History of Kossuth and Humbolt counties, Iowa : together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 81

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Union Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 898

USA > Iowa > Humboldt County > History of Kossuth and Humbolt counties, Iowa : together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 81

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).

In this connection has been carefully compiled from the adjutant general's re- port, and other sources, the name of every soldier from Humboldt county. Any omissions are not intentional, for none have greater respect and honor for the

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brave soldier, who, leaving home and com- forts for the hardship of camp and battle- field, offered himself a sacrifice for the honor of his home and country, than the comrade who lovingly pens these lines in honor of their names.

The following is the roster: SIXTEENTH INFANTRY. (unassigned.)

Alexander Coffin.

COMPANY C.

William Murray.

COMPANY D. Captain.

John Berry.

THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY.

Major. Jonathan Hutchison.

COMPANY A.

Jasper Scurlock. Levi Scurlock.

COMPANY I.

John H. Ford.

John Meana.

George T. Cass.

Isaac McHenry.

Henry C. Cusey.

John N. McHenry.

Francis W. Russell.

James A. Rowley.

George W. Hancbett. Mathias Hutchinson.

John McKitrick.

Hiram Hulsizer.

John R. Mayberry. THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY.

As many of the boys in blue from Hum- boldt county were in that regiment, an ex- tended account of its history would not be out of place in this connection.

The companies forming the 32d In- fantry Iowa Volunteers were recruited in this and the neighboring counties, during the latter part of the summer and early fall of 1862. They rendezvoused at Camp Franklin, near Dubuque. Here, on Octo- ber 6, they were sworn into the service of the United States for three years ; John Scott, of Story county, being colonel ; E. E. Mix, of Butler, lieutenant-colonel ; G. A. Eberhart, of Black Hawk, major ;

Charles Aldrich, of Hamilton, adjutant. Here it remained under drill, acquiring discipline, until about the middle of the following month. Owing to the insuffi- ciency of quarters at the camp, a malig- nant form of measles broke out, which was fatal in many instances.

From the 14th to the 18th of Novem- ber the regiment, numbering about 920 men, embarked by detachments for St. Lonis, reporting there on the 21st, and going into winter quarters at Benton Bar- racks. Here it remained a few days, when, under orders from Maj. Gen. Cur- tis, six companies under Col. Scott pro- ceeded to New Madrid, Mo., and the re- maining four companies, under Major Eberhart, went no further down the river than Cape Girardeau. The separa- tion of the regiment thus effected on the last day of the autumn of 1862, con- tinued until the spring of 1864. It was a prolific source of annoyance and labor. The details required of a regiment were frequently demanded from each of these battalions ; stores sent to the regiment would sometimes go to the detachment and sometimes to the headquarters, when they should have gone just the other way; the mails were in an interminable tangle. At the headquarters were companies B, C, E, H, I and K ; under Major Eberhart, A, D, F and G.

The history of the regiment during this long period of separation must necessarily be two-fold. It will not be improper to write first an account of the detachment under Major Eberhart.

In obedience to the order of Gen. Cur- tis, they proceeded to Cape Girardeau, and the major assumed the command of

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John Dickey

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that post on the 1st of December, 1862. The garrison consisted of this detachment and one company of the 2d Missouri Heavy Artillery. Here they remained during the winter doing provost and gar- rison duty. On the 10th of March they were reinforced by the Ist Nebraska In- fantry, and preparations made for a march into the interior. On March 14, Major Eberhart marched his detachment to Bloomfield, accompanying a regiment of Wisconsin Cavalry, and a battery of Missouri Artillery, where they remained until the 21st of April, when they moved to Dallas, forty-six miles northward. The march was by a circuitous route, requir- ing sixty miles travel.

The rebel general, Marmaduke, now threatened Cape Girardeau with a consid- erable army. He himself was at Freder- icktown, northwest of Dallas, whi e au- other force was coming up the Bloomfield road. Gen. McNeil, commanding the Union forces, marched at once for Cape Girardeau, by Jackson. The detachment of the 320, that was guarding the train, marched from Dallas to Jackson, a dis- tance of twenty-two miles, in less than six hours, and reached the cape on the evening of the 24th. The next day Mar- maduke invested the place with some 8,000 men. At 10 o'clock at night he sent a flag of truce, with a demand of un- conditional surrender, giving the Union commander thirty minutes for decision. Gen. McNeil, by Col. Strachan, who re- ceived the truce, sent back a flat refusal in one minute, and politely requested a credit of twenty-nine minutes by Gen. Marmaduke. The attack was not, how- ever, commenced until Sunday morning,

the 26th, at 10 o'clock, when the rebels retired with considerable loss, just as Gen. Vandever came down the river with reinforcements for the garrison. In this combat, Major Eberhart's command was posted on the right, in support of a sec- tion of Meltfly's battery. Its loss was but one man captured on picket. On the 28th, our detachment was ordered to Bloomfield. Leaving Cape Girardeau at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, it marched fifty miles by dark the next evening, and went into camp near Castor river. Com- pleting the bridge over the stream, it re- turned to the cape, reaching there May 5. Here it remained on garrison duty until the 11th of July, when it again marched to Bloomfield. Having remained there a few days, at work on the fortifica- tions, it was attached to the Reserve Bri- gade, Ist Cavalry Division, Department of the Missouri, and on the 19th started on the memorable march, which ended with the capture of Little Rock, Ark.

The command reached Clarendon on the 8th of August. Early on the moru- ing of the 13th, the detachment started np White river. The expedition lasted three days and was a brilliant success. 'T'he fleet went np the White river to the mouth of the Little Red river, and up the latter to the town of Searcy, where two steamers were captured and a pontoon bridge destroyed. When ten miles from Searcy, on their return, the fleet was at. tacked by 300 rebels, who directed their principal fire on the prize Kaskasku, which was manmed by company D, under Lieut. W. D. Templin. The steamer was near the shore from which they were at- tacked, but made a gallant defence. The

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rebels were driven off with a loss of more than twenty killed. The loss in company D was one killed and five wounded. Be- fore reaching White river the fleet was again attacked, but .the assailants were quickly driven off with loss, and without any casualty on board. Large quantities of public property were destroyed, and a number of prisoners captured during the expedition. In the heavy skirmish at Bayou Metoe, on the 27th, the detachment was engaged, losing one killed and two wounded.

The day the command reached "Dead- man's Lake," the scorching heat of that day, the parched ground marched over, the air at times filled with flying dust, is one not easily forgotten. The stagnant pond bearing the above name was cov- ered with a green scum, yet the men, burning with thirst, plunged in and drank greedily of the filthy water.

The two trips from Duvall's Bluffs to Brownsville, as guard to the cavalry train, were trips of hard marching in hot weather, and of suffering for water for man and beast, and from dust and Ireat. The sick on this march certainly received no extra care-at first shipped to Helena, and then to Clarendon, on the White river.

About the 21st of August a small steamer, a side-wheeler, sailed up the White river loaded with sick and convalescent sol- diera. It was one of the hottest of Au- gust days in this climate, when she ran from Clarendon to Duvall's Bluffs, forty- five miles in four hours. Not a spot on that boat, from the border deck to the hurricane deck, but was covered by a siek man. Sick men were piled away on that

hurricane deck in the broiling sun, wher- ever a man could be laid. Is it any won- der, on that run of about four hours, twenty-six men died on that boat ?- one of them a corporal of company G, (Car- ter).

On the 25th of August another march of twenty-six miles across those prairies of Prairie Co., Ark. About 11 o'clock that night we filed into the little court house yard at Brownsville. Just as we filed in, Gen. Davidsou stepped to the fence and said, "Boys, lie down quickly and take some rest, for I will need you at an early hour." Then turning to an- other officer he said, "These brave boys have marched 500 miles and kept up with my cavalry." By 3 o'clock next morning we were astir, and at 4 o'clock were in line and on the move. A march of uine miles brought us to the rebel out- posts, skirmishing three and a half miles to the brow of the hill, and after maneu- vering, etc., half a mile to the bank of "Bayou Metaire." The whole movement during the day was only a bushwhacking affair. In the evening we fell back to the top of the hill to support a battery. There dark found us. The battery and all other troops had left. One detachment alone was on the field, with the rebels closing around us, when we withdrew and fell back that night to a corn-field near Brownsville; about 1 o'clock that night at the word "halt," the boys dropped on the ground, and lay down between corn rows. No alignment encampment was made. The night was dark, as dense black clouds o'erspread the sky, and soon the rain came down in torrents; but there the boys lay-what else could they do? About

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9 A. M. it broke away; but, oh! the mud, mud! We had no rations; but soon found a patch of sweet potatoes, and had a sweet potato breakfast.

The detachment remained two days in camp in the timber near, and then moved to the old cavalry camp north of town, where onr sick boys had been kept in a double log house on the edge of the prairie, and at a little grove of a few scat- tering oaks, and near a pond of stagnant water.

On the 31st of August, 1863, the day was very hot, and hence the train was or- dered to go through to Duvall's Bluffs in the night. All the detachment was or- dered to go as gnard. The whole detach- ment able to go was ordered on the trip. We cauld raise only forty men, and some twelve or fifteen of them were unable to march, but were ordered to go, as they conld be piled on the wagons, and conld use their guns in case of an attack.

This was a serious camp ground to the detachment. A few days and not a well man was in the camp, and not many meu able to care for the sick. Every nook and corner of the old house was covered with a sick man, every spot on the porch or in the hall was the receptacle of some invalid. Everything that was possible under the circumstances was done for the sick. But the detachment was in advance of the main army, and of all supplies. No sanitary or suttlers' stores had reached them, and much of the ordinary soldiers' fare was unfit for use. Much of the hard- tack had too much life. Here the detach- ment lost several of their men. Many nameless graves on sonthern soil are all that remain of these gallant spirits who

laid down their lives for their country; not in the fierce excitement of battle, but in the pain and anguish of the sick bed.

"Their young lives were ended, Their young spirits fled; And now they are sleeping, In peace with the dead."

On the removal of the detachment to Little Rock, it was relieved for a time from all guard or other duty, except the care of its own sick, by order of Gen. Davidson, who added that this was all that it was possible for them to do. Here they lost several more of their members, but on the whole the boys found Little Rock a healthy place and they improved rapidly in health.

Gen. McPherson, medical director, af- terwards at Vicksburg, said that the send. ing of these four companies through on that campaign to keep up with the cav- alry, was a burning shame, one of the out- rages of the war, and no wonder the men were used up. They remained at Little Rock until the middle of October, when they moved to Benton, twenty-five miles distant. Returned to Little Rock, where they remained until January, 1864, then it started to Memphis, which place it reached on the 5th of February. Here it was ordered to report to Gen. A. J. Smith, at Vicksburg. It reached that city on the 9th, and remained there until the 27th, when it marched to Black river to await the army on its return from the interior.

Meanwhile Col. Scott established his headquarters at New Madrid, and assumed command of the post. On the 17th of December, 1862, he sent out a detachment of 100 men under Capt. Peeble's, who went as far as St. Francis river, bringing

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back several prisoners, much public prop- erty and valuable information.

On the 28th of December Col. Scott de- stroyed the public property, and evacuated New Madrid, by order of Gen. Davies, after which he proceeded to Fort Pillow. Here he remained six months, the com- panies performing garrison duty. The command embarked for Columbus, Ky., on the 17th and 18th of June, 1863, in detachments, and went into camp there on the 19th, and there regimental head- quarters remained for more than seven months, Col. Scott being most of the time in command of the post.

On July 10, Union City, in Tennessee, was captured by the rebels. The com- mand hastened to that place, but arrived too late to find the enemy. After burying the dead and caring for the wounded, they returned. The command was soon afterwards again divided into fractions. Companies B and I, under the command of Capt. Miller, alone remained at regi- mental headquarters. Company C was attached to the 4th Missouri Cavalry; company E was placed at Fort Quimby, not far from Columbus; companies H and K, Capt. Bensen commanding, proceeded down the river to Island No. 10. From this time forth until January, 1864, the history of each of these detachiments is devoid of remarkable events. This, with the exception of company C, who were actively employed during [most of that period, and the labors of officers and men were arduous in the extreme. They scouted a wide expanse of country in- fested by guerrillas, marched sometimes a considerable distance from Columbus, go- ing out in all weather, by night as often

as by day. They braved many perils and endured many hardships.

In the month of January, 1864, these six companies were brought together, and soon embarked for Vicksburg, where they were assigned to the second brigade. Perhaps there was not a single organiza- tion in the whole army under Gen. Sher- man that so gladly commenced that singu- lar campaign as the one under Col. Scott. If the battalion left Vicksburg joyfully, its return was still more joyful, for here were found Major Eberhart and his four companies, and the regiment was together for the first time since November, 1862. The re-union brought great satisfaction to both officers and men. Shortly after the regiment was ordered to the Department of the Gulf, and there accompanied the disastrous Red river expedition.

On this expedition the 3zd suffered more severely, perhaps, than any other regiment. It formed a part of Gen. A. J. Smith's command, consisting of 10,000 infantry and three batteries of artillery, which left Vicksburg March 9, on trans- porta, accompanied by gun-boats. At the month of the Red river this fleet was joined by Admiral D. D. Porter, with a large fleet, including several iron-clads. The fleet entered Red river by the south- ern stream and passed thence into Acha- falaya, proceeding as far as Semmesport, where the troops disembarked on the night of the 13th and immediately com- menced a march on Fort De Russy. No halt was ordered till the army had marched some seven miles. It was twenty-eight miles from here to Fort De Russy. Nevertheless the army marched that dis- tance the next day, constantly harassed

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by rebel cavalry; delayed once two hours at a stream over which a bridge had to be made; attacked the fort and carried it by storm before sundown and before the gun-boats had arrived. In this assault the 32d was on the right, and "the men on the right took the fort," said the pris- oners. Col. Shaw, commanding the brig- ade, speaks in unqualified praise of all the officers and men in his command. The loss was slight on either side. Of the 32d, one man was killed and two were wounded.

At Fort De Russy they re-embarked and proceeded to Alexandria, where the troops again disembarked and remained nearly two weeks, At this point the col- umn under Gen. Smith formed a junction with the column which had marched from New Orleans, The boats could not be taken over the rapids while laden, so the troops marched to Cotile Landing, some twenty-five miles up the river. Here our regiment had its first battalion drill, with all the companies in line, since leav- ing Dubuque, in November, 1862. On the 3d of April, the command again en- barked and reached Grand 'Ecore on the next evening, where it remained till the morning of the 7th, when it marched to the front of the battle of Pleasant Hill, where the brigade to which the 32d be- longed, commanded by Col. Shaw, of the 14th Iowa, stood the brunt of the fight, being the first in the battle, fighting long- er than any other, in the hardest of the contest, the last to leave the field, and losing three times as many officers and men as any brigade engaged.

"Of Col. John Scott, 32d Iowa," says the brigade commander, "it is sufficient

to say that he showed himself worthy to command the 32d Iowa Infantry-a regi- ment which, after having been entirely surrounded and cut off from the rest of the command, with nearly one-half of its number killed or wounded, among them many of the best and prominent officers, forced its way through the enemy's lines, and was again in line, ready and anxious to meet the foe, in less than thirty minutes." It is certain no regiment ever fought with a sublimer courage than did the 32d, on the battle-field of Pleasant Hill. Its heroism and its sacrifices were worthy of a better fate than a retreat from the scene of its splendid daring and its glory. The fame of its gallant con- duct spread all over Iowa, as it' would have spread over the whole country had the commanding general accepted the victory which the troops had given him. But sad losses befell the regiment. Lieut .- Col. Mix was slain on the field, also many of the officers were either slain or wounded. The regiment lost, in all, 210 officers and men, killed, wounded and missing; most of the missing were also wounded-any so reported, no doubt slain. Iowa gloried in the fame of her honored sons, and wept for their dead comrades who fell on the stricken field. The following beautiful lines were written by Mrs. Caroline A. Soule, upon hearing of the sad losses sus- tained by the 32d at Pleasant Hill:

Cold are the sleepers Wrapped in their shrouds- Pale are the weepers The battle has bowed; Softly they slumber, Our soldiers in death- While hearts without number Cry, with hushed breath- O God, are they dead!

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Pale are the sleepers, Like marble they lie- Sad are the weepers, Tear-stained their eyes; Quiet they slumber, Soldiers entombed, While hearts without number, All shrouded in gloom, Cry-(), are they gone!

Calm are the sleepers, Taking their rest-

Sad are the weepers, Joyless their breasts; Softly they slumber, Our soldiers to-day, While hearts without number

Cry. only this way Can our battles be won!

Col. Shaw's brigade covered the retreat of the 'army to Grand 'Ecore, when the 32d regiment, after a movement up Red river to aid the fleet in escaping from imminent peril, went into encampment. It joined in the retreat down the Red river on the 21st, and frequently met light bodies of the enemy in skirmish. The retreat from Alexandria to the Mississippi was also harassed by the enemy, and considerable skirmishing took place at Bayon La Morge, Marksville and Bayou de Glaize, in both of which the regiments took part. Col. Shaw, in his report of the latter battle, says: "To Col. Gilbert, 27th Iowa, Major Eberhart, of the 32d Iowa, Capt. Crane, of the 14th Iowa, and their commands, is due the safety of the army. Had they failed to move into the position assigned them (although a difficult one, that of changing front under fire) with less celerity, or failed to hold it steadily after taking it, our left and rear would have been envel oped by overwhelming numbers, and

nothing could have saved us-not even the fighting qualities of the sixteenth army corps."

'The regiment reached Memphis on the 10th of June, from there the command moved to Moscow, and thence to LaGrange in the latter part of June. From this point it marched with Gen. Smith's forces on the Tupelo campaign. It returned to Memphis, and having encamped there about ten days, joined in the Oxford ex -. pedition. The next active campaign in which the 32d took part was in Missouri in the pursuit of Price. It was a cam- paign of severe marching but not of bat- tle. The regiment marched at least 650 miles, averaging twenty miles a day. It marched across the State and back again. Halting a few days at St. Louis, it moved to Cairo by steamer, arriving No- vember 27.

From here it moved to Nashville, which . was soon after besieged by the rebel gen- eral, Hood. In the battle of Nashville, December 15 and 16, the 32d, fighting in Gen. Gilbert's brigade, was warmly en- gaged, and won great credit for daring, efficient behavior. It captured a battery of five guns, and many prisoners, and lost about twenty-five killed and wounded. With the pursuit of the defeated rebels, closed the campaigning of the regiment for the year 1864, in face of the enemy.

Early in 1865 the regiment marched to Clifton, Tenn., whence it moved by steamer to Eastport, Miss. Its next and last campaign was that of Mobile, under Gen. E. R. S. Canby. It remained in Alabama some time after the fall of Mo- bile, and was mustered out at Clinton, Iowa, Aug. 24, 1865. Returning to Iowa,

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- the 32d was in due time disbanded, the officers and men receiving everywhere along the line of their journey the kind greetings and hearty welcome of a grate- ful people, whose hearts had been with them through all their hardships. FORTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. COMPANY B.

Amos A. Hewitt,

Edwin F. Williams.

SECOND CAVALRY.

COMPANY F. Albert M. Adams. FOURTH CAVALRY.

COMPANY L.

Harry P. Cragg, Abner F. Davis.

John W.Fairman,

James H. Hinton,

Valentine Renter. Lewis Vought,

Cassius P. Snook, John M. Thomas,

COMPANY B.

Charles Jarvis.

FIFTH CAVALRY. COMPANAY B. Benjamin Williams.

NORTHERN BORDER BRIGADE.

COMPANY A. Lieut. Edward Mcknight.

Dennis Hogan,

Henry Archer.

ELEVENTH PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY. OMPANY A.

Thomas J. Forbes.

FORTY-SIXTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.

COMPANY G.

Lewis Richmond.

SOLDIERS WHOSE COMPANY AND REGIMENT IS UN- KNOWN.

William Sherman, Andrew Mills,

Hiram Evans, Peter Bower,

Lemuel Young,

Harrison Wentworth.

Alexander McLean,

William Hamilton.

CHAPTER XVI.

HUMBOLDT COLLEGE.

In June, 1866, at a meeting called to order at Union Hall, to organize a college association, the following action was taken, as shown by the minutets of the meeting, which were published in the True Democrat:

"A. E. Lathrop was chosen chairman, and J. A. Averill, secretary.

"The object of the meeting was pre- sented at length by Rev. S. II. Taft.

"It was resolved that the association should be known as the Springvale Colle- giate Association.

"The following officers were duly elected: President, S. H. Taft; vice-president, Hon. B. F.Gne; recording secretary, J. A.Averil; corresponding secretary, A. W. McFar- land; treasurer, A. E. Lathrop; auditors, Judge Dickey and N. S. Ames; general agent, S H. Taft.

"Committee on Constitution and By- Laws: A. W. McFarland, Charles Lor- beer, D. P. Russell, Charles Bergk and S. H. Taft."

The floods which occurred soon after this inflicted such losses upon those especi-

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ally interested in the college movement, that nothing further was done until July 17, 1869, except that Mr. Taft carried on a correspondence with the leading men in the State relating to the enterprise. On the date named a meeting, largely at- tended, was held in Russell's Hall, at which the committee, appointed three years before, reported a constitution, which was adopted and the association was formed in harmony with the original plau, except that the name was changed to that of Humboldt Collegiate Association, in honor of the great German scholar, Baron Alexander Von Humboldt, whose name our county already bore. The True Dem- ocrat, in speaking of the meeting, said:

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History of Kossuth and Humbolt counties, Iowa : together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 81

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Union Publishing Company Number of Pages: 898

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Union Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 898