USA > Iowa > Story County > History of Story County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization. > Part 27
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the batteries at Vicksburg. Then we went cross-country to and down the river to Purkin's plantation where we again witnessed the running of a blockade-this time that of Grand Gulf. Then we crossed the river at Bruinsburg and started for Jackson, Mississippi, and on the morning of the first day of May we ran into our first engagement which was a real fight. It was first called the battle of Thompson's Hill and later Magnolia church, and was finally entered on record as the Battle of Port Gibson. We were successful in defeating the rebels there and in driving them back-quite an army of them. At this battle our regiment made a desperate bayonet charge, capturing the 23d Alabama regiment.
After we had succeeded in capturing that regiment, by the request of my colonel, I ran back to where we had started on the charge where he said he had seen Corporal Hiestand wounded. When I got back there I found that the corporal had been moved back to the primary hospital, and in mak- ing my return to my regiment, fearing they might think I had deserted, I took a short cut across a deep ravine. In this ravine I ran onto a rebel lieutenant colonel unexpectedly, who was hiding behind a tree, having been cut off from his regiment. His name was Petus and he was a brother of the confederate governor of Mississippi. He was as handsome a man as I ever saw and when he saw my bayonet he surrendered like a man. I de- livered the colonel over to the provost guard at the hospital and hastened back to rejoin my regiment on their way to Port Gibson, feeling about as big as General Grant. At Port Gibson the next day I was telling my ad- ventures to some soldiers on the street in front of a mansion where three ladies were standing in a doorway. I noticed that they turned on hearing my story and hastened upstairs. One of them soon returned and said that there was a wounded confederate officer upstairs who wanted to see me. I at once went up to meet him and he told me he was the colonel to the same regiment to which Lieut. Colonel Petus belonged. He treated me very kindly and seemed to be very glad to know that Lieut. Col. Petus was not killed or wounded. The colonel had good grit and said we had defeated them yesterday but that they would finally succeed. I stayed all the after- noon and had a good visit with him and in parting told him he had lots of sand but poor judgment.
We then went on to Jackson having a few skirmishes on the way, and when we got within seven miles of Jackson we got orders to go into camp, Jackson having been evacuated by the rebels. We went next to Champion Hill, at which place our regiment did not participate in the active fight, but were held in reserve for Generals Hovey, Logan, and Osterhaus. In the afternoon after the battle we were ordered to advance towards Vicksburg. We arrived the next morning at Big Black river, where our regiment led the charge on the rebels and where we lost in killed and wounded about half of our number. In this charge our colonel was killed and several other officers, and I myself was wounded, receiving three flesh wounds. I was held in the hospital for eight days and then went forward to the ditches, in
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the rear of Vicksburg, afterwards meeting my regiment at Young's Point. Our regiment was held there until June 7th, when we went into the fight at Milliken's Bend, where we were charged upon by Walker's Texas Brigade. At this place our regiment suffered great losses but we defeated General Walker with his brigade of 1,800 Texans. After that we went back and into the ditches near Vicksburg and remained there until the surrender.
From there we went on down through Texas but were not in any more engagements until after I had returned home in 1864. One fact that ought to be on record is that out of the 99 men of Company A in September '62, only 35 were permitted to return to their homes.
THOMAS J. MILLER'S REPORT OF STORY COUNTY IN COMPANY A.
Company A, 23rd Regiment, Iowa Infantry, was organized at Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. 4th, 1862, by the election of Leonard B. Houstand of Des Moines, as captain, and Deville P. Ballard of Story County, Ist lieuten- ant and Theodore G. Cree of Des Moines, 2nd lieutenant.
Stephen P. O'Brien of Story County, was appointed Ist sergeant, Thomas H. Yarnall of Dallas County, 2nd sergeant; Orin J. Belknap, of Polk County, 3rd sergeant; William S. Russell of Dallas County, 4th ser- geant, and William A. Saylor of Polk County, 5th sergeant. The corporals were John W. Mattox of Dallas County, Richard Jones of Story County, Lyman P. Houstand of Polk County, Marion P. Smith, of Polk County, John F. Slaughter, of Dallas County, and Ira Briley, Charles P. Miller and George W. Smiley of Story County.
The company numbered 99 men, 83 of whom were farmers, 9 mechanics, 5 students, one teacher and one merchant.
We went into Camp Burnside, Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. 18th 1862, and there remained until September 19, 1862, when we were mustered into the United States service, and company A and four other companies started on the march for Keokuk, Iowa. We arrived there September 25, and went into camp. We remained until the 27th, when we went on board the steam- boat, Metropolitan, and started for St. Louis, where we arrived on the 28th, at 10 a. m. and on the 29th, we went into Schofield Barracks, where we re- mained doing provost duty until October 10th, when we again started south this time on the cars, stopping a few days at Pilot-Knob and Arcadia, and finally landing at Camp Patterson, Mo., on the 18th day of October, 1862.
Seven days later or on Oct. 25th, Company A and two other companies of the 23rd Iowa, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Kinsman, were ordered out on a raid to break up a camp of confederates at Pitman's ferry. The balance of this expedition was made up as follows: 5 companies, Mis- souri volunteers; 2 companies, Missouri state militia; I section Stang's bat- tery, and 18 men of the 12th Missouri cavalry. We were joined 12 miles out by 3 companies of the 24th Missouri. This expedition was under com- mand of Colonel Dewey, of the 23rd Iowa and started at 6 o'clock on the morning of the 25th of October, 1862, and marched 26 miles to Black river, which place they reached at 4 o'clock, p. m., and found a wide, deep stream,
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very difficult to cross. But by II o'clock that night, all were across and in camp. We were up and on the march by 8 o'clock on the morning of the 26th, and marched 20 miles and went into camp 17 miles from Pitman's ferry. At 2 o'clock a. m, the 27th, we were on the march again, without any breakfast, we reached the ferry about 5 o'clock in the morning, having had a few little brushes with the enemy and capturing a captain and 13 men. We gained possession of the ferry and a part of the command crossed and deployed as skirmishers following the retreating Johnnies. The rest of the command were held in reserve, and kept skirmishing until dark, when we went into camp, having made a march of 65 miles in two and one-half days, and without anything to eat for the last twenty hours, the first day through a severe storm. The next morning we started back to Camp Paterson by a more circuitous route of eighty miles, which we made in four days, crossing two wide deep streams and reaching camp at 6 o'clock on the evening of November 2nd. Thus ended Company A's first raid into the enemy's country which was regarded as very successful, though very severe on the boys, who were as yet quite green at soldiering.
We again left Camp Paterson on the 20th day of December, 1862, go- ing south, our real destination unknown, but supposedly Little Rock, Ar- kansas. We made a short stop at Van Buren on the 23rd, and on the first day of January, 1863, we were in camp on the south side of Current river, which the officers named Camp Emancipation, in honor of the taking effect of the emancipation proclamation on this day. But the boys with their faith. in the eternal fitness of things, and the characteristic shrewdness of the Yankee soldier, changed the name, to the far more appropriate one of "Camp Starvation."
We left starvation heights on the fourteenth, with the ground frozen hard enough to bear up a six mule team, and by ten o'clock the mud was ten inches deep and so we dragged along till dark, and went into camp in a low, wet piece of ground without any tents, the roads being so bad our teams could not get in, so we cut corn stalks from a nearby field, and corded them up about ten inches high, and spread our blankets on these, and crawled in. We woke up in the morning with about three inches of as pretty white snow as you ever saw on our blankets. We stayed here all day the sixteenth. On the morning of the seventeenth we again broke camp and started south. On the evening of the 31st of Jan. we went into camp at West Plains, where we remained until the 8th of Feb. when we received orders to return to Arcadia and started at once for that place, where we ar- rived on the first day of March, 1863.
On the ninth of March we again took up the line of march, this time for Ste. Genevieve, on the banks of the Mississippi river, where we arrived on the eleventh and on the morning of the thirteenth we went on board the steamboat Chouteau and steamed off down the river passing Cairo on the evening of the fourteenth and arrived at New Madrid on the morning of the fifteenth, where we went ashore and into camp. On the twenty-second
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day of March, we went on board the steamboat again, this time the White- cloud. As our boat pulled off down the river we, with swelling hearts, bid adieu to old Missouri and ran down to Memphis where we tied up all day the twenty-third. Here we met our old home friends J. A. Fitchpatrick, R. J. Campbell and others of the Third Iowa. And, gentle reader, you may be sure it was a happy greeting we gave each other and for quite a number of the boys that was their last meeting on this earth.
On the twenty-fourth we loosed anchor and swung off down the river again, landing at Milliken's Bend on the second day of April, 1863, where we remained until the twelfth, when we started for the rear of Vicksburg. We marched down through Richmond and Carthage, La., and finally stopped at Hard Times landing, where we took the boat again, and ran down the river about twelve miles, in sight of and about four miles above, Grand Gulf, where we witnessed the bombardment of the enemy's fortification on the twenty-ninth, which lasted several hours, and was unsuccessful. So we then marched across the country to about five miles below Grand Gulf, where we bivouacked for the night, and during the night the gunboats and I think, five transports ran the blockade.
On the morning of the thirtieth of April, we went aboard the boats again and ran down the river to Bruinsburg, sixteen miles below Grand Gulf, where we landed at four o'clock p. m., and immediately took up the line of march toward Port Gibson, marched till sundown, when halted and got a hurried supper, and started on, with the 23rd Iowa in the advance. We marched without interruption until one o'clock, a. m. on May first, when the advance guard was fired upon by the enemy's pickets; out about three or four miles from Port Gibson. We opened ranks and the first Iowa battery thundered through, wheeled to the right, unlimbered and opened fire on the enemy, and for an hour or more there was quite an artillery display, after this firing ceased, Companies A and F. were ordered forward and deployed on the skirmish line, and in the darkness advanced for perhaps a quarter of a mile feeling our way (as you may imagine) very carefully. Everything being quiet, we concluded the enemy was going to remain, and give us a welcome in the morning, so we were recalled and marched back a short dis- tance over the brow of a little hill, where we lay on our arms, on the bare ground till about four o'clock a. m. to get a little much needed rest, if pos- sible. Shortly after sunrise the ball was again opened by the confederate batteries, the first Iowa battery immediately replying. About ten o'clock the 23rd, which occupied the extreme right, was ordered forward, we had to pass through a deep ravine which was thickly covered on both sides with underbrush and cane; then we came out into an open field where we did our fighting. We remained in line here for about half an hour, firing rapidly all the time, when we fixed bayonets and charged the enemy, who retreated in some confusion, but again rallied and retreated slowly for about a mile, when they made another stand for a considerable time, but finally gave way, and the retreat was general all along the line, after five hours of hard
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fighting. Our regiment the 23rd Iowa, lost in this battle nine men killed and twenty-six wounded. Company A lost one killed and five wounded. The one killed was Calvin Johnson, of Boone County. A finer young man and a better soldier than whom never lived. Thus ended our first real battle.
It being now nearly night we camped on the battlefield, were called up about one o'clock a. m. and moved about a quarter of a mile to support a battery, there being some fear that an attack might be made. Here again we lay on our arms until morning, when we moved on into Port Gibson without further opposition, arriving there about noon of May the 2nd. We remained in camp, in Port Gibson, until the 8th of May when we started for Jackson, Miss., passing through Clinton, Raymond, Bolton, etc., and on the evening of the fourteenth, after an all day's forced march, through a steady rain, we camped within seven miles of Jackson. During the night a courier came in saying the Johnnies had evacuated Jackson, and with orders for us to counter-march toward Champion-Hills, so on the morning of the 15th, we started back over almost the same road that we traveled the day before, and were ready for the battle of Champion Hills on the sixteenth, but for- tunately for us, we were not called upon to take any active part in that ter- rible engagement. On the night of the sixteenth we camped at Edwards Station, going into camp about 9 o'clock, tired and hungry but nothing to eat.
On the morning of the 17th we were on the march again at four o'clock, and soon found the enemy strongly entrenched at Big Black River. Again the 23rd Iowa occupied the extreme right of the battle line. We marched to the right through a strip of woods till we struck the river, which being very low left an almost perpendicular wall of from six to eight feet high, with room enough between this bank and the water to march. So under protection of this bank we marched down till our right (which was Co. A) was within two hundred yards of the confederate fortifications. At ten o'clock, we were ordered to fix bayonets and charge their works which we did in good shape. Now please bear in mind that these fortifications that I speak of, as being one or two hundred yards away, were to our right, or west of us, while we, in making the charge, had to go some three or four hun- dred yards south, and swing to the west, around the south end of their works, thus cutting off the retreat of some seventeen hundred confederates, whom we captured but at a terrible loss to us. The brunt of this charge fell on M. K. Lawler's brigade, of which the 23rd, was a part, and the heaviest blow was on the 23rd Iowa, as you will see by the losses. The total loss in the 13th army corps, was 279, the loss in Lawler's brigade alone, was 221, while the 23rd regiment lost 101. These losses include killed and wounded, and the whole loss was practically sustained in three minutes' time. Company A lost two killed and ten wounded, four of whom died in a few days of their wounds. Brigadier General Lawler at the conclusion of his report of this battle, says: "The Twenty-third Iowa Volunteers which had borne such a distinguished part and suffered so severely in the charge
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was placed as a guard over the prisoners and by order of Major General U. S. Grant, was permitted to take them as far north as Memphis, where we turned them over to the commandant of the post."
We turned the prisoners over on the twenty-seventh of May, and im- mediately returned to Young's Point, on the west side of the Mississippi, where we arrived on the thirtieth. Late in the evening of June sixth, the 23rd regiment was ordered to immediately embark for Milliken's Bend, to the support of the garrison at that place which was being threatened by the enemy. Fortunately or otherwise for Company A, (whose history I am writing) we had nearly all been sent out on picket, before this order was received, and consequently had a very small representation in this terrible hand to hand conflict. The garrison at Milliken's Bend, consisted of a small body of colored troops numbering about 800, who were utterly untrained in the art of war, the 23rd Iowa being the only white troops there, and it num- bered less than 200. On the morning of June the 7th, they were attacked by a brigade of confederates numbering 2,500, under command of H. E. McCulloch, with 200 cavalry. The 23rd Iowa lost 23 killed and 41 wounded. Company A sustained no loss in this action.
After the battle we dropped down to Van Buren hospital with the wounded. And the next day went on down to Young's Point. On the eighth we went over to the rear of Vicksburg, and took our place in the general siege. On the second of July we were called out and made a forced march out toward Big-Black-River under General Lawler, then back again on the third, and I do not know to this day what we went out there for. Vicks- burg surrendered on the fourth. On the fifth Company A and the balance of the regiment started for Jackson, Miss., again, with about 60 men in the regiment. Reached Jackson on the fourteenth but not in time to take part in the fight, were back to Vicksburg on the twenty-sixth of July, where we re- mained till the thirteenth of August, when we went on board a steamboat bound for Carlton, La, where we arrived and went into camp on the 20th. On the evening of Sept. 4th we marched to Algiers opposite New Orleans, where we took the cars to Bayou-Bouf, where the company arrived that night and went into camp until the eleventh of September, when we moved to Brashear City, from Broisier to Burwic. Oct. 6th camped about 50 miles west of Brashear City, then to Vermillion and Opelousas and Iberia, where we remained till November 8th. Then out to near Franklin, Burwic Bayou, where we took cars to Algiers where we arrived at five o'clock p. m., Nov. 14, 1863. On the 16th we embarked at 5 o'clock p. m. on board the steam- boat Crescent bound for Texas. The 17th was a calm day, but the 18th, 19th and 20th were very stormy days. Company F lost one man from being washed overboard. On the evening of the 27th, we arrived off Mustang Island, 70 miles from Matagorda bay. On Nov. 29th the regiment pro- ceeded with the expedition against Fort Esparanza which commanded the entrance to Matagorda Bay. We crossed St. Joseph's and Matagorda Is- lands and arrived in front of the fort on Dec. Ist. But the enemy had blown
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up their magazines and evacuated the fort the night before, thus saving many valuable lives.
We went into camp on the peninsula at DeCrou's Point, where we re- mained until Jan. 3rd 1864, on which date the 23rd with other troops em- barked for Indianolia, that town being occupied by a force of rebels, who on the appearance of the vessels carrying Union troops evacuated the town, and retreated to the interior. Here we were quartered in houses, for about three weeks, when we again moved to old Indianolia and went into winter quarters, on the 18th of Jan. 1864. Here we remained until the 13th of March, when we started back to Fort Esperanza where we arrived the 14th, and went into camp about 5 miles from the fort remaining there till the 26th of April, when we again went aboard ship bound for New Orleans, where we arrived on the evening of the 28th of April, started up the river on the 4th day of May, on board the Madison, and on the 6th stopped at the mouth of Red river and ran up the river to Fort DuRussy, the river being so obstructed we could go no further. We returned to the mouth of Red river and landed on the 11th. On the 12th camped opposite the mouth of Red river and stayed till the 17th, when we ran up the Red river and down the Atchafalaya to Semmes Port. Marched all night of the 20th, and up to 9 p. m. of the 21st and arrived on the 22nd of May at Morganza where we remained till May 30th, when we marched 30 miles to the southwest on a scout and returned again on June 2nd to Morganza where we remained until July 13th when we took passage on board the steamboat Katie Dale bound for Vicksburg. Changed boats at Natchez for the Gray Eagle and arrived at Vicksburg at 2 a. m. on the morning of the 15th. Here we again changed boats this time for the old White Cloud, (which took us down the river in 1863) and on the 16th started for the mouth of White river where we ar- rived on the 18th. The 21st we started up White river and landed at St. Charles on the 23rd of July where we lay in camp till the 6th day of August, when we again went on board the White Cloud and started back down the river and landed at Morganza and went into camp on the 13th of August, where we stayed till the first day of October, 1864. Oct. Ist and 2nd we marched out to Semmes Port. And on the 9th and 10th we marched back again to Morganza. On the IIth took boat for Du Valls Bluffs where we arrived and went into camp on the 18th. We remained in this camp until Nov. 9th. From this time on we were mostly on the move and doing gar- rison duty working on fortifications, etc., until March 27th, 1865, when we took port in the siege and capture of Spanish Fort, which the enemy evac- uated on the night of April the 8th. Then commenced another series of marches and counter marches back and forth until the news of Johnson and Lee's surrender was confirmed, and we were finally sent back over into Texas where we spent another month moving from place to place. Until as the records show we were mustered out at Harrisburg, Texas, on the 26th of July, 1865, and started for God's county and were disbanded at Daven- port, Iowa, on the IIth of August, 1865.
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HOTEL AMED.
MAIN STREET, AMES
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The average age of the 58 men who served in Company A, 23rd Iowa, from Story County, was a fraction over 24 years. 15 of the 50 boys who went out with the company in August, 1862, went through to Harrisburg, Texas, and were discharged with the regiment at that place. Of the other 35 twenty died of disease, 10 were discharged for disability, two died of wounds, two were discharged for wounds and one was killed in battle. Of the eight who came to us as recruits, five were transfered to the 29th Iowa, two were discharged for disability and one died of disease. The company traveled on wheels 1,157 miles, on boat 8,291 miles and marched 1,497 miles. Total miles traveled, 10,945. These figures are taken from data kept at the time and are practically correct.
On the morning of the 27th of July (the morning after our second re- turn from Jackson) just 10 months and 8 days after leaving Des Moines, there were just 5 men able to answer "here" at morning roll call and 4 of these were from Story County and are still living, and are, S. P. O'Brien of Ames, who has been totally disabled for several years, Chris Torkelson of Story City, Iowa, Sever Tesdal of Slater, Iowa, and Willis Gossard of Ogle County, Ill. (I am indebted to O'Brien and Torkelson for this information, but their memory fails them to locate the fifth. man.)
In concluding this narrative I feel that it is but just that I should say that I have been greatly handicapped from the fact that none of our regi- mental officers, (except Col. Dewey, who died at Patterson) ever made any official report of any of the engagements we were in, so I have had to de- pend upon the reports of our brigade commander's personal memoranda kept at the time, and memory. And in this connection I wish to express my thanks to Captain W. M. Little of Corydon, Iowa, captain of Company D, to whom I am greatly indebted for memoranda, dates, etc. I also kept a daily diary myself until the surrender of Vicksburg. In this narrative I have endeavored to give the plain unvarnished facts. I regret that some person more able than myself was not selected to write this history. Un- doubtedly there are many incidents of interest that have been overlooked. As stated the dates have been gathered from memoranda kept from day to day and are in the main correct. Company A had a fine set of officers of whom she was proud, and I believe her officers had confidence in, and were proud of their men and you will pardon me if I say that I believe Story County is proud of the record made by the boys she sent out in Company A, 23rd Iowa. And no less proud of the boys she sent and the records they made in the various other regiments that went out in the '60s.
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