USA > Iowa > History of the Nineteenth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry > Part 6
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Although gathered from various commands, we be- lieve that a majority of them belong to the States of Iowa and Indiana. The 19th Iowa and 26th Indiana, are well represented. Thomas, Moorehead, Co. " I," 26th Indiana, was cruelly and wantonly murdered by one of the guards named Frank Smith, while ten paces inside the guard lines.
Four times have the Iowa and Indiana troops marched the one hundred and ten miles from Shreve- port to Tyler for exchange, their bare feet being cut with the frozen earth of last November.
At Camp Ford they have built huts from brush- wood with which to shelter themselves. This work ' was one of slow progress, from the want and the ina- bility to get beyond the guard lines into the woods for material.
Whenever any of these prisoners escaped they were hunted with bloodhounds and, in nearly every case, re- captured. On the 24th of March Col. Rose and all the Indiana officers escaped by digging under the stockade, but after nights of weary marching were re-
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captured by the aid of dogs and brought back. Lieut. Collins of the number escaped again. Lieut. Col. Bor- der, commanding the camp, rebuked the guard for bringing him back, and posted an order to all guards recapturing an escaped prisoner to shoot or hang him on the spot.
These men were marched to Shreveport under the guard of Lieut. Hays, commanding the band of con- scripts. So cruel were these men that when the foot- sore prisoners gave out by the road side, they put a lariet around their necks and tied it to their saddles- a refinement of cruelty.
Many officers remaining are in irons, and all are suffering for food, medicine and clothing. The rations served out cach to them are a few ounces of beef, in- dian meal and salt, no wonder they die like sheep. A small quantity of quinine, blue-mass and calomel, con- stitute the entire pharmacopoeia of the camp.
We have not time to relate a third of the cruelties related to us. But there is one thing of such fright- ful enormity that we should fail to do our duty if we did not call the attention of the Government to it. Two hundred of these prisoners have been vaccinated for the prevention of small-pox with virus tainted with the foul leprosy of sin, and are now impregnated with this loathsome disease.
Immediately upon the arrival of these prisoners the representatives of the Western Branch of the Sanitary Commission, with agents of Iowa and Indiana, ad- dressed themselves busily to the work of ameliorating their condition. Before night they will be clad and their immediate wants cared for.
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Col. Kimball by direction of Gov. Morton of Indi- ana, made four distinct attempts to send relief to this camp without success. Kirby Smith has now express- ed his willingness to permit them to be supplied, and the agents of the different States and the Sanitary Commission will immediately ship a liberal supply of necessaries, together with stores for the sick and a supply of healthy virus for vaccine purposes .- New Orleans Delta, July 25th, 1864.
The Quartermaster at once issued us clothing, and we had good food. A handsome sword was presented to Col. Leake by the men of the 19th Iowa and 26th Indiana. The presentation was made in a few well chosen words by Oscar G. Burch, Sergeant Major of the 19th, and an eloquent and touching address made by the Colonel, who had fought at our head and en- dured with us the rigors of a long imprisonment, and who by his personal interest and influence had mitiga- ted not a little the hardships of our lot. He had won and still retains the unbounded confidence and love of every man in his command.
The part of the regiment not captured, together with the recruits, arrived after we had been in the city some days, and we, the exchanged inen rejoined the others who were in camp on the shell road. Colonel Bruce addressed us in a happy speech, and once more we were a whole regiment.
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CHAPTER VIII.
Friday, October 23d, orders came to move on board transports, it was raining and continued to do so until we got on board, even then not stopping. By one o'clock our regiment was on board the gulf steamer "Gen. Banks." but we lay there till 6 P. M., of the following day, when we ran down past New Orleans, The Quarantine, Fort Jackson, and other places of note and anchored at the "Balize," the weather was quite cold, and the boys thought the " Sunny South," had played out. On the " Gen. Bank s" were also two companies of the 15th Maine volunteers, and I find in this journal these words applied to them " quarrel- some, thieving and mean, pale and sickly looking."
Many vessels pass us, some going up and some go- ing down. In our expedition were twenty-four ves- sels. The evening of the 25th, the flag ship " MeLel- lan" came down, and was received with the firing of a salute and rockets. Generals Banks and Dana were aboard. The next morning all the fleet being present, we steamed off down the S. W. Pass, taking up a pilot at "Pilottown," and were soon outside the bar where our boat and a few others getting ahead, anch- ored, waiting that the others might join us. At 3 P. M., we weighed anchor and stood out to sea before a stiff breeze. The sea was quite rough, and this be- ing their first experience on the vasty deep, many of the men were soon in a retch-ed condition, and seemed anxious to have a general " casting up" of accounts. One man describing his sea-sickness, said: "for a
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while I felt sick, I feared I should die, then I got so sick I was afraid I would not die."
Through the night it was rough, and the morning was gladly hailed by all. A heavy sea pitched the vessel about, and many "longed for the flesh pots of Egypt " in the shape of a footing on terra firma. The passage continued rough, but the 30th after a clear sunrise, the wind sprung up and blew a perfect gale from the north. We could not see a hundred yards distant, the sea was lashed into such a mist.' The wind was so furious and the waves rolled so high that fears were entertained for the safety of the ship, and we were obliged finally, to throw overboard some cai- sons, mules and horses, and a signal of distress was kept flying all day to which no attention was paid.
The sea carried away the kitchen, and the night was cold and dark and we were hungry. The next morning the sea rose again and it was only by the steady use of a steam and two hand pumps that she could be kept afloat. The men in the midst of danger remained calm and quiet. Toward evening two Sharks crossed our bows, and the sailors at once pre- dicted a death on board, during the night sometime one of the 15th Maine died. About 6 o'clock, the "Empire City " passed us and seeing our signal of distress came alongside, we told her our condition when she went on and reported to the Flag Ship, then returning she took us in tow. After running a few hours we lay to till the moon rose.
The morning of November 1st, the sea was still running heavily, yet we rode much steadier than be- fore we were lashed to the "Empire City." About ' noon we took an observation and found we were sixty
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miles north-east of our desired port. About 3 P. M. we hove in sight of the low flat islands that line the coast of Texas.
The gunboat " Virginia " started in chase of a sus- picious looking craft to the south, and crowding all sail and putting on all steam, soon. overtook and brought her to our anchorage near the mouth of the Rio Grande, but the " Leviathan " brought orders to us, and the following day having received some coal from the "Empire City" we steamed up to Brazos Santiago where we landed.
The 19th was the first regiment to land and form in line, at once being sent to "". the front," four miles out to Boche Chico, where Major Bruce addressed the regiment in a few words of gratitude to a protecting Power that had brought them through the perils of the deep, and requested all who would give God the praise to unite with him in singing " Praise God from whom all blessings flow," and those simple words were seldom sung with more feeling and fervor than then. * From this island we can see in one direction Point Isabel, where Gen. Taylor landed troops dur- ing the Mexican war and in the other a large fleet of French and English vessels riding at anchor.
Brazos Santiago is a sand-bar with no vegetable life and nothing good about it, if I except the sea breeze.
The 31st we were mustered and the rolls headed "mustered for pay four days out of sight of land on the Gulf of Mexico."
On the 3d and 4th water was so scarce that many suffered much from thirst. The 4th, crossing the channel, we camped in the chaparral-a scrubby, dense thorny kind of brush-opposite Bagdad. The succee-
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ding day the regiment moved on to the last point be- tween Point Isabel and Brownsville, at which water can be procured; that was about nine miles from Brownsville.
On the 6th of November, Brownsville was reached and some largo warehouses taken for quarters. Here, we were as far away from home as we could get and stay in the United States. Just across the river was the city of Matamoras, in Mexico. We were on the very outskirts of Uncle Sam's wide-spread domain.
Brownsville contains a population of seven or eight thousand, and many fine buildings both public and private, and five or six churches of different denomi- nations. Many of the people are Mexicans, who though very wealthy are a miserable looking set. Ve- getables and meat are plenty and cheap as are also salt and fresh water fish.
The Spanish ladies justify fully the descriptions giv- en in novels,-all that charming grace is theirs. Most of the ladies wear the Serape-a sort of scarf, over the head and shoulders.
Every evening the brass band discoursed sweet mu- sic, and the natives of every age, sex, shade of color, condition and dress, assembled to hear it.
Here, even in mid-winter everything is in bloom, and the weather warm and pleasant.The prickly pear is abundant, and is a most delicious fruit. The cactus grows to the height of eighteen to twenty feet, and has leaves large as a washboard.
There is no large timber near Brownsville; all the growth being chaparral, a dwarfed species of oak, that grew so rank it was impossible to force a way through "it in many places.
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The men frequently went over the river into Mexi- co, armed with a pass and some silver, as greenbacks or any paper money would not circulate.
The objects of interest in Matamoras were many to an American. The Mexican people are anamalous- they are a human paradox, for they are squalid, unti- dy, quarrelsome and thievish, yet they love music and perform well on various instruments, and are fond of paintings, exhibiting a degree of artistic skill in many of their productions, that was wholly unlooked for to those who had seen none but the "Mexican abroad." Their love for painting, music and ceremony leads them to embrace the Roman Catholic faith, and Mat- amoras has as fine a cathedral as is in the south, and well attended. Their dress is varied and fantastic,- they love gaud and glitter.
I find recorded in a journal the following :
" Gens. Ord and Herron, on visiting Matamoras to- day, (Feb. 11th, 1864,) were met with great eclat, re- ceiving a salute of thirty guns and two hundred bottles of champagne."
The life here was sometimes tiresome, not receiving mail for a month, and duty was very heavy, a chain guard being around the entire place. At one time two cannons were found in the river and taken up-a man diving and tying a rope around them.
While here at different times recruits joined the re- giment, some of whom had been recruited just after the Prairie Grove battle, and had spent the interven- ing months lying at some camp of instruction (?).
Lieut. Col. Kent was on court martial and other du- ty most of the time, leaving the command of the regi- ment devolving upon Major Bruce.
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In the early part of March, Lieut. Col. Kent resign- ed, and Major Bruce was made our Lieut. Colonel.
I give here a list of all the recruits of our regiment, some of whom joined at Forsyth, Mo., some did not join till after this time, but I give it here because the most of them here came to the regiment.
Co A-Private David A. King.
Peter E. Landis.
«
H. Montgomery. .
J. W. Reeves.
66
A. J. Riley.
66
Wm. Spain. :
S. M. Stevenson.
66
James A. Sage.
G. A. Southworth.
66
C. W. Sackman.
66 Samuel Cole.
66
Isaac Glasstord.
C. N. Johnson.
Geo. W. Orr.
66
66 James Elmer.
John Keithler.
Fred. Thompson.
Co. B-Private H. Byrkitt.
"
Geo. P. Baker.
66 .
W. L. Byrkitt.
C. M. Comagys.
66
Thos. Campbell.
W. F. Grasner.
James Heaton.
66 D. H. Lewis.
Elam Rushton.
David L. Reynolds.
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NINETEENTH IOWA INFANTRY. 121
Co. B-Private Thos. Sampson.
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" ( D. A. Shion.
J. Vanderwort.
Geo. R. Wood.
66 Wm. Woodward.
Co. C-Private John W. Anderson.
66 J. L. Winter.
Joe. A. Dawson.
66 66 N. L. Babcock.
S. B. Houston.
Geo. D. Knox.
D. K. Larrimer.
Wm. C. Porter.
P. Swartzlander.
S. W. Taylor.
R. H. Young.
Thos. J. Talbott.
¥ N. Wilkin.
Joseph Skinner.
Amos Helwick.
Co. D-Private E. Pope.
J. R. Peters.
M. Thompson.
A. H. McReynolds.
J. M. Knowles.
66 Wm. A. Black.
R. B. Kenyon.
66 J. Q. Gray.
Co. E-Corp'l. John Bressler.
Private Samuel Bressler.
J. A. Terrell.
Co. E-Private Silas Geer. 1
Elias James.
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Co. E-Private Benj. Kinnion. 1 66
Wm. R. Kinnion.
G. A. Liddle.
Jasper N. Matlock.
Henry Morgan.
Wm. A. Thompson.
Patrick Walch.
Chas. E. Hahn.
I. N. Southard.
H. G. Frazer.
66
Levi Williams.
66
Harlin West.
66
.
Alonzo Willard.
Z. Grier.
"
J. D. Dodge.
Jasper M. Howitt.
Co. F-Private Geo. M. Bell.
E. II. Hurly.
Geo. Rathfon.
.
66 A. Linderman.
66 Jasy Pontzier.
Jas. B. Gibbs.
Jas. Stewart.
Co. G-Corp'l. Wm. Walker.
Geo. Rexwatch.
Wm. H. Sprague. .
John E. Sprague.
Ormond Phurson.
Co. H-Corp'l. John II. Byers. Private John Guy.
D. C. Harris.
" John W. Pearson.
« S. R. Stewart, joined at Forsyth, Mo.
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NINETEENTH IOWA INFANTRY
Co. I-Private David Moody.
Edward Murphy.
Charles H. Stratton, joined at New Orleans.
. Co. K-Private Jesse Starkey, joined at Forsyth, Missouri.
Co. K-Private Jesse Murphy.
Geo. W. Anderson.
66 Alfred Bales.
A. Huddlestone.
66
S. Perkins.
Wm. Paxton.
וי Wm. L. Smith.
.
J. G. M. Smith.
66
Walter Roberts,
66
John Gish.
R. W. Allsup.
Wmn. Bench.
66 Geo. L. Carter.
Saml. McCoy. A. J. Smith.
The last of July the regiment embarked for New Orleans, leaving three companies, viz : "B," "C" and "K " at Brazos Santiago, where they remained till Aug. 16th, when they too come to New Orleans.
The return trip of the regiment to the city was pros- perous, and they went into camp on the Shell Road,
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CHAPTER IX.
Some of those who escaped from prison have given me narratives of their adventures, some of which I will insert here.
The first is of myself-an escape that was unsuc- cessful.
November the Sth, Horatio W. Anderson, Wm. McGregor and myself, having made all the prepara- tions for escaping that was possible, determined to delay no longer, and as the shadows of the pines grew longer and stretched far over the stockade, putting on our scantily filled haversacks and bidding the boys a hasty good-bye, we crept over the guard line and sha- king from our feet the dust of the pen, shaped our course for the north star, with the intention of going to Fort Smith.
For ten hours we kept steadily on our course with an occasional alarm, and near morning stopped to con- ceal ourselves during the day. That long day came to an end at last, and at dusk we started on, coming to Sabine River bottom about ten o'clock. For two hours we struggled on through vines and tangled un- dergrowth, till finding it impossible to proceed, we thought to lie down but could not for the dense growth of shrubs and vines; however, we cleared a sufficient space with our hatchet to lie upon till morning, and the Sabine was reached by sunrise.
The country seemed so wild and unsettled we deem- ed it safe to travel by day, so continued on our way, seeing very many deer, as indeed we did on every day
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NINETEENTH IOWA INFANTRY.
of the trip, crossing many roads and streams and go- ing around plantations. During the night it froze hard, but the day was pleasant and we traveled far. About ten o'clock coming to a small house away from any settlement apparently, we entered and found no one at home. The ringing sound of an axe in sturdy hands came to our ears from a hillside not two hun- dred yards distant, and from the kind and quantity of furniture as well as the condition of the cupboard, we thought he must be a bachelor; indeed we knew it, and knowing bachelors to be open-hearted (?) and generous, we did not wait his arrival but took what we chose,-among other things a compass, that proved of great benefit to us afterward. Even in our haste to leave we had time to laugh at noticing among his few books, a small work on "Infant Baptism."
We then walked rapidly on till midnight. Resting till near morning, we started on and about noon found three girls chopping in the woods, and asking of our whereabouts found we were not far distant from Mount Pleasant; being asked to go to the house for dinner we went quite willingly. When they found who we real- ly were they told us their father and brother were " laying out " to keep out of the army. After dinner going on five or six miles we saw a house at which we stopped for something to carry with us to eat.
The door step had hid itself away in the weeds, the well was stagnant and to the handle, idle for months, dangled a lazy rope, so rotten, the pail had broken away from it and fallen into the water. A little pale meek-eyed woman told us, pointing to a small corn cake, " that's all we have in the house," then added . with tears in her eyes and voice " my John 's pressed
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into the army, and I don't know if he lives or not" and as I saw those little children, three of them, look- ing as the stillness of death had fallen on their spirits, I turned away, thinking as we walked along, of the many other sorrowful hearts in the land.
Some miles further on we entered a small house in a deep valley, and to our consternation, there sat three men, long-haired and wild eyed, while leaning against the wall was their guns; to speak, or even think, was impossible. Mechanically we stepped to the water bucket and each took a drink in silence, passing out as unceremoniously as we had entered. They were probably deserters, who were but too glad to remain unmolested themselves to hinder us, or be at all in- quisitive. The following day we killed a pigeon and ate it raw, 'having no means of making fire. ".
About midday the country assumed the appearance of being more thickly settled, and soon we came to a prairie on the edge of which we saw a large house and wentto it. The lady of the house welcomed us warmly saying, "it's not often any of our brave boys come to our house," and we were forthwith honored guests, on the understanding that we were good Southern sol- diers. After eating a substantial meal and hearing an exact history of each individual member of the family, present or absent, we went on our way rejoic- ing. The country began to grow more and more rough . and before night we were on the hills.
The following day we stopped with like success at a house for our dinner. Sabbath, November 15th, wo left our bed of leaves at 4 o'clock in the morning, and traveled till midnight, meeting with but two adven- tures to relieve the monotony of the route. Early in
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the morning we stopped at a large house on the main road from Clarksville to Fort Towson, Indian Terri- tory. At the former place a cavalry regiment was or- ganizing, and at the latter a large part of Cooper's ar- my lay.
We told the good 'Squire Jones we were returning to our commands in Cooper's army from furlough and while breakfast was preparing, we discussed a para- graph in a Clarksville paper relating the particulars of Gen. Blunt's death. Breakfasting deliberately, al- though we momentarily feared the arrival of some wandering trooper, we thanked the host and resumed our journey, thinking that day would bring us to Red River. Nearer evening, as we tramped through the woods in Indian file, I being in the advance, stepped out unexpectedly upon a well traveled road and saw withing a hundred yards, two Confederate officers in full uniform with revolvers belted on, riding toward us, and they saw us; there was but one thing to do, we walked fearlessly on (to all outward seeming ). crossing the road, which run east and west, and they reining in their horses watched us out of sight. This made us more careful, and urged us on, lest they put the hounds on our track, if they had a suspicion of who we were.
Toward midnight we entered low well cultivated land, and after going some miles, concluded we were in Red River bottom, which was true. For over eight miles was one continuous cotton field with long rows of rail pens filled with the crop. The morning star rose, and fearing to travel in so thickly settled a country we climbed up into the highest cotton pen we `could find, and rested in state, for in truth, King Cot- ton made a royal couch.
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When morning dawned we beheld Red River about a mile north of us, and for miles on either side of our pen was one vast cotton field, but on the Indian Ter- "ritory side we could see the timber come to the waters edge. Through the day the plantation hands were at work at a gin so near by we could hear their talk and the overseer's harsh voice urging them on.
When darkness come we climbed down and went to the negro quarters for something to eat. They gave us all they had in the world-about a pound of corn bread, and gave us directions where to cross the river. Going to the river we missed the place, and af- ter wandering up and down for some time, I tried to wade it, first taking off my clothes. The water was to my chin when not quite the middle, and the main channel not yet reached, so as McGregor could not swim we abandoned the attempt for that night and sought rest and a hiding place in a cotton house, in which were several hundred bales of cotton, one of which we cut open and made a bed high up in the pile and removed from notice. Here we slept most of the next day, though for several hours in the fore- noon, we were kept in suspense by some little negroes playing over the pile, as we feared they might discov- er us.
Toward evening getting hungry and half reckless, (our last meal was the corn cake the night before,) we slipped out of the cotton house and going down the river a few rods to where a fence ran close by the bank we made a raft of rails, binding it together with ropes cut from cotton bales. The plantation belonged to Hugh Rogers, and is one of the largest on the Red 'River.
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NINETEENTH IOWA INFANTRY.
Fearing the raft was not of sufficient tonnage to carry three safely, McGregor and I crossed first, McGregor acting both as pilot and propelling power, then he went back for Anderson, and by sunset we were in the Indian Nation, and after crossing the bottom land, which was not so wide as that on the Texas side, we came to high rolling open country, and felt compara- tively safe for we were out of reach of the dogs.
About midnight we lay down and were lulled to sleep by the howling of wolves, and our slumbers were neither sound or unbroken. The next forenoon we traveled through a wild but beautiful country, and near ten o'clock came to an Indian village-Choctaw -and by signs made them know we were hungry, when they set out venison, sweet potatoes, curdled milk, and a kind of drink made from roots that had more of the flavor and aroma of Mocha than any imi- tation of coffee I ever drank. Their houses were sub- stantial one story hewn log structures, and very com- fortable, the inside floored neatly and the air of half civilization was toned down by a cheap print of some missionary that hung on the walls, and a bible in their language lying on a stand. Seeing this, I took from my pocket a small Testament (a gift from my father, and the last relic-other than one picture that I had- of home,) and by signs made them know it was the same. I fancied the woman's face wore a kindlier look.
After eating heartily we took our departure, not having seen any men around the village, although we were in but one house. /
After we were a sufficient distance in the woods to have lost sight of the village, we turned to the north 17
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again and were hardly three hundred yards from the road, when hearing the rapid steps of horses approach- ing, we lay down in the brush, and two Indians astride their lank scrubby ponies, with rifles slung across their saddles came galloping past, looking closely on every side. We lay breathless till they had passed on, then arising hastened to put all possible space betwixt them and us.
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