USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 57
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Immediately on our arrival we debarked, camped on the shore, and hastily unloaded the baggage and supplies. Yesterday we remained on shore, awaiting orders, without tents or shelter. Early in the even- ing it commenced raining, and continued until the whole flat was flooded with water. The boys, who had early lain down to rest, under rubber blankets, were soon awake and singing, a la boatman, "Four feet ! Six feet !! Nine feet ! !! No bottom !!!! " At midnight the rain ceased, and the men, without fires, passed the night in great discom- fort; but all was borne uncomplainingly. This morning we moved, at II A. M., from the levee through the city to our present camping ground, two miles in the rear of Vicksburgh. The works are in a measure abandoned. Many of the caves in the earth have been filled, and the forts torn down. We are close to the spot where Lieutenant Dunlap, of the Twenty-first lowa, fell in the charge on the fort just be- fore us. Our transportation is cut down to three teams for a regiment. A large army is here, commanded by Major General Sherman, and will move soon.
Hastily, C. H. L.
LETTER NO. CXXXIV.
CANTON, MISSISSIPPI, February 27, 1864.
We have been in the wilderness nearly one month, shut out from all communication with the northern world. You have doubtless been notified of our movements through the columns of northern and eastern journals. The expedition, not yet closed, will be considered one of the most important of the war. It has been successfully and triumphantly conducted by Major General W. T. Sherman. It was made up of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth army corps-the Seventeenth commanded bv Major General McPherson, and the Sixteenth by Major General Hurlbut.
We left camp, in the rear of Vicksburgh, February 3rd, and began at once to contend with the difficulties and privations of the expedition. On the third we marched over a serpentine road, through a wooded country, to Deer creek. On the fourth we left Deer creek, passed the graves of some of the Buchanan county boys, who had been slain in the struggle in this State one year ago; crossed the Big Black river, a stream the size of the Wapsie; marched several miles, and, at a late hour, camped on the plantation owned by the mother of Jeff Davis. On the fifth there was sharp skirmishing between our advance and the rebel cavalry, under General Lee. Several of the Union troops were killed, and several wounded. The rebels were so hotly pursued that they were unable to carry off their dead and wounded.
In the afternoon the corps, which had previously been on different roads, formed a junction on a large plantation, with their colors beau- tifully flying. Shortly after, the rebels made a stand, and for the last time west of Jackson. A Union soldier was killed and several wounded at this point. Again we were advancing, and soon passed a rebel, cold in death, close by the side of his charger. A solid shot had passed through them both and produced instant death. The night of the fifth we encamped four miles west of Jackson, and the cavalry brigade that same night made a charge through the city. At 9 o'clock A. M., Sunday, the 7th, we moved into the city and halted immediately in front of the capitol.
Twice before has the Union army been here-twice before has the rebel army been driven away, and the stars and stripes carried in triumph in the midst of her haughty and aristocratic people. They do not love us-little children are sent to tell us that they " do not like the looks of our flag at all," while their proud mothers and sisters cast contemptuous glances at us, and wish their soldiers were powerful enough to annihilate us. Jackson was once a fine city, but its beauty is gone. "l'is truly sad to look upon its ruins, for its grandeur has de- parted, and in the midst of its beautiful grounds are to be found only the blackened ruins of stately mansions.
Four days have we been en route from Vicksburgh. The woods, the houses, the cotton gins, and king cotton himself, all have helped to keep one continued blaze of fire moving through the wilderness a pillar of fire to which the oppressed of this land are eagerly flocking. We crossed the l'earl river on a pontoon bridge which the rebels had not time to destroy, and came into the pine woods. It is a muddy stream, and carries down about as much water as the Cedar; is deeper but not so wide.
From Jackson to Brandon, twelve miles, the country is good for the most part. Brandon, a fine little town of two hundred inhabitants, perhaps, was burned. Morton was the next town through which we passed. Here we took the advance of the Seventeenth corps, and marched until midnight. February roth we passed through Hills- borough, which met the same fiery fate as Brandon. At this town there was skirmishing, and I saw one dead rebel, who was said to have joined the army but a day or two before. He was said to be immensely rich, and held the commission of major. On the eleventh we reached Chunky creek, and here the two or three teams, allowed each regi- ment, were left behind, and, on the twelfth, the army moved with all possible speed in the direction of Decatur, to capture the enemy's train. We reached Decatur, but the enemy had fled. The town was burned, and we pushed hastily on, camping that night eight miles out from Decatur. On the thirteenth we made a rapid march and drove the rebels out of camp among the great pine trees, and cooked our rations over their fires. Sunday, the fourteenth, we reached the great railway centre, Meridian. The enemy had evacuated it. It was re- ported that the infantry went to Mobile, and the calvary in all direc- tions. Meridian is a small town. Its population, in its palmiest days, was not more than five hundred. There were no fine buildings, or gardens, or tastefully ornamented grounds.
As a railroad centre its occupation was of the greatest importance. We destroyed, in all, some forty-cight miles of railroad track, a part
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.
of the Mobile & Ohio, and part of the Vicksburgh & Charleston. We
penetrated to within two miles of Alabama, and destroyed everything that could be of advantage to the enemy. Our army held Meridian and Marion until the twentieth, when the march was led backwards. An endless amount of cotton had been destroyed, large quantities of supplies had been gathered from the country, and negroes had flocked in by hundreds.
The country, from Jackson to Meridian, is a very rich one, sandy soil, and abundantly watered. It is one continued pine forest, except where large and fruitful plantations are found. None of the Spanish moss, so abundant in other parts of the State, festooning the trees, is seen in these pine forests.
This movement of Sherman was evidently not expected by the enemy. On a high hill near Meridian, cotton had been hauled for the erection of a fort, but was abandoned on our approach. New barracks were also in process of construction. Here was the general hospital for Mississippi and Alabama. We returned by Union and Hillsborough to Canton. The Seventeenth army corps took their maich on a road south of our line, until we reached Pearl river, The Iowa brigade laid an excellent pontoon bridge over which both corps passed. The country is exceedingly rich, and large quantities of forage are being gathered. Hundreds and even thousands of negroes are in the train here. They will be sent this morning to Vicksburgh, with the train which is being pushed out in that direction.
General Sherman started yesterday for the river. We shall remain here a few days, and, in the meantime, a train may meet us from the river. Our sick go to Vicksburgh to-day. Of the incidents of the trip 1 will speak in my next letter. The mail is about to close, and I will send this, though a hastily written communication.
C. H. LEWIS.
LETTER NO. CXXXV.
[The following, though not from either of the three regiments containing Buchanan county companies, was written by a well known citizen of the county, who was, at the time of writing, in the army. The early experiences of the Twenty-seventh regiment called our attention for a brief space, from the southern to the northern frontier; and though, after the rugged march to and from Mille Lacs, no large number of Buchanan men were con- nected with the Indian expeditions, it yet seems eminent- ly proper that there should be something in our book to remind the youth of the present day that simultaneously with the splendid drama which was enacted on our south- ern savannahs, fascinating the gaze of the civilized world; as through a rift in the curtain of mist which separates us from the past, we seemed to be looking upon the tragedies of the early colonial times; burning houses, from which murdered babes and mothers had been drag- ged; painted savages, with knife and tomahawk, making pandemonium around the once peaceful homes they had so ruthlessly destroyed -- that these and similar scenes of heathen orgies were being reproduced on the broad upland prairies of the north. E. P.]
INDIAN EXPEDITION, CAMP POPE, June 15, 1863.
FRIEND RICH :- A few more miles nearer the north pole than when I last wrote you, and several hundred thousand footsteps in the path towards military glory, as my aching feet could testify the night we ar- rived here.
We are undergoing at present a huge amount of rest, it heing, in military parlance, "absolutely requisite for the public service," to re- cruit exhausted energies and heal up chapped and blistered feet ineur- red during our trip here. No great march to speak of, however-some eighty odd miles in six days-but the weather, my friend-the weather! Talk of dog days, the tropics, of ninety-nine degrees in the shade, and you mention something cool in comparison with heat here. Scarcely a drop of rain for three months, and no clouds but clouds of dust, through which the sun glares pitilessly for at least two hours longer than in regions farther south. I used to read, in my younger days that the north had two seasons, a long, cold winter, and a short, hot summer; and the last clause is no lie, as I can fully testify-the short-
ness is yet to be verified. How the wind blows, too, night and day without intermission, first from one quarter of the compass and then another; not a cool, refreshing breeze, but a hot, dragging, sickly wind, which takes all the energies from a man, and makes one think of the simoon of the desert. There is one good thing, however, the nights are cool and refreshing; indeed, I may say chilly, for many a morning you can see groups huddled around the mess fires, shivering in their great-coats, who at noon would be glad if the primitive costume of the garden of Eden were made a part of military law and discipline.
But enough of that hackneyed subject, the weather. I want to tell you something about Camp Pope and the great Indian expedition. It is a "big thing," at least in the eyes of the Minnesotians, although, beside the army of the Potomae, no doubt it is a small affair. Let us take a little walk around the camp, for it is now the cool of the eve- ning, and although dust predominates, that is at least bearable after the singeing we have gone through to-day.
We are now twenty-three miles from Fort Ridgley, and pleasantly lo- cated upon the second rise or plateau above the Minnesota river, and the ground you see is as level as a parlor floor. What a beautiful site for a town, with the river near by and plenty of timber on the farther shore, good water obtained by sinking wells eight or ten feet deep, a pretty little lake just below, and the bluffs rising gradually until they reach the broad table land or prairie above. And is it not a town al- ready ? Nay, a city with a population of three thousand souls; streets laid out with mathematical precision; several stores-but there the re- semblance ends; canvass houses instead of frame or brick, the steady tramp of soldiery instead of the thronging bustle of citizens, the quick peremptory challenge of the guard as you approach the lines, instead of the cordial greeting of acquaintances; and the stirring music of the fife and drum, and the blare of bugles mark the time instead of church bells striking the hours. And you know, too, in an hour's time this city can vanish and leave no vestige of its present existence but these embankments, which may hereafter he classed among the mounds and tumuli, that tell of the buried cities of the ages long gone by.
On two sides of the camp, which comprises some forty acres, are long lines of sod fortifications, about four feet high, with a trench in- side; and here is the Third Minnesota battery, which accompanies the expedition, with its field pieces and plenty of shell and shrapnel. They are our main dependence against a large body of Indians; for they (the Indians) say they can skulk and hide from a bullet, and dodge a solid shot, but " those rotten balls, no good." Below them, drawn up out- side, are the pontoons, twenty-one large yellow flat-boats for bridging the rivers; and two companies of the Ninth Minnesota accompany them as sappers and miners. To your right are two long wooden sheds, at one time filled to the roof with commissary stores, but now pretty well emptied. Long lines of six-mule teams are drawn up here, and the quickness with which hardtack, salt pork and other delicacies of soldier's rations are loaded up, checked off, and the team started out of the way, is a wonder to the uninitiated. Two hundred and twenty-five wagons were loaded up with rations, averaging three thousand three hundred pounds to the wagon, Here, too, are the ambulances --- well- covered spring wagons-some twenty or more. God grant we may have little use for them; but the long march of eight or nine hundred miles will place many a poor fellow hors du combat, if an Indian bullet or arrow never whistles near us.
Now let us cross over to the other side of the camp, passing the sutler's tent, where almost everything eatable can be had-for a con- sideration. The consideration is rather heavy and the weights vice versa, as you will discover if you conclude to patronize him; but we won't stop just now. Sutling in the army is extremely profitable, for a soldier, as a general thing [we are glad to know that there were many honorable exceptions among the Buchanan county men .- E. P. ], like Jack Tar, when he has plenty of money, only knows one other thing, how to spend it; and it is not much wonder that many colonels, whose love for lucre is greater than their patriotism, are apt to have their fingers in the sutler's pie.
Now we come into the cavalry quarters, eight companies of which will go with us. Up and down the whole length of the broad streets, a double row of horses is picketted; and, as you perceive, they are in good order and capable of undergoing a large amount of work. Their services will be invaluable to us as we'advance; for the crafty Indian will never risk a general battle, save in overpowering numbers, but will skulk and he in ambush to attack us unawares and at a disadvan- tage, in the ravines and wooded gullies through which we may pass. With these mounted rangers to scout ahead and protect our flanks, we may bid them defiance. In the distance, scattered here and there, are packs of wagons, their white canvas coverings contrasting finely
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY, IOWA.
with the rich green of the prairie; and, between them and us, mules, cattle and horses are scattered around promiscuously, Some eighteen hundred of the long-eared gentry accompany the expedition.
Everything looks calm and peaceful now; but let one of those pick- ets upon the distant hills ride his horse in a circuit at full gallop, and how quick the scene would change ! There would be mounting in hot haste, and charging to and fro; long lines of soldiers would file out upon the green; then would be heard the sharp words of com- mand; the rapid response in motion would be seen; the dashing hither and thither of mounted orderlies, carrying messages from headquarters; and every eye would be strained to catch the first appearance of the enemy. But there is no danger; scouts are ont daily for miles around and report not the slightest sign of the skulking savage. So we may retire to our blankets and dream of friends, feeling secure that our scalp will be in the morning "in de place where de wool ought to grow."
June 20th .-- We have now been upon the match five days, lying over yesterday at Rigg's creek. We are now twenty-five miles above Yel- low Medicine agency, having followed up the Minnesota river; and are at present encamped some forty rods from the stream, which here is hard- ly as large as the Wapsie at your town. Not a sign of the Indian yet, and I fear we shall never get near enough to see their rascally countenances. Prairie upon prairie to-day, as you travel hour by hour, with nothing around you but this green sea of vegetation, and the boundless blue of the sky above, you begin to realize the vastness of these plains of the northwest. Our mammoth train, of some three hundred and fifty wagons, stretches out, with its attendants, fully five miles in a straight line; and the head of the column is generally encamped several hours before the rear guard reaches the camp.
But I must close in a hurry, as the mail will soon start for below, and it is our last mail before reaching Fort Abercrombie.
J. M. B.
LETTER NO. CXXXVI.
CAMP AT CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, September 27, 1863.
FRIEND RICH :- It would be an impossibility, from the nature of the ground fought over, as well as from the unusual and mixed order of the fight itself, for an actual participant in the battle of Chickamau- ga Creek to give any general description of that contest, which raged two days with a fury hitherto unknown in the progress of this war. I am more intimately acquainted with the experience of a single bri- gade, and an account of what it did, and what it suffered, will perhaps afford some idea of the magnitude and fierceness of the battle in gen- eral.
The Third brigade, Third division, Twentieth army corps, is com- posed entirely of Illinois troops. On the morning of the nineteenth inst., it numbered thirteen hundred fighting men-the Forty-second, Fifty-first, Twenty-second, and Twenty-seventh regiments. The Forty- second and Fifty-first are the first and second of the three regiments raised by General Stewart, of Chicago, under the name of the "Dou- glas Brigade."
You will bear in mind that the Twentieth corps had assigned to it the duty of making a diversion towards Rome, Georgia, in order to draw Bragg from his exceedingly strong position at Chattanooga. This strategy was eminently successful; but it caused the corps a vast amount of hard work in crossing and recrossing the extensive ranges of mountains lying between Stevenson and Bridgeport (our points of departure), and the Chickamauga valley. The movement, moreover, was far more hazardous than was suspected at the time it was made; and too much credit can not be awarded those generals under whose immediate direction it was accomplished.
At sunset of the nineteenth, our brigade was in position on the extreme right of the army in Chickamauga. During the night we changed position several miles to the left. It was evident that the enemy was concentrating towards our left, in order to force a passage on the main road leading to Chattanooga, and thus cut us off from that point. On the morning of the nineteenth, we again took up our line of march to the left. We had halted for a lunch at a large spring, and were on the point of resuming our march, when the roar of cannon and rattle of musketry announced the battle begun, before our centre and right could be placed in position. We were thus taken at a dis- advantage at the outset; nevertheless our boys, already in position, fought heroically, and troops from the right were thrown into the contest as rapidly as they arrived on the ground. The nature of the position was such that but little artillery could be used. The fighting was principally in the timber and brush. There was no such thing as looking over the whole field of battle, or even a considerable portion of
it, from any one point. So dense was the underbrush in places, that it was difficult to get through it at all. At one point there was an extensive open field, which, at the opening of the battle, was held by a portion of Longstreet's corps. A brigade from Wood's division, Twenty-first corps, charged the enemy with the object of gaining this field. With irresistable energy our boys dashed forward, sweeping before them the proud Virginia legions and gaining half the field, which they held until overpowered by shecr numbers, when they fell back to the cover of the wood. At this moment a brigade from Davis' division, Twentieth corps, came up and was thrown forward for a second struggle for the field. This charge, like the first, was successful, and a portion of the Eighth Indiana battery was placed in position in the centre of the field; but, with renewed force, the enemy swept back upon the devoted brigade, gained the field and with it the battery. Our brigade had now arrived, and we were immediately formed for the charge. Before us were the choicest troops of the South, occupying a portion of the field in strong force, and covering the rest with their fire. Gallantly in front of our line rode Colonel Bradley, leading the charge. On, on, pressed our little brigade. The enemy held their fire, and meantime took position under cover of the timber and rail fences, where they could sweep the whole field with their long Enfields. We well knew what the dead silence portended - it was a terrible moment, more awful than the roar of artillery and musketry; but not a man flinched, not a cheek blanched. We had just reached the artillery which the enemy had failed to remove; when, with a single crash, the contents of thousands of rifles were poured into our ranks from the front and flank. Our men went down by scores -- the brave Colonel Bradley receiving two severe wounds at the same instant-still with unconquerable stubborn- ness our position was held and the enemy silenced. Our brigade saved the artillery, the men dragging the pieces off the field by hand. Lying on the ground, we awaited a fresh attack, for the recovery of the field; but none was made, and we were annoyed alone by sharpshooters till dark. The loss of the brigade in this charge was two hundred and fifty. We were kept in front during the night, which was unusually chilly; and, as fires were out of the question, our sufferings from cold and want of rest were a sorry preparation for the work of the following day.
During the night our right was thrown back, and in the morning, under cover of a dense fog, we abandoned the field and took a new and more advantageous position on an open hill, on the extreme right of the army. The centre and right had been weakened in order to strengthen the left, where the main attack was expected to fall. Taking advan- tage of this disposition, the enemy massed on the centre; and, at II o'clock, commenced the attack. As on the previous day, owing to the nature of the ground, our artillery was comparatively useless, and the whole battle was preeminently one of rifles. We of the right listened anxiously as the roll of small arms grew louder and nearer-evidently our weak lines were being overpowered, and soon the shock would fall on us; still we had a strong position, and felt confident of our ability to hola it. But now commenced an exhibition of stupidity which has been the theme of indignant discussion ever since the battle.
The division on the left of our own was giving way; Polk's entire corps, and two divisions from Longstreet's were rapidly bearing down upon our division. According to all rules of war and common sense the three brigades forming our division should have been so handled as to support each other, either in attack or defence. To our astonish- ment the brigades were ordered singly forward into the brush for slaughter. The first brigade, entirely overwhelmed, gave way, fighting manfully; the second brigade was ordered to charge at a point where to do so was sure defeat; but they went in grandly, and fought like heroes, though unavailingly. Ours was now the last brigade of the right wing of the army of the Cumberland, Were we to have a fair show in position, or were we to be sacrificed? Alas, the answer was soon all too evident! In a single line, by the flank, at the double quick, we were marched away from advantage in position into the brush; and even before we could form line and move forward the leaden storm began to pour upon us with the fury of a whirlwind. Still we pushed forward into the jaws of death. Four long lines of the choice troops of rebeldom were confronting us-ten thousand brave soldiers of the confederacy against a Federal brigade of a thousand men! We had passed through the hottest of the contest at Stone River, with fire in front and flank; but that was mere pattering to the storm that raged during the twenty minutes we held the rebel hosts at bay in the bush at Chickamauga Creek. Their first line gave way, the second followed, but the third and fourth remained unbroken; and in conjunc- tion with a column thrown forward on our left to ent us off, compelled us to fall back and secure a safe retreat. The enemy had suffered too
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