History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history, Part 60

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 918

USA > Iowa > Cass County > History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history > Part 60

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Geo. Rose, Geo. W. Smith,

David Wilson.

FOURTH IOWA INFANTRY.

In April, 1861, the whole country was thrilled to the heart by the news of the firing on the national fortress and flag of Fort Sumter, its surrender, and the sub- sequent call of the president for 75,000 men to enforce the laws. The tocsin of war was sounded throughout the whole Northland, and thousands of brave hearts sprang to arms at this call of duty. In no State in the Union, that they were so anxious to preserve, had the war spirit more thoroughly taken possession of the people, nor nowhere were the inhabitants more intensely loyal than in Iowa. Before they could get together, however, such was their distance from the seat of gov- ernment, the call for the 75,000 men had been filled and Iowa had to wait her time, only one regiment from this state being included among the three-months' men. Soon call succeeded call, and men poured to the front from the "Hawkeye State," until it has been said that, "in all the important movements of the four years of war, Iowa troops took an active part." The drum-beat of the brave Iowa boys was heard on the banks of every large river in the South, from the Poto- mac and Mississippi to the Rio Grande, and the brilliancy of their exploits on the many fields where they served, won for them high praise, in circles both military and civil. "The Iowa troops have been

Eri W. Chapman,

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IIISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

heroes among heroes," was the universal verdict.

Among all the famous regiments that bore the arms of Iowa into the thickest of many a stricken field, none, perhaps, have gained such high meed of praise, or covered themselves more with immortal glory, than the gallant Fourth. Brave, hardy men, sons of the pioneers that bad penetrated this region of country, they had inherited all the fire and valor of their noble sires, and proved upon many a well-fought battle-field the rugged hardi- hood of their earlier days. This regiment was raised in the counties of Mills, Potta- wattamie, Cass, Guthrie, Dallas, Decatur, Polk, Madison, Ringgold, Union, Wayne and Taylor, although many of the men came from adjoining counties. It ren- dezvoused at Council Bluffs, and was mus- tered into the service of the United States at that .place in August, 1861, with the following officers : Grenville M. Dodge, colonel ; John C. Galligan, lieutenant- colonel; W. R. English, major; James A. Williamson, adjutant. On the 9th of Angust, 1861, the regiment left the State and proceeded to Jefferson Barracks, Mis- souri, where it remained until the 24th of the same month, when it took up its line of march to Rolla, where it went into camp. Here it was thoroughly organized and drilled, doing its regular share of camp and garrison duty. Here lay what had been designated as the Army of the Southwest, that had fallen back before a less numerous foe, who was as mnch snr- prised as could be imagined at their ret- . rograde march.

Major General Price, who was in com- mand of the rebels, now took the initia-

tive, but General Pope by masterly man- ouvres, caused him to again give up his forward movement, and in several minor engagements handled Price's army so roughly that it retreated rapidly through Springfield and Cassville, until it had crossed the line into Arkansas. Here, at Boston Mountain, he made a junction with General Ben McCulloch, with a division of Texas and Arkansas confederates, which raised his entire force to about equal to that which was pursuing him. This was the army that had lain so long at Rolla, now under command of Major General Samuel R. Curtis, and among which was the afterwards famous Fourth Iowa. Price now determined to fight, and retracing his steps, was joined by General Earl Van Dorn and General Al- bert Pike, whose forces, added to those of Price and McCulloch, numbered in all about 20,000 men. Our forces, in their eager chase after Price, had far out-trav- eled all their provision trains, and when the enemy halted in his march and turned, they were compelled to withdraw some ontlying troops as the enemy greatly out- numbered them, and they were out of anything to eat. No tents, no blankets, no camp utensils had our brave boys, but they made the best of it and gathered huge beds of leaves, and prepared to take their rest on these. Scarcely had the Fourth Iowa boys stretched their tired limbs and closed their weary eyes when the order came for them to fall in and fall still farther back to a position where the army had determined to make a stand. Our boys had had no sleep for two days and two nights, and grumbling at their hard lot they set out on this march of twelve

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

miles. This was on the night of the 6th of March. Through rain and sleet, over the hills and hollows of the Ozark hills, over muddy roads, and through timber moved the regiment, many of the men sleeping in their ranks. A most dismal night to all. One of the officers declares it was the most miserable march and expe- rience he had while in the service.

At dawn, upon the 7th, they reached Pea Ridge, near the Elkhorn tavern, where they went into camp, with a light snow upon the ground. The artillery had balky horses, which stopped on every hill, and it was all hills and hollows, and it was therefore a long and tedious march, and as the men were not allowed to build any fires upon the march, the chill had made them sleepy. Scarcely had morning dawned ere they fell into line again, this time to pass through a baptism of fire such as surpassed almost human endurance. General Curtis had made most elaborate preparations to re- ceive the enemy, which he supposed would advance on the Fayetteville road, but the enemy, by a masterly flank move- ment, placed himself upon the flank and rear of the Union forces. Curtis, thus realizing the critical nature of his posi. tion, with a far more numerous foe prac- tically between him and his resources, rendering retreat ruinous and compelling him to fight the rebels upon ground of their own choice, promptly changed front to rear, making the first and second divisions, under Siegel and Asboth, his left, the third, under Jefferson C. Davis, his center, and the fourth, under Colonel Carr, his right. In the latter division was placed the Fourth Iowa. At 10:30

o'clock Osterhaus was ordered by Curtis to advance and open the engagement ; while at nearly the same moment McCul- loch fell with overwhelming force upon Carr's division, at or near the Elkhorn tavern. A broad, deep ravine, known as Cross Timber Hollow, rendered almost impassable by a windfall of heavy timber, crossed the battlefield, severing the lines of either army, but especially those of the rebels.

Osterhaus advanced with great gal- lantry nearly to the Bentonville road, on which he found the enemy moving in great force toward the Elkhorn tavern, where Carr was making such a heroic stand against McCulloch. Overwhelmed by numbers, Osterhaus was driven back with the loss of his battery. But Curtis sent to his assistance Colonel Davis, who had been detailed to support Carr. The latter officer, with his men, had been fear- fully over-matched throughout the day, that, although always presenting a bold front to the enemy, he was compelled to give ground, sending repeated and urgent representations to General Curtis that he must be re-inforced. Some little help was extended to him from time to time, but it was 2 o'clock P. M., when General Asboth moved to the right by the Fay- etteville road to Carr's assistance. Gen- eral Curtis, with this division, reached the Elkhorn at 5 P. M. He found Carr still fiercely fighting, notwithstanding his having several severe wounds. Many of his field officers had fallen, with about one-fourth of his entire command. The latter had been seven hours under fire, during which they had been forced back but half a mile. As Curtis came up he

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

saw the Fourth Iowa falling back at a left oblique in perfect order, dressing their colors as if on parade, and ordered it to face about. Colonel Dodge explained that it was entirely out of ammunition, and was only retiring to refill its cartridge- boxes. Curtis ordered a bayonet charge, and the regiment at once moved steadily back to its former position. In this, its first battle, although it had participated in some slight skirmishes, the Fourth Iowa lost about one-third of its effective men.

Just previous to the battle, on the 4th of March, Major English had resigned, and as Colonel Dodge had been made a brigadier general for gallant conduct in the field, and Lieutenant Colonel Galligan being out of place and resigning, James A. Williamson was appointed colonel, May 1, 1862. At the same time George Burton was made lieutenant colonel, - Cramer, major, and John E. Sell adjutant. In the meantime, after the battle of Pea Ridge, where the Fourth Iowa behaved so heroically as to call forth the admiration even of the rebel General Van Dorn, who said, "I have never seen men stand and fight so before," and Major General Curtis incorporated in his general order the words, "The Fourth Iowa regiment won immortal honors." The army was without food, and after resting Curtis moved it in a southeast direction through Arkansas to Batesville, on the White river, where the regiment halted for about a week- Cur- tis then set forth, crossing the Big Black. river by a pontoon bridge, and marched to Jacksonport. From here, following the sinuosities of the Cache, he proceeded to Clarendon, on the White; and here,

being entirely short of provisions, his train having been captured by the rebels, and in a thoroughly inhospitable region, he had no choice but to make his way to the most accessible point on the Missis- sippi. This was Helena, sixty-five miles away. Three days of hard marching through dust and heat, the Fourth reached this haven on the 13th of July and went into camp.

At Helena the Fourth Iowa remained until the 22d of December, 1862, when, having become a part of the Second Brigade, First Division, of the Fifteenth Army Corps, it embarked on board of transports with the right wing of the "Army of the Tennessee," under General W. T. Sherman. They passed down the river to the Yazoo, and some twelve miles up that stream, where they were disembarked, and where, on the 28th and 29th of December, it took part in that impotent and fruitless attack on the su- perb fortifications at Chickasaw bayou. The sluggish waters of the latter covered the entire rebel front, behind which rose the lofty bluffs of the Yazoo. Here the labor of thousands of slaves had been de- voted to the complete fortifications of the line for months, until it was perfectly im- pregnable to simple assault, yet General Sherman dared the awful hazard of the battle, and hurled column after column of infantry mpon them in simple, useless slaughter. On the 28th, the Fourth, to- gether with the rest of Thayer's Brigade of Steele's Division, were re-embarked and landed to the right or the junction of of the bayou with the Yazoo, and the ad- vance ordered. The Fourth, leading the brigade,plunged into the bayou, where both

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

banks were covered by tangled abatis, and where the bayou presents a quicksand bed three hundred feet wide, containing water fifteen feet wide and three feet deep. The rebel rifle-pits beyond were filled with sharpshooters, whose every bullet drew blood; his gunners had the range of the ford, such as it was, and poured grape and canister into their dauntless but rapidly decimated ranks. Toiling like heroes, they essayed to stem the storm until an order was received to fall back. It was raining all the time, and stung by the consciousness that they had fruitlessly thrown away many valuable lives, they retired sullenly from the contest.

The Fourth had crossed the bayou, and had by a tremendous exertion taken the first line of works, and had waited for the balance of the brigade, or some other re- enforcements, some fifteen minutes under the enemy's close and deadly fire. By some mistake the other troops did not come, hence the order of recall as above mentioned. Their hardy valor, and de- termined courage drew forth the encomi- ums of all, and the regiment was instruet- ed by general order to inscribe upon its regimental colors, the proud legend "First at Chickasaw Bayou." During the rainy night which followed the battle, our men stood or lay without fire in the swamp bordering the execrated bayou, but next morning they were embarked, and re- turned to Milliken's Bend. On the 10th and 11th of January, 1863, they took part in the reduction of Arkansas Post, or Fort Hindman, as it is sometimes called, where they, as usual, displayed their high cour- age and valor.

After the fall of this place they marched

to Young's Point, in front of Vicksbug, which camp they reached on the 22d of January. Here they lay, taking part in the digging of the canal at that place, which General Grant had caused to be made, and which proved such a lamenta- ble failure. They moved from here to Gregg's plantation, where they remained until the 2d of April, when they embarked and went up the Mississippi river to Greenville, from which place they moved on the celebrated Deer Creek raid. It then returned to Milliken's Bend, by the river and commenced the active campaign against Vicksburg, on the 2d of May. by marching to Grand Gulf, and from thence to Jackson, Mississippi. The Fourth were not in time for the attack on this place, its defenders having evacuated the place on the assault made by McPherson's corps, but it was the first regiment to enter the city. The Fifteenth Corps now returned to the lines in front of Vicksburg, and took part in the famous assaults on that place on the 9th of May. Ilere the Fourth gained the outer slope of the enemy's works and held their ground until Sher- man, seeing that they were being decim- ated to no purpose, withdrew them a short distance where the irregularities of the ground afforded them comparative shelter and safety.

On the 22d of May a more determined effort was made to carry the place by assault, but after a severe contest in which the noble Fourth behaved with its customary gallantry, the troops were all retired, and the slow operations of the siege took their course. No history of this siege is necessary, so well is it known. On the Fourth of July, 1863, of glorious

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IHISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

memory, General Pemberton, the rebel commander,surrendered to General Grant, who immediately took possession of the eity. Hardly had the surrender been ac- complished, before Grant ordered a for- ward movement of troops toward the Big Black river and Jackson, where Joe John- ston was organizing a large rebel force. Not even allowing the soldiers of Sherman's and McPherson's corps, to enter the strong- hold they had so gallantly won, he pushed them forward. By two o'clock p. m., July 4th, the column was in motion, the Fourth among them. The next evening they had united with the army, which had been stationed on the Big Black river, and General Sherman crossed that stream on the 6th, with an army little less than 50,000 strong. The Fourth, which was still a part of Steele's division, crossed in the center, at Messenger's ford with some little resistance from the enemy. They thus advanced over a region already wast- ed by war, parched to sterility by fieree drouth, which maddened men and ani- mals with heat and thirst, withont food or water. The men were reduced to live on green eorn and salt, and a few erack-" ers, and as the retreating rebels had thrown dead horses into all the wells and springs, they were reduced to the expedient of boiling the water and skimming off the corruption ere they drank it. Laboring under these disadvantages, notwithstand- ing, they pressed Johnson baek into Jack- son forcing him to take refuge within its intrenchments, wherein he was soon in- vested.

The crafty rebel general, seeing that to remain was simply to court destruetion -- having sent away whatever he could, his

railroad communication to the eastward being still open- evacuated during the night of July 16-17, hurried across Pearl river and thence to Brandon. The Fourth, with other troops in the pursuit, had an indecisive engagement at the latter place without result. After some two days spent in tearing up railroads, the Fourthi re- turned to Black river, fourteen miles from Vicksburg, where it went into camp on the 29th of July. The regiment lay in camp at this place until the 22d of Sep- tember, when it embarked upon steamers and moved to Memphis, where it landed. From here it set out with the army for the relief of Chattanooga, which was closely invested by the rebels. General Grant telegraphed to General Thomas, who was in command at that important point, to hold that point at all hazards, and proceeded to go to his assistance. When they reached Bridgeport he found General Hooker, who had been trans- ferred from the Army of the Potomac, at that town preparing to argue with Gen- eral Bragg our right to supply our forces at Chattanooga by means of the river instead of sending everything over the mountains, on either side of the Sequat- chie valley, a most laborious and diffi- eult undertaking. IIere Grant, after or- dering Ilooker to eross the Tennessee at Bridgeport with all his force, to advance to Wauhatehie, in Lookout valley, and menace Bragg by a flank attack, the division of which the Fourth Iowa formed a part, in company with one other division, was ordered to remain sonth of the river, to hold in check the rebel General For- rest, who, with some five thousand cavalry and a battery of flying artillery, was an-

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

noying the flank and rear of our forces. This was most miserable work to the boys. No sooner were they quiet at night than Forrest heat them up, driving in the pickets and getting up a skirmish at any and all hours, and yet, owing to the celer- ity of his movements, easily distancing any pursuit when attacked in force.

No rest had our men night or day, nor time to get their meals, and participants in it tell that they never had a chance to undress, as there was no telling when they might be called upon to repel the enemy. Ilere the Fourth participated in some six different minor engagements, pursuing the rebels the last time as far as Tuscumbia, thirty miles distant. The rebels would fall back until they reached a crest of a hill, bank of a creek, or some other defensible point, when they would rally and a smart skirmish would ensue until they were driven out, when they would enact the same over again. After they had driven Forrest off they returned, and with the balance of the Ist division took part with Ilooker in the memorable battle of Lookout mountain, where they distinguished themselves, under the com- mand of Major S. D. Nichols, Colonel Burton having lost his head; and although the credit they should have received was swallowed up by the 20th corps of Gen- eral Hooker, still they enjoy the proud consciousness of having participated in that famous "battle among the clouds." The next day the regiment took part in the attack on Mission Ridge, driving the enemy before them on the run, under the command of the gallant Major Nichols; and at a charging pace, their officer in front, swept on, pushing back all oppo

sition, the Fourth alone taking three hun- dred prisoners, many of them throwing down their arms to a single officer and asking qnarter.

On the 27th of the same month, just two days after, they also had a hand in the defeat of the rebel general Cleburne at Ringgold, Georgia. After this engage- ment the regiment returned to Chatta- nooga, and from thence to Bridgeport, Alabama, and from there to Woodville, where it remained in camp until the 26th of February, 1864, when, it having veter- anized, it started home to enjoy the short leave accorded to all veterans who re- enlisted. On its arrival in Des Monies, the General Assembly being in sessior, an improintu reception was given the battle- scarred heroes of the Fourth, who had car- ried the flag of Iowa through so many a stricken field and fiery baptism of blood and fire. Their days of enjoyment being over in April, the regiment once more left Iowa to return to the field. They halted a few days to rest and get refitted at Nashville, and theu moved forward to join the army under General Sherman, then just starting on the Atlanta cam- paign. By one of those singular coin- cidences that often oocur in army life, just as the regiment came to the land the place of the Fourth in the line was before them, and hastily disembarking they stepped into it and were once more a part of the "grand army."

General W. T. Sherman, with this force, now numbering a little less than one hundred thousand men of all arms, with two hundred and fifty-four guns, was about to start on an ever-memorable campaign, to penetrate the heart of the

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

confederacy, draw off the attention of a large portion of the forces of the South, so that they could not re-inforce the hard- pressed army of Virginia. The country to be traversed was almost chaotic in its upheaval. Rugged mountains, deep, nar- row ravines, thick, primitive woods, crossed by narrow, ill-made roads, suc- ceed each other for forty miles; then intervenes a like distance of compara- tively open country, only to be suceeded by another rugged, difficult region of mountains and passes which reaches nearly to the Chattahoochee river, across which, eight miles distant, lay the important city of Atlanta. The gallant band of heroes called the Fourth Iowa, now under command of Lieutenant Colonel S. D. Nichols, of Guthrie county, participated in all of the movements and engagements that led up to the siege of Atlanta, and honorably acquitted themselves at Snake Creek Gap, Resaca and Dallas. In the latter engagement the Fourth occupied the extreme right flank of the army, and by the rapidity and elan of the Confeder- ate charge were forced to retire a short distance, curving the line back like a fish- hook, and suffered extremely from a fire in both front and rear. W. DeHuxley, a sergeant of company C, was killed by a shot from the rear, over the line of battle in that direction, and several men were wounded.

In the immortal charges on Kenesaw Mountain the Fourth also participated, and it was here that Colonel Nichols, see- ing his men fall around him, deployed his men into open order, but to press on to the charge. This they did, he in the lead; they met with a withering fire, but being

in some degree sheltered by the trees, escaped much injury.

General Sherman now invested Atlanta, and settled down to take the place, which was strongly fortified, On the 22d of June, General Hood fell, by a long flank movement, upon our left and rear, at or near Decatur. Our boys were in the thickest of this engagement, having been ordered forward to occupy a small aban- doned earth work in front of the rebel line. In charging from this place on a battery, which they captured, Lieutenant Charles W. Hill, of company C, was struck in the breast by a shot, and fell to the ground, his comrades charging over him, thinking him killed. But he soon rallied, and made the discovery that a dime novel and another small book had stopped the ball and saved his life. Colonel Nichols was wounded, but not severely. On the night of the 26th of June the regiment moved, with the balance of the Fifteenth Corps, to the right, near Ezra church, and behind rude rail parapets received the charges of IIood's army and repulsed him.

Again at the fight at Jonesborough, the Fourth was in line, and to quote the words of Greeley in his history of the war: "These soldiers stood as still as though bullet proof."

In all the after campaigns and marches of that famous captain, W. T. Sherman, including his march to the sea, the Fourth bore its part manfully, and in May, 1865, participated in the grand review of the army at Washington. From thence to Louisville, where it was mustered out, and then to Davenport, Iowa, where all were discharged in August, 1865, was the grand windup of its career. It has been said of

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

the Fourth Iowa Infantry that it was essentially a marching and fighting regi- ment, having marched some five thousand miles and been present in thirty-six en- gagements, and covered themselves with glory and helped to place the military name of Iowa at the head of the States. Honor to the bravest of the brave Iowa regiment is due by all true patriots, and their meed of praise is beyond all danger of overthrow.

TWELFTH INFANTRY.

Pembroke H. Branen, company unknown.

THIRTEENTH INFANTRY. James Turner, unassigned.

FIFTEENTH INFANTRY. COMPANY E. John A. C. Whitney.

TWENTY THIRD INFANTRY.

COMPANY I.

Cuptain, James R. Coe.

First Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant,

Newton M. Whited. Johu C. Brown.

John J. Van Houton, First Sergeant.

Edward P. Mi la, Second Sergeaut. Josephi G. Warnock, Third Sergeant. Harvey Ingabe, Fourth Sergeaut. Nehemiah C. Moffitt, Fifth Sergeant. Hudson Reynolds, First Corporal. James Saint, Second Corporal.

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Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co. Number of Pages: 918

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 918