USA > Iowa > History of the Thirtieth Iowa Infantry Volunteers : giving a complete record of the movements of the regiment from its organization until mustered out > Part 11
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Pausing but a short while, we passed on, the road filled with broken wagons and abandoned caissons, till night. Just as the
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTIETH IOWA INFANTRY.
head of the column emerged from a dark, miry swamp, we en- countered the rear guard of the retreating enemy. The fight was sharp, but the night closed in so dark that we could not move. General Grant came up to us there. At daylight we resumed the march, and at Graysville, where a good bridge spanned the Chick- amauga, we found the corps of General Palmer on the south bank, who informed us that General Hooker was on a road still farther south, and we could hear his guns near Ringgold.
As the roads were filled with all the troops they could possibly accommodate, I turned to the east, to fulfill another part of the general plan, viz., to break up all communication between Bragg and Longstreet.
We had all sorts of rumors as to the latter, but it was manifest that we should interpose a proper force between these two armies. I therefore directed General Howard to move to Parker's Gap, and thence send rapidly a competent force to Red Clay, or the Council- Ground, there to destroy a large section of the railroad which connects Dalton and Cleveland. This work was most successfully and fully accomplished that day. The division of General Jeff. C. Davis was moved close up to Ringgold, to assist General Hooker, if needed, and the fifteenth corps was held at Graysville for any thing that might turn np. About noon I had a message from Gen- eral Hooker, saying he had had a pretty hard fight at the mountain pass just beyond Ringgold, and he wanted me to como forward to turn the position. He was not aware at the time that Howard, by moving through Parker's Gap, toward Red Clay, had already turn- ed it. So I rode forward to Ringgold in person, and found the en- emy had fallen back to Tunnel Hill. He was already out of the valley of the Chickamauga, and on ground whence the waters flow to the Coosa. He was out of Tennessee.
I found General Grant at Ringgold, and after some explanations as to breaking up the railroad from Ringgold back to the state line, as soon as some cars loaded with wounded men could be pushed back to Chickamauga depot, I was ordered to move slowly and leisurely back to Chattanooga.
On the following day the fifteenth corps destroyed, abso- Intely and effectually, the railroad from a point half way between Ringgold and Graysville, back to the state line; and General Grant, coming to Graysville, consented that, instead of returning direct to Chattanooga, I might send back all my artillery, wagons and impediments, and make a cirenit by the north as far as the Hia- wassee river.
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Accordingly, on the morning of November 29th, General How- ard moved from Parker's Gap to Cleveland, General Davis by way of MeDaniel's gap, and General Blair, with two divisions of the fifteenth corps by way of Julien's Gap, all meeting at Cleveland that night. Here another good break was made in the Dalton & Cleveland road. On the 30th the army moved to Charleston, Gen- eral Howard approaching so rapidly that the enemy evacuated with haste, leaving the bridge but partily damaged, and five car- loads of flour and provisions on the north bank of the Hiawassee.
This was to have been the limit of our operations. Officers and men had brought no baggage or provisions, and the weather was bitter cold. I had already reached the town of Charleston when General Wilson arrived with a letter from General Grant, at Chat- tanooga, informing me that the latest authentic accounts from Knoxville were to the 27th, at which time General Burnside was completely invested, and had provisions only to include the 3rd of December; that General Granger had left Chattanooga for Knox- ville, by the river road, with a steamboat following him in the river; but he feared that General Granger could not reach Knox- ville in time and ordered me to take cononand of all troops moving for the relief of Knoxville, and hasten to General Burnside. Seven days before, we had left our camp on the other side of the Tennes- see with two days rations, withont a change of clothing stripped for the fight, with but a single blanket or coat per man, from my- self to the private included.
Of course we then had no provisions save what we gathered by the road and were ill supplied for such a march. But we learned that twelve thousand of our fellow soldiers were beleagured in the mountain town of Knoxville, eighty-four miles distant; that they needed relief, and must have it in three days. This was enough - and it had to be done. General Howard, that night, repaired and planked the railroad bridge and at daylight the army passed over tle Hiawassee and marched to Athens, fifteen miles. I had sup posed rightly that General Granger wasabout the mouth of the Hia- wassee, and had sent him notice of my orders; that General Grant had sent me a copy of his written instructions, which were full and complete, and that he must push for Kingston, near which we would make a junction. But by the time I reached Athens I had better studied the geography, and sent him orders which found him at Decatur, that Kingston was out of our way; that he should send his boat to Kingston, but with his command strike across to Philadelphia and report to me there. I had but a small force of
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cavalry, which was, at the time of my receipt of General Grant's orders, scouting over about Benton and Columbus. I left my aid, Major McCoy, at Charleston, to communicate with this cavalry and hurry it forward. It overtook me in the night at Athens.
On the 2nd of December the army moved rapidly north to- ward Loudon, 26 miles distant. About 11 a. m. the cavalry passed to the head of the column, was ordered to push to London, and, if possible to save a pontoon bridge across the Tennessee held by a brigade of the enemy commanded by General Vaughn. The cav- alry moved with such rapidity as to capture every picket; but the brigade of Vaughn had artillery in position covered by earthworks, and displayed a force too respectable to be carried by a cavalry dash, so that darkness closed in before General Howard's infantry got up. The enemy abandoned the place in the night, destroying the pon- toons, running three locomotives and forty-eight cars into the Tennessee river, and abandoned much provisions, four guns, and other material which General Howard took at daylight. But the bridge was gone'and we were forced to turn east and trust to Gen- eral Burnside's bridge at Knoxville. It was all-important that General Burnside should have notice of our coming, and but one day of the time remained.
Accordingly, at Philadelphia, during the night of the 2nd of De- cember, I sent my aid (Major Audenried) forward to Colonel Long, commanding the brigade of cavalry at Loudon, to explain to him how all-important it was that notice of our approach should reach General Burnside within twenty-four hours, ordering him to select the best materials of his command, to start at once, ford the Little Tennessee, and push into Knoxville at whatever cost of life and . horse flesh. Major Audenried was ordered to go along. The dis- tance to be traveled was about forty miles, and the roads villainous. Before day they were off, and at daylight the fifteenth corps was turned from Philadelphia for the Little Tennessee at Morgantown, where my maps represented the river as being very shallow; but it was found too deep for fording, and the water was freezing cold- width two hundred and forty yards, depth from two to five feet; horses could ford, but artillery and men could not. A bridge was indispensable. General Wilson (who accompanied me) 'undertook to superintend the bridge, and Iam under many obligations to him as I was without an engineer, having sent Captain Jenny back from Graysville to survey our field of battle. We had our pioneers, but only such tools as axes, picks and spades. General Wilson, working partly with cut wood and partly with square trestles (made
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTIETH IOWA INFANTRY
of the houses of the late town of Morgantown), progressed apace, and by dark of December 4th troops and animals passed over the bridge, and by daybreak of the 5th the fifteenth corps (General Blair's) wasover, and Generals Granger's and Davis' divisions were ready to pass: but the diagonal bracing was imperfect for want of spikes, and the bridge broke, causing delay. I had ordered General Blair to move out on the Marysville road five miles, there to await notice that General Granger wason a parallelroad abreast of him. and in person I was at a house where the roads parted. when a messenger rode up, bringing me a few words from General Barn- side, to the effect that Colonel Long had arrived at Knoxville with his cavalry, and that all was well with him there; Longstreet still lay before the place, but there were symptoms of his speedy de- parture.
I felt that I had accomplished the first great step in the problem for the relief of General Burnside's army, but still urged on the work. As soon as the bridge was mended, all the troops moved forward. General Howard had marched from Loudon, had found a pretty good ford for his horses and wagons at Davis', seven miles below Morgantown, and had made an ingenions bridge of the wag. ons left by General Vaughn at London on which to pass his men. He marched by Unita and Louisville. On the night of the 5th all the heads of columns comumicated at Marysville, where I met Major VanBuren (of General Burnside's staff) who announced that Longstreet had, the night before, retreated on the Rutledge, Rozers ville, and Bristol road, leading to Virginia; that General Burnside's cavalry was on his heels; and that the General desired to see me in person as soon as I conld come to Knoxville. Iordered all the troops to halt and rest, except the two divisions of General Gran- ger, which were ordered to move forward to Little River, and General Granger to report in person to General Burnside for or- ders. His was the force originally designed to reenforce General Burnside, and it was eminently proper that it should join in the stern chase after Longstreet. On the morning of December 6th, I rode from Marysville into Knoxville, and met General Burnside. General Granger arrived later in the day. We examined his lines of fortifications, which were a wonderful production for the short time allowed in their selection of ground and construction of work. It seemed to me that they were nearly impregnable. We examined the redoubt named "Sanders," . where, on the Sunday previous, three brigades of the enemy had assaulted and met a bloody repulse. Now, all was peaceful and quiet; but a few hours before, the dead-
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ly bullet sought its victim all round about that hilly barrier. The general explained to me fully and frankly what he had done and what he proposed to do. Ho asked of me nothing but Geu- oral Granger's command; and suggested, in view of the large force I had brought from Chattanooga, that I should return with due expedition to the line of the Hiawassee, lest Bragg, reenforced, might take advantage of our absence to resume the offensive. I asked him to reduce this to writing, which he did, and I here in- troduce it as part of my report:
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE (10, KNOXVILLE, December 7, 1863. MAJOR GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN, COMMANDING, ETC .:
GENERAL: I desire to express to you and your command my most hearty thanks and gratitude for your promptness in coming to on relief during the siege of Knoxville, and I am satisfied your approach served to raise the siege. The emergency having passed. I do not deem, for the present, any other portion of your command but the corps of General Granger necessary for operations in this section; and, inasmuch as General Grant has weakened the forces immediately with him in order to relieve us (thereby rendering the position of General Thomas less secure), I deem it advisable that all the troops now here, save those commanded by General Granger, should return at once to within supporting distance of the forces in front of Bragg's army. In behalf of my command, 1 de- sire again to thank you and your command for the kindness you have done us.
I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, A. E. BURNSIDE, Major-General Commanding.
Accordingly, having seen General Burnside's forces move out of Knoxville in pursuit of Longstreet, and General Granger's move in, I put in motion my own command to return. General Howard was ordered to move, via Davis' Ford and Sweetwater, to Athens, with a guard forward at Charleston, to hold and repair the bridge which the enemy had retaken after our passage np. General Jeff. C. Davis moved to Columbus, on the Thawassee, via Madisonville, and the two divisions of the fifteenth corps moved to Tellico Plains, to cover a movement of cavalry across the mountains into Georgia, to'overtake a wagon-train which had dodged us on our way up, and had escaped by way of Murphy. Subsequently, on a re- port from General Howard that the enemy held Charleston, 1 di- verted General Ewing's divisions to Athens, and went in person to
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTIETH IOWA INFANTRY.
Tellico with General Morgan L. Smith's division. By the 9th all our troops were in position, and we held the rich country between the Little Tennessee and the Hiawassee. The cavalry, under Col- onel Long, passed the mountain of Tellico, and proceeded about 17 miles beyond Murphy, when Colonel Long, deoming his farther pursuit of the wagon-train useless, returned on the 12th to Tellico. I then ordered him and the division of General Morgan L. Smith to move to Charleston, to which point I had previously ordered the corps of General Howard.
On the 14th of December all of my command in the field lay along the Hiawassee. Having communicated to General Grant the ac- tual state of affairs, I received orders to leave, on the line of the Hiawassee, all the cavalry, and come to Chattanooga with the rest of my command. I left the brigade of cavalry commanded by Col- onel Long, reenforced by the fifth Ohio cavalry (Lieutenant-Colonel Heath) -the only cavalry properly belonging to the fifteenth army corps-at Charleston, and with the remainder moved by casy marches, by Cleveland and Tyner's depot, into Chattanooga, where I received in person from General Grant orders to transfer back to their appropriate commands the corps of General Howard and the division commanded by General Jeff C. Davis, and to conduct the fifteenth army corps to its new field of operations.
It will thus appear that we have been constantly in motion sinco our departure from the Big Black, in Mississippi, until the present moment. I have been unable to receive from subordinate coui- manders the usual full, detailed reports of events, and have there- fore been compelled to make up this report from my own personal memory; but, as soon as possible, subordinate reports will be re- ceived and duly forwarded.
In reviewing the facts, I must do justice to the men of my com- mand for the patience cheerfulness and courage which officers and men have displayed throughout, in battle, on the march and in camp. For long periods, without regular rations or supplies of any kind, they have marched through mud and over rocks, some- times barefooted, without a murmur. Without a moment's rest after a march of over four hundred miles. without sleep for three successive nights, we crossed the Tennessee, fought our part of the battle of Chattanooga, pursued the enemy out of Tennessee, and then turned more than a hundred and twenty miles north and com- pelled Longstreet to raise the siege of Knoxville, which gave so much anxiety to the whole country. It is hard to realize the im- portance of these events without recalling the memory of the gen-
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eral feeling which prevaded all minds at Chattanooga prior to onr arrival. I cannot speak of the fifteenth army corps without a seeming vanity; but as I am no longer its commander, I assert that there is no better body of solliers in America than it. I wish all to feel a just pride in its real honors.
To General Howard and his command, to General Jeff. C. Davis and his, I am more than usually indebted for the intelligence of commanders and fidelity of commands. The brigade of Colonel Bushbeck, belonging to the eleventh corps, which was the first to come ont of Chattanooga to my Hank, fought at the Tunnel Hill, in connection with General Ewing's division, and displayed a courage almost amounting to rashness. Following the enemy ahost to the tunnel-gorge, it lost many valuable lives, prominent among them Lieutenant-Colonel Taft, spoken of as a most gallant sol- dier.
In General Howard throughout I found a polished and christian gentleman, exhibiting the highest and most chivalric traits of the soldier.
General Davis handled his division with artistic skill, more especially at the moment we encountered the enemy's rear- guard, near Graysville, at night-fall. I must award to this divis- ion the credit of the best order during our movement through east Tennessee, when long marches and the necessity of foraging to the right and left gave some reason for disordered ranks.
Inasmuch as exception may be taken to my explanation of the temporary confusion, during the battle of Chattanooga, of the two brigades of General Matthias and Colonel Ramn, I will here state that I saw the whole, and attach no blame to any one. Ae- cidents will happen in battle, as elsewhere; and at the point where they so manfully went to relieve the pressure on other parts of our assaulting line, they exposed themselves unconscious- ly to an enemy vastly superior in force, and favored by the shape of the ground. Had that enemy come out on equal terms, those brigades would have shown their mettle, which has been tried more than once before and stood the test of fire. They reformed their ranks and were ready to support General Ewing's division in a very few minutes; and the circumstance would have hardly called for notice on my part, had not others reported what was seen from Chattanooga, a distance of nearly five miles, from where could only be seen the troops in the open field in which this affair occurred.
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTIETH IOWA INFANTRY.
I now subjoin the best report of casualities I am able to compile from the records thus far received:
CORPS, DIVISIONS, ETC.
Killed.
Wounded
Missing.
Total.
FIFTEENTH ARMY CORPS: First Division
67
66
197
Second Division
No rep't 62 in hosp
Third Division.
Fourth Division
89 72
361 288 535
122 21
62 199 628
Total.
1,686
ELEVENTH ARMY CORPS: Bushbeck's Brigade
37
145
81
263
Aggregate Loss
1.949
No report from General Davis' division, but loss is small.
Among the killed were some of our most valuable officers: Colo- nels Putnam, ninety-third Illinois; O'Meara, ninetieth Illinois; and Torrence, Thirtieth Iowa; Lieutenant Colonel Taft, of the eleventh corps; and Major Bushnell, thirteenth Illinois.
Among the wounded are Brigadier Generals Giles A. Smith, Corse and Mathias; Colonel Raum; Colonel Wangelin, Twelfth Missouri; Lieutenant Colonel Patridge, Thirteenth Illinois; Major P. I. Welsh, fifty-sixth Illinois; and Major Nathan MeAlla, Tenth Iowa.
Among the missing is Lieutenant Colonel Archer, seventeenth Iowa.
My report is already so long, that I must forbear mentioning acts of individual merit. These will be recorded in the reports of divi- sion commanders, which I will cheerfully indorse; but I must say that it is but justice that colonels of regiments who have so long and so well commanded brigades, as in the following cases, should be commissioned to the grade which they have filled with so much usefulness and credit to the public service, viz .: Colonel J. R. Cockrell, Seventieth Ohio; Colonel J. M. Loomis, Twenty-sixth Illinois; Colonel C. C. Walentt, forty-sixth Ohio, Colonel J. A. Williamson, fourth Iowa; Colonel G. B. Raum, fifty-sixth Ilinois; Colonel J. I. Alexander, fifty-ninth Indiana.
My personal staff, as usual, have served their country with fidel-
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ity and credit to themselves, throughout these events and have received my personal thanks.
Inclosed you will please find a map of that part of the battle field of Chattanooga fought over by the troops under my command, surveyed and drawn by Captain Jenney, engineer on my staff.
I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,
W. T. SHERMAN, Major General Commanding.
[General Order No. 68]
WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, February 21th, 1861.
PUBLIC RESOLUTION No. 12.
Joint resolution tendering the thanks of congress to Major Gen- eral W. T. Sherman and others.
Be it resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress and of the people of the United States of America are due and are hereby tendered to Major General W. T. Sherman, commander of the Department and Army of the Tennessee, and the officers and soldiers who served under him, for their gallant and arduous services in marching to the ro- lief of the Army of the Cumberland, and for their gallantry and heroism in the battle of Chattanooga, which contributed in a great degree to the success of our arms in that glorious victory.
Approved February 19, 1861.
By order of the Secretary of War:
E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General.
The following congratulatory order was issued by General How- ard after the Atlanta campaign:
[General Field Orders No. 16.]
CONGRATULATORY ORDER OF MAJOR GENERAL HOWARD.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT AND ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE, EAST POINT, GA., September 9th, 1864.
It is with pride, gratification, and a sense of Divine favor that I congratulate this noble army, upon the successful termination of this campaign.
Your officers claim for you a wonderful record-for example, a march of four hundred miles, thirteen distinct engagements, four
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thousand prisoners, and twenty stands of colors captured and three thousand of the enemy's dead buried in your front.
Your movements upon the enemy's flank have been bold and successful; first upon Resaca; second upon Dallas; third upon Ken- esaw; fourth upon Nickajack; fifth, via Roswell, upon the Angus- ta railroad; sixth, upon Ezra church to the southwest of Atlanta; and seventh, upon Jonesboro' and the Macon railroad. Atlanta was evacuated while you were fighting at Jonesboro'.
The country may never know with what patience, labor and ex- posure you have tugge I away at every natural and artificial ob sta- cle that an enterprising and competent enemy could interpose. The terrific battles that you have fought may never be realized or credited .. Still a glad acclaim is already greeting you from the government and people, in view of the results that you have helped to gain; and I believe a sense of the m ignitu le of the achievement of the last Inindred days will not abate, but increase with time and history.
Our rejoicing is tempered, as it always must be, by the soldier's sorrow at the loss of his companions in arms. On every hillside, in every valley, throughout your Jong and circuitous route, from Dalton to Jonesboro', you have buried them. Your trusted and be- loved commander fell in your midst; his name, the name of Me- Pherson, carries with it a peculiar feeling of sorrow. I trust the impress of his character is upon you all, to invite you to generous actions and noble deeds. To mourning friends, and to all the dis- abled in battle, we extend a soldier's sympathy.
My first intimate acquaintance with you dated from the 28th of July. I never beheld fiercer assaults than the enemy then made, and I never saw troops more steady and self possessed in action than your divisions which were then engaged.
I have learned that for cheerfuless, obedience, rapidity of move- ment, and confidence in battle, the Army of the Tennessee is not to be surpassed. And it shall be my study that your fair record shall continue and my purpose to assist you to move steadily forward and plant the old flag in every proud city of the rebellion.
O. O. HOWARD, Major General.
The next document is the request of General Howard to Govern- or Stone for drafted men to fill the depleted ranks of the lowa regiments. The governor's reply follows it.
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTIETH IOWA INFANTRY.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT AND ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE, EAST POINT, GA., September 23rd, 1864. To HIS EXCELLENCY, W. M. STONE,
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
SIR:
I have the honor to herewith transmit a copy of the requisition for drafted men for Iowa regiments in the Army of the Tennessee, in the field. Their record throughout the entire war, the laurels they have helped to place upon the victorious banners of the Army of the Tennessee, and their praiseworthy desire to continue their efficiency, demands attention from the patriotie men of Iowa. With the hope that their appeal may meet with success through your exertions, I have the honor to be,
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