the second of May, started for Grand Gulf, as fully inspired by hope and enthusiasm, as they had been depressed by despondency and sorrow, two months before. Rapidly marching by Richmond to the landing opposite Grand Gulf, and there crossing the river, the division joined the corps, and marching on Jackson, took part in the capture of that capital. Then facing about, it moved in the direction of Vicksburgh; and, on the eighteenth, took position on the right of our lines before the enemy's works. On the nineteenth there was an irregular assault, in which our regiment lost a number of killed and wounded; among them Captains Kelsey and Washburn, and Lieutenants Jones, Wilbur, and Terrell, killed. The position of the regiment during the siege was a good one, well covered by the crest of a hill, strengthened by works, but the rebel sharp-shooters occasionally picked off a man, never- theless. The regiment lost, during the siege, from the eighteenth of May to the fourth of July, one hundred and twenty-one in killed and wounded.

But even now there was no rest for the weary troops. Before daylight, on the morning after the capitulation, the expeditionary army under Sherman moved after Joe Johnston, and, following him to Jackson found him there strongly intrenched behind heavy works. In this campaign the Ninth fully participated; and, after its successful termination, went into camp in a beautiful grove near Big Black river; and here, not far from the scenes where, for so many months, nothing but the wrinkled front of grim-visaged war had been seen, had a long period of rest. But it was not one of enjoyment, for, added to the discomforts of the hot weather, the effects of the confined life during the siege began now to be visible on the troops, many of whom became sick outright, and others unfit for service. During this period General Steele, commanding division, and General Thayer, commanding brigade, were ordered to another department of the army, being succeeded by General Osterhaus in command of division, and by Colonel J. A. Williamson, Fourth Iowa, of the brigade, which was com- posed of Iowa troops, and which remained under the com)- mand of that accomplished officer throughout the cam- paigns of Chattanooga, Atlanta, and Savannah; at the close of which last, being appointed to the rank which he had so long and so honorably actually filled, he received orders which called him into another field of usefulness.

On the twenty-second of September orders to move were received, and, before night, the regiment was in the cars moving to Vicksburgh. Moving by steamer to

Memphis, and by train thence to Corinth, after some de- lay occupied in the repair of the railway, and some skir- mishing with the enemy under Forrest, the march to Chattanooga was commenced; and, on November 23d, after a march of three hundred miles, the regiment pitched its tents at the foot of Lookout Mountain. Twenty-four hours later it was taking gallant part in the " Battle Above the Clouds," under the dashing General Hooker. The enemy evacuated Lookout Mountain on the night of the twenty-fourth, and, on the following day, the battle of Mission Ridge took place. So far as our regiment was concerned this was rather a contest of legs than of arms; the enemy running to escape, and our troops to catch them. And thus, for miles on the summit of the mountain, they had a running fight, which closed with the enemy being captured in large numbers, and the rest fleeing from the field. The regiment con- tinned in the pursuit, under Hooker, to Ringgold, where the enemy made a stand, and for some time contended with no little success against our arms. The Ninth joined in the charge up the hillsides on the twenty- seventh, but the enemy had now become exhausted and discouraged, and retired without serious opposition, leav- ing us in full possession of the position. The loss of the regiment, during the three engagements, was three killed and sixteen wounded.

From Ringgold General Osterhaus marched to rejoin Sherman, from whom he had been separated by reason of the accidental breaking of a pontoon bridge over the Tennessee; and, the junction having been made, the division marched by Chattanooga, Bridgeport and Steven- son, to Woodville, Alabama, and went into winter quar- ters but a few days before the close of the year.

New Year's day was spent by the regiment in reenlist- ing. The number of men had by this time been re- duced to about five hundred, of whom all were not eligible as veterans under the rules of the War Depart- ment. Nearly three hundred reenlisted, and the Ninth became a veteran regiment. The consequent privilege of a furlough was granted, and the veterans returned to Iowa early in the following month. On arriving at Du- buque they were met by the citizens of that hospitable city en masse, and welcomed home with a cordiality which must have been in the highest degree gratifying. Their reception here was a magnificent ovation, worthy of Dubuque and of them; and, best of all, it did not end with speechifying, but with a supper in comparison with the luxuries of which, those of the Georgia prom- enade were flat, stale and unprofitable. Moreover, fair hands, which would not have condescended to wait upon the princes of the best blood of Europe, gladly waited on these war-worn heroes. As the men went to their homes in northern Iowa, they were everywhere met with as warm and cheerful a reception as is within the heart of man to conceive, or his hands to bestow. And thns the thirty days' respite from the toils and hardships of war, passed like a brief dream, too peaceful and happy to last.

The men, at the close of their short furlough, accom- panied by many recruits, went by railway and steamer to

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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.

Nashville, whence they marched to Woodville, arriving on the tenth of April, 1864. Here twenty days were spent in procuring supplies of clothing, equipage and arms. The old Dresden rifles, which had done such execution from the beginning, were returned to the Government, and new Springfield rifled muskets drawn in their stead. Though the regiment had been pre- sented by the ladies of Boston with another magnificent stand of colors, to replace those worn out in the service, these were now kept rather for ornament than use, and a stand of regulation colors drawn from the Government, were carried in the line throughout the subsequent career of the regiment.

On the first of May Colonel Carckaddon, just re- turned from sick leave, in command, took line of march for Chattanooga, and at once entered upon the campaign of Atlanta. For the next four months the regiment par- ticipated in all the labors, marches, skirmishes, battles, and sieges of this great campaign, in which the Fifteenth corps took part. It marched, during that campaign, a distance of four hundred miles, much of it by night; built forty different lines of works; crossed three large rivers and many streams of a smaller size, in the face of the enemy; and took honorable part in the engage- ments, many of them heavy battles, of Resaca, Dallas, New Hope, Big Shanty, Kennesaw Mountain, Chattahoo- chee River, Decatur, Atlanta, Jonesborough and Love- joy. In two of the severest of these conflicts it had the rare pleasure of fighting behind entrenchments, suffering but little loss itself while inflicting terrible punishment upon the enemy. There is no doubt that the regiment, in the course of the campaign, placed many more rebels hors de combat than the command itself numbered. The losses of the regiment were fourteen killed, seyenty wounded, and six captured. A tabular statement of the casualties in the regiment, during its term of service, furnished by Lieutenant Colonel Abernethy, shows that in its various engagements, numbering more than a score of battles, the Ninth Iowa lost eighty-seven officers and men slain, forty-six wounded mortally, three hundred and sixty-four wounded, and ten captured by the enemy, making a total loss during the war, on the field of bat- tle, of five hundred and seven.

With the termination of the campaign, the regiment went into regular encampment, with the expectation of having a considerable period of rest. The same ex- pectation was shared by the generals, as an order was issued permitting five per cent. of the men to be fur- loughed, which order was soon countermanded in con- sequence of the interruptions of our communications and the threatening attitude of the rebel General Hood. Our regiment joined in his pursuit, breaking camp for that purpose early in October, and in one month made a march and countermarch of three hundred and fifty miles without having seen anything of the rebel forces but their heels. But before this march commenced, the original term for which the regiment entered the service expired, and the nonveterans, numbering more than one hundred, were honorably discharged.

During the march on Savannah, the regiment was com-

manded by Captain M. Sweeney, company B, who con- ducted it through that excursion without the loss of a single man. After a few weeks' halt at Savannah, the regiment sailed to Beaufort, South Carolina, where it awaited the completion of General Sherman's prepara- tions to march through the Carolinas. Here Colonel Carckaddon returned to the regiment and was honorably mustered out of service by reason of expiration of term. He had faithfully served his country for more than three years. The command of the regiment now devolved upon Major Alonzo Abernethy, one of the most modest, as well as most meritorious of Donna's field officers, pro- moted from Captain of company F, in place of Major Granger, who died in the hospital at Nashville, Tennes- see. The march northward began on the twenty-sixth of January, and on the nineteenth of May our regiment pitched its tents on the heights of Alexandria, in plain view of the dome of the National capital. It had, on this, its last, campaign, marched through many miles of swamps, built many miles of road and many miles of intrenchment, especially near Bentonville; participated in the dangerous movement which resulted in the capture of Columbia, for which achievement the Iowa brigade, under Colonel Stone, received the personal compliments of General Howard, and fought with bravery wherever there was fighting to do. At Columbia, the regiment drew rations for the twenty days' march to Fayetteville, North Carolina. They consisted of one half pound hard bread per man -- neither more nor less. Nevertheless, the command found plenty of food and fared sumptuous- ly every day. This was different indeed from the parched corn era of Arkansas, or the week of rice diet in the swamps, near Savannah.

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History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 33

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers Number of Pages: 574

Author: Williams bros., Cleveland, pub. [from old catalog]; Riddle, A. G. (Albert Gallatin), 1816-1902
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 574