USA > Iowa > History of the Fifteenth Regiment, Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, from October, 1861, to August, 1865, when disbanded at the end of the war > Part 31
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*Brigadier General I. W. Sill, U. S Volunteers, who was killed December 31, 1862, at the battle of Stone River, Tenn.
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class competitors the most generous recognition of excellence, nor to aid his classmates with even extravagant liberality in their efforts to master difficult subjects, and in perfecting their practical problems.
In McPherson's splendid military record as a cadet officer, the one only incident deemed worthy of censure, which lost to him his captaincy, was but an act of kind-hearted generosity to his class.
In recalling the events our cadet life and of subsequent years, it is difficult to find language by which to adequately describe the character of the noblest man of our time.
It was the motto of McPherson. "Deo adjurante, non timendum. He recognized that man, the work of the Infinite being, is finite, and cannot look on himself without acknowledging it,-so finite, so circumscribed, that he hardly knows whether he exists or not."
A distinguished writer, on a work bearing on civilization, has given the following classification :
"The little minds which do not carry their views beyond a limit- ed horizon; bad hearts, which nourish only hatred and delight only in exciting rancor, and in calling forth the evil passions; the fan- atics of a mechanical civilization, who see no other agent than steam, no other power than gold or silver, no other object than pro- duction, no other end than pleasure." "For them ( all these men ) the moral development of individuals and society is of little importance; they do not even perceive what passes under their eyes, for them history is mute, experience bar- ren and the future a mere nothing ." *
"There is a great number of men who believe that their minds are nobler than metal, more powerful than steam, and too grand and too sublime to be satisfied with momentary pleasure.
Man, in their eyes, is not a being who lives by chance, given up to the current of time and mercy of circumstances, who is not called upon to think of the destinies which attend him, or to pre- pare for them by making a worthy use of the moral and intel-
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lectual qualifications wherewith the Author of Nature has favored him"
McPherson rapidly placed himself, as found by others, in the lat- ter class-the number who believed that society cannot continue its career without the aid and influence of moral means; and with that fact as an indestructible base, and a constant endeavor to observe the Divine law for the practice of the two precepts of charity towards God and towards his neighbor, his youthful cadet life fore- shadowed that his works and deeds would be "a numberless off- spring born to die no more."
THOMAS M. VINCENT, Asst. Adjt. General U. S. Army.
August, 1876.
[The foregoing sketch of General McPherson, which describes our beloved leader so thoroughly, and in such eloquent words, was kindly furnished by his associate at West Point and personal friend, General Thomas M. Vincent, U. S. Army . ]
From Major General W. T. Sherman's official report :
" On the morning of the 22d, somewhat to iny surprise this whole line ( the intrenched position the enemy held on the 21st,) was found abandoned, and I confess I thought the enemy had re- solved to give us Atlanta without further contest; but General Johnston had been relieved of his command and General Hood substituted. A new policy seemed resolved on, of which the bold attack on our right was the index. Our advancing ranks swept across the strong and well finished parapet of the enemy and closed in upon Atlanta until we occupied a line in the form of a general circle of about two miles radius, when we again found him occu- pying in force a line of finished redoubts, which had been pre- pared for more than a year, covering all the roads leading into Atlanta; and we found him also busy in connecting those redoubts with curtains strengthened by rifle trenches, abatis and chevaux- de-frise. General McPherson, who had advanced from Decatur,
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continued to follow substantially the railroad, the 15th Corps, General Logan, the 17th, General Blair, on its left, and the 16th General Dodge, on its right, but as the general advance of all the armies contracted the circle, the 16th Corps was thrown out of line, by the 15th connecting on the right with General Schofield. General McPherson, the night before, had gained a high hill to the south and east of the railroad, where the 17th Corps had, after a severe fight driven the enemy, and it gave him a most command- ing position within easy view of the very heart of the city. He had thrown out working parties to it, and was making prepara- tions to occupy it in strength with batteries. The 16th Corps, General Dodge, was ordered from right to left to occupy this posi- tion and make it a strong general left flank. General Dodge was moving by a diagonal path or wagon track leading from the Deca- tur road in the direction of General Blair's left flank.
About 10 A. M. I was in person with General Schofield exam- ining the appearance of the enemy's lines opposite the distillery, where we attracted enough of the enemy's fire of artillery and musketry to satisfy me the enemy was in Atlanta in force, and meant-to fight, and had gone to a large dwelling close by, known as the Howard House, where General McPherson joined. He de- scribed the condition of things on his flank and the disposition of his troops. I explained to him that if we met serious resistance in Atlanta, as present appearances indicated, instead of operating against it by the left I would extend to the right, and that I did not want him to gain much distance to the left. He then described the hill ocoupied by General Leggett's Division of General Blair's Corps, as essential to the occupation of any ground to the east and south of the Augusta railroad on account of its commanding nature. I therefore ratified his disposition of troops. and modified a previous order, I had sent him in writing, to use General Dodge's Corps, and I sanctioned its going as already or- dered by General McPherson, to his left, to hold and fortify that
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position. The General remained with me until near noon, when some reports reaching us that indicated a movement of the enemy on that flank, he mounted and rode away with his staff. * *
* Soon after General McPherson left me I heard the sound of musketry to our left rear, at first mere pattering shots, but soon they grew in volume, accompanied with artillery, and, about the same time, the sound of guns was heard in the direction of Deca- tur. No doubt could longer be entertained of the enemy's plan of action, which was to throw a superior force on our left flank, while he held us with his forts in front, the only question being as to the amount of force he could employ at that point. I hastily trans- mitted orders to all points of our centre and right to press forward and give full employment to all the enemy in his lines, and for General Schofield to hold as large a force in reserve as possible, awaiting developments. Not more than half an hour after General McPherson had left me, viz: about 12:30 P. M., of the 22d, his Adjutant General, Lieutenant Colonel Clark, rode up and reported that General McPherson was either dead or a prisoner; that he had ridden from General Dodge's column, moving as heretofore de- scribed, and had sent off nearly all his staff and orderlies on various errands, and himself had passed into a narrow path or road that led to the left and rear of General Giles A. Smith's division, which was General Blair's extreme left; that a few minutes after he had entered the woods a sharp volley was heard in that direction, and his horse had come out riderless, having two wounds. The suddenness of this terrible calamity would have overwhelmed me with grief, but the living demanded my whole thoughts. I instantly dispatched a staff officer to General John A. Logan, commanding the 15th Corps, to tell him what had happened; that he must assume command of the Army of the Ten- nessee, and hold stubbornly the ground already chosen, more es- pecially the hill gained by General Leggett the night before. Al- ready the whole line was engaged in battle. Hardee's Corps had
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sallied from Atlanta, and by a wide circuit to the east had struck General Blair's left flank, enveloped it, and his right had swung around until it hit General Dodge in motion. General Blair's line was substantially along the old line of the rebel trench, but it was fashioned to a fight outwards. A space of wooded ground of near half a mile intervened between the head of General Dodge's column and General Blair's line, through which the enemy had poured, but the last order ever given by General MePherson was to hurry a brigade (Colonel Wauglein's ) of the 15th Corps, across from the railroad to occupy this gap. It came across on the double quick and checked the enemy. While Hardee attacked in flank, Stewart's Corps was to attack in front directly out from the main works, but fortunately their attacks were not simultaneous. The enemy swept across the hill which our men were then fortifying, and captured the pioneer company, its tools and almost the entire working party, and bore down on our left until he encountered General Giles A. Smith's division of the 17th Corps, who was somewhat " In air," and forced to fight first from one side of the old rifle parapet and then from the other, gradually withdrawing regiment by regiment, so as to form a flank to General Leggett's division, which held the apex of the hill, which was the only part that was deemed essential to our future plans. General Dodge had caught and held well in check the enemy's right, and punished him severely, capturing many prisoners. Smith (General Giles A. ) had gradually given the extremity of his line and formed a new one whose right connected with General Leggett, and his left re- fused, facing southeast. On this ground and in this order the men fought well and desperately for near four hours, checking and repulsing all the enemy's attacks. The execution on the enemy's ranks at the angle was terrible, and great credit is due both Generals Leggett and Giles A. Smith, and their men, for their hard and stubborn fighting. The enemy made no further progress on that flank, and by 4 P. M. had almost given up the attempt. *
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* * The battle of the 22d cost us 3,722 killed, wounded and prisoners. But among the dead was Major General McPherson, whose body was recovered and brought to me in the heat of battle, and I had it sent in charge of his personal staff back to Marietta on its way to his Northern home. He was a noble youth of strik- ing personal appearance, of the highest professional capacity, and with a heart abounding in kindness that drew to him the affections of all men. His sudden death devolved the command of the Army of the Tennessee on the no less brave and gallant General Logan, who nobly sustained his reputation and that of his veteran army, and avenged the death of his comrade and commander. The enemy left on the field his dead and wounded, and about a thousand well prisoners. His dead alone are computed by General Logan at 3,240, of which number 2,200 were from actual count, and of these he delivered to the enemy, under a flag of truce, sent in by him (the enemy) 800 bodies. I entertain no doubt that in the battle of July 22d the enemy sustained an aggregate loss of full 8,000 men ."
GENERAL ORDER NO. 8.
Headquarters 17th Army Corps, Department of Tenn. Before Atlanta, Ga., July 26, 1864. 5
During the bloody battle of the 22d inst., in which this corps was engaged, Private George J. Reynolds, D Company, Fifteenth Iowa Veteran Infantry was, while in the performance of his duty on the skirmish line, severely wounded in the arm. In attempting to evade capture he came to the spot where the late beloved and gallant commander of the army, Major Gen. McPherson, was lying mortally wounded. Forgetting all considerations of self, Private Reynolds clung to his old commander, and amidst the roar of battle and storm of bullets, administered to the wants of his gallant chief, quenching his dying thirst, and affording him 'such comfort as lay in his power. After General McPherson had breathed his last, Private Reynolds was chiefly instrumental in recovering his body,
GEO.J. REYNOLDS. CO. D 15!# IOWA VOLS 1864
GEO. J. REYNOLDS. CO.D.15TH IOWA VOLS. 1887.
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going with two of his staff officers, pointing out the body, and assisting in putting it in an ambulance under a heavy fire from the enemy, while his wound was still uncared for.
The noble and devoted conduct of this soldier can not be too highly praised, and is commended to the consideration of the offi- cers and men of this command.
In consideration of this gallantry and noble, unselfish devotion, the "Gold Medal of Honor " will be conferred upon Private George f. Reynolds, D Compauy, Fifteenth Iowa Veteran In- Jantry, in front of his command.
This order will be read at the head of every regiment, battery and detachment of this corps.
By command of
FRANK P. BLAIR, Major General. A. J. ALEXANDER, Lieut. Col. and Asst. Adjt. Gen.
CAPTURE OF AN ALABAMA COLONEL, ON JULY 22d, BY COLONEL BELKNAP.
As related to me by Private Peter E. Cromer of H Company : It was in our second position, the Rebs had charged up three or four times, and we had beaten them back. Captain Reid and a number of the boys would follow them up and pick up all the guns they could carry, so we had plenty of guns and kept them loaded. The timid ones would " lay low " and load. When the Rebs came up all we had to do was to shoot, then reach back and take another gun and shoot. Of course we looked out for the fellows that carried guns. Soon a Colonel took position in front of his regiment, (the 45th Alabama), and led them on a charge to our works, on reaching which he turned to see if his men were with him and began cursing them for cowards, when Colonel Belknap grabbed him by the coat collar and yanked him over the works, saying, " Look at your men! They are all dead! What
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are you cursing them for!" while several Rebs fired at Colonel Belknap, one ball passing through his beard.
The fact that this Colonel Lampley was exchanged, went home and soon died, apparently of a broken heart, has often been pub-
lished . Had Colonel Belknap acted towards his prisoner in the same spirit manifested by the British officer who killed Colonel Ledyard, at Groton Heights, in the Revolutionary war, would he have helped our cause as much as he did by the course actually taken .
LOGAN CRAWFORD, H Company .
AN INCIDENT AT ATLANTA, JULY 22d, 1864.
Major John J. Safely, then Lieutenant 13th Iowa and Brigade Provost Marshal, had gone to the rear for cartridges for the 16th Iowa, and was returning loaded with ammunition, when he en- countered Lieutenant Colonel John M. Hedrick, of the 15th Iowa, lying at the base of a tree, looking pale and exhausted. The Colonel asked him where he was going, and when he said he was taking cartridges to the 16th Iowa, the Colonel said, " You will never come back alive." He pointed out to the Major the fact that the rebels were already on three sides of their brigade and were closing in on the fourth. The blood was streaming from a wound low down in the Colonel's side. A bullet had pierced himn through and through, and while the Major was talking with him he fainted away. The Major thought he was dead, dropping his ammunition he laid the Colonel's head on the gnarled root of the tree and straightened out his body and then went on to the front with his load.
At the Grand Review in Washington the Major was astonished to meet General Hedrick alive and apparently well. The wound which he received was one that always caused him severe suffering, but it had not been fatal. His regiment and brigade were sur- rounded by the rebels but fought their way out, and the line re-
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formed and the position saved. Major Safely says of his old com- rade: " General Hedrick was one of the bravest men of that war. In the brief interview I had with him as he sat there on the field of Atlanta, his bearing and demeanor were those of a true soldier. It put nerve into me and made a better soldier than I had ever been before.
STEAL ANYTHING, STOLE A GRAVE, BUT DIDN'T CARRY IT OFF.
About two years ago Major H. C. McArthur, visited Ottumwa, and General John M. Hedrick, on introducing him, at a Camp Fire of the Grand Army Post, in that city, said, the worst thing he ever knew of McArthur, was stealing a grave, and it happened in this way. On July 22d, 1864, in that giant of battles before Atlanta, when our noble McPherson fell, Mac was in the 17th Corps Hos- pital (having been severely wounded in the charge, the day before ) which was near the point where the rebels made their first assault. The hospital tents were shot through and through, and many a poor wounded soldier was sacrificed there. Mac's bed of boards was riddled with bullets before he would consent to be moved, and his wounds were such he could not be carried far at a time. A short distance from the hospital was a newly made grave, with a dead soldier in it, but the fight came on so suddenly, the body was not covered; as those carrying Mac reached this point the firing became very heavy and they sought shelter in this grave; on the dead sol- dier, Mac was laid until a lull in the firing, when he was carried fur- ther back, and with several others, wounded, laid for a while in the brush. All at once a headquarter team, panic-stricken, came tearing along; the horses were soon relieved of the wagon and one span came galloping directly towards Mac, their nostrils distended with fear, and thoroughly excited. Mac thought then his time had come, and felt he would certainly be trampled to death by the wild horses, but just as he expected to feel their hoofs, they made a leap and
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jumped clear over him, and he was again saved that day. Mac had missed La Fayette Thompson (his faithful colored servant,) for some time, soon he was seen approaching them amid a hurri- cane of shot and shell, carrying the sword, coat and pants belonging to the Major; in the thickest of the fight, he had made the perilous trip back to the hospital and secured them. As Mac and the others had crawled from the place where Fayette left them, he was asked how he found them, and replied, he tracked them by the blood upon the leaves. Mac was soon afterwards taken in a wagon over a Corduroy road ( which almost killed him ) to Marietta, and from there was sent to "God's Country," up north . M.
Patrick Norton, of "A Company," was born in Massachusetts and was about eighteen years of age when he enlisted, he was killed in the Battle of Atlanta, July 22d, 1864, by the explosion of a shell, while assisting in carrying John F. Evans, his Lieuten- ant, who was severely wounded, off the field. Pat was as fine a specimen of physical manhood as the 17th Army Corps had in its ranks, and a better soldier never lived. A great many of the old boys will remember stuttering Pat, who would knock a man down and apologize afterwards that he was compelled to do it as his talking machine would not go.
WM. C. HERSHBERGER.
July 26th, at midnight, the loth Iowa, with its brigade, division and corps left their position on the left of the entire army, and marched that night and the next day, in the rear of the connected lines occupied by the 15th, 23d 14th, 4th and 20th Corps, and cross- Proctor's Creek, arrived in the evening of July 27th on the extreme right of Sherman's Army, west of Atlanta, the 3d Division forming on the right of the 16th Corps, in position there, the 4th Division forming on the right of the 3d, and going into position during the night.
General Sherman says in his report: "Pursuant to the general plan the Army of the Tennessee drew out of its lines near the
-
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Decatur road during the night of July 26, and on the 27th moved behind the rest of the army to Procter's Creek, and south to pro- long our line due south facing east. On that day, by appointment of the President of the United States, Major General Howard assumed command of the Army of the Tennessee, and had the gen- eral supervision of the movement, which was made en echelon. General Dodge's Corps, 16th, on the left, nearest the enemy, Gen- eral Blair's Corps, 17th, next to come up on its right, and General Logan's Corps, 15th, to come upon its right and refused as a flank, the whole to gain as much ground due south from the flank already established on Proctor's Creek as was consistent with a proper strength. General Dodge's men got into line in the evening of the 27th, and General Blair's came into line on the right early on the morning of the 28th, his right reaching an old meeting house called Ezra Church, near some large open fields by the poor-house on a road known as the Bells Ferry on Lickskillet road. Here the 15th Corps, General Logan's, joined on and refused along a ridge, well wooded, which partially commanded a view over the same fields. About 10 A. M. all the army was in position, and the men were busy in throwing up the accustomed piles of rails and logs, which, after a while assumed the form of a parapet. The skill and rapidity with which our men construct them is wonderful and is something new in the art of war. I rode along his whole line about that time and as I approached Ezra Church there was con- siderable artillery firing, enfilading the road. * * I struck across an open field to where General Howard was in the rear of the 15th Corps and remained there until 12 o'clock. Dur- ing this time there was nothing to indicate serious battle save the shelling by one or two batteries from beyond the large field in front of the 15th Corps. * * * The enemy had come out of Atlanta by the Bells Ferry road and formed his masses in the open fields behind a swell of ground and after the artillery firing advanced in parallel lines directly against the 15th Corps, expecting
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to catch that flank in air. His advance was magnificent but found- ed in an error that cost him sadly, for our men coolly and deliber- ately cut down his men, and spite of the efforts of the rebel offi- cers, his ranks broke and fled . But they were rallied again and again, as often as six times at some points, and a few of the rebel officers and men reached our lines of rail piles only to be killed or hauled over as prisoners.
BATTLE OF EZRA CHUCH, JULY 28, 1864.
Headquarters 15th Iowa Infantry, Vet. Vols., Near Atlanta, Ga., July 29, 1864. 5
Captain C. Cadle, Jr., Asst. Adjt. Gen. 4th Division, 17th Army Corps:
Captain: I have the honor to report, that on July 28, 1864, at 11 1/2 o'clock A. M. I received orders from Brigadier General Giles A. Smith, commanding division, to proceed with the 15th Iowa Infantry, commanded by myself, and the 32d Ohio, commanded by Major A. M. Crombecker, the former regiment belonging to 3d Brigade, and the latter to the 1st Brigade, of this division, and re-enforce the division of General Morgan L. Smith of the 15th Army Corps, then attacked by a heavy force of the enemy . The movement was promptly made, and line was formed in the timber in the rear of General M. L. Smith's division, the 32d Ohio being on the right of the line. While there, a regiment was called for, and the 32d. Ohio was sent to the extreme right of the main line, gallantly holding that position and maintaining it throughout the action. Shortly afterwards, the 15th Iowa was ordered up to the main line, and in the midst of a heavy fire relieved the 6th Mis- souri Infantry, General Lightburn's Brigade, which regiment had been stubbornly fighting from the beginning. After the 15th Iowa occupied this line, the enemy made repeated charges, until evening, when, repulsed and discomfited, they fell back, and failed to renew the conflict, which had continued from noon until near night. The
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15th Iowa, the 64th Illinois ( Tate's Sharpshooters ) being on the right, did their duty nobly, and drove back the enemy with great loss at each charge. At 11 o'clock P. M., the 15th Iowa was ordered to fill up a gap in Colonel Martin's Brigade, on the left of General Lightburn's, and erect works, which was done; but about 9 o'clock on the 29th, both regiments under my command (the 15th and 32d) were ordered to return to their own division. A copy of a note addressed by General Morgan L. Smith to Brigadier Gen- eral Giles A. Smith as to the conduct of these regiments, is attached to this report. Our loss was two enlisted men killed, and one commissioned officer, and eight enlisted men wounded in the 15th Iowa, a list of the same being enclosed herewith. My thanks are due the officers and men of both regiments for their gallantry and good conduct.
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