USA > Iowa > Iowa colonels and regiments: being a history of Iowa regiments in the war of the rebellion; and containing a description of the battles in which they have fought > Part 22
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road, was more especially so. In this dense timber, General Hood had massed his forces on the evening of the 21st instant.
At a little after twelve o'clock on the afternoon of the 22d, Colonel Belknap and Lieutenant-Colonel Hedrick had just seated themselves for dinner, when the first gun of the senti- nels was fired. The suddenness of the enemy's attack was unprecedented. Colonel Belknap had barely time to buckle on his sword, and hurry from his head-quarters to the front of his regiment, when the line of skirmishers was driven in. Almost at the same instant, the enemy was seen coming at double-quick, and in a line of battle, nearly at right angles with that of General Blair's along the MeDonough road. In the suddenness of his attack, the rebel general was aping Napoleon. He doubtless expected to force in our line, as one would slide in the sections of a telescope, thus crowding the Army of the Tennessee together in hopeless confusion ; but he had reckoned without his host. The Iowa Brigade, having hastily formed, met and repulsed the assaults of the enemy in their front; when, his centre being repulsed, his left and right wing swung round to the Federal front and rear. And in this way, is accounted for the almost incredible story of our troops fighting, first on the one, and then on the other side of their intrenchments. Subjected to a galling artillery-fire, and now well-nigh surrounded, Colonel Belknap had no other alterna- tive than to retire, which he did, in a north-westerly direction, and across the MeDonough road. During that afternoon, the 15th Iowa fought in seven distinet positions; and its losses are proof of the stubbornness with which cach was contested. The following were among the gallant dead: Lieutenants Logan W. Crawford and E. M. Gephart. The latter was killed in the regiment's fourth position. Seeing, as he thought, a small detachment of the enemy in cover not far distant, he rallied a few volunteers, and rushed out to capture them; but they
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WILLIAM W. BELKNAP. .
proved to be quite a large force. He turned to retreat to his regiment, but was shot before he reached it. He was a young man of much promise.
The loss of the 15th Iowa in killed, wounded and missing, was one hundred and fifty-three. Lieutenant-Colonel Hedrick was severely wounded, as was also his brother, Captain Hed- rick. Lieutenant W. P. L. Muir was wounded for the fourth time in the head, and was captured. Lieutenants Evans and Scheevers were also severely wounded.
At one time during the engagement, the 15th Iowa was assaulted by the 45th Alabama Infantry, Colonel Lampley. The 15th in this instance was protected by earth-works, and literally slaughtered its assailants, while they were rushing to the onset with the most determined bravery. Only a few of the entire rebel regiment reached the foot of the works, and of these, one was killed, and the others either wounded or cap- tured. Colonel Lampley was captured by Colonel Belknap in person. Connected with this charge of the 15th Alabama, was an amusing incident. A young boy, of the genuine chivalry, was among the party that reached the foot of the works. After the assault had been repelled, and the firing had slackened, Colonel Belknap stepped up on the works to secure his pris- oners; but he had no sooner exposed his person than the young boy fired on him. The ball passed under his chin and cut through his whiskers. He was enraged and, seizing the boy by the hair of the head, dragged him over the works; but, in spite of himself he could not help admiring the pluck of the young rascal.
For his gallantry in this and in other battles of the can- paign, Colonel Belknap, on the recommendation of General Sherman, was appointed a brigadier-general. After receiving his commission, he succeeded Colonel Hall of the 11th Iowa, in
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IOWA COLONELS AND REGIMENTS.
the command of the Iowa Brigade, which he has held ever since.
General Belknap is about five feet, eleven inches in hight, and rather portly. His eyes, which are dark-blue and very expressive, are his handsomest feature. In his manners he is rather dignified; but he is educated and refined, and a favorite in the social circle.
In the legal practice, he did not excel as an advocate. He made no pretensions to oratory; but, in preparing a case for trial, he had few equals. It was a rare thing for a demurrer to be sustained to one of his pleadings.
At the time of entering the army, he was reputed an able and honorable business-man. In the army he has been known as a good disciplinarian, a brave officer, and a warm friend to the soldier. His neighbors in Keokuk look upon his brilliant military career with much pride.
BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL J. M. HEDRICK.
THIRD COLONEL, FIFTEENTH INFANTRY.
JOHN MORROW HEDRICK is a native of Indiana, the State which stands third, in the number of her sons, who, in Iowa, have been honored with colonel's commissions. He is a son of J. W. Hedrick, Esq., a resident of Wapello county, and an intelligent and influential farmer.
General Hedrick was born in Rush county, Indiana, the 16th day of December, 1832. In the year 1846 he accompanied his father's family to Iowa, where he has since resided. His means of education were limited. He never entered the halls of an academy or a college as a student. He acquired his edu- cation at the Common Schools, and at his father's fireside; but, notwithstanding his limited advantages, he had, at the age of seventeen, qualified himself for a teacher. From the age of seventeen to that of twenty, he passed his Winters in teaching, and his Summers on his father's farm. In 1852, he entered a mercantile house as elerk. Soon he became a partner in the business, and, ere long, proprietor of the house. With the exception of two years, when he was engaged in the real-estate business, his entire attention, from 1852 till the beginning of the war, was turned to mercantile pursuits. But he was unfor- tunate in some investments. In 1857-8, he had risked much in land speculations; and, like the great majority of those who at that time dealt in wild lands, suffered pecuniary losses.
In August, 1861, General Hedrick closed out his business in Ottumwa, for the express purpose of entering the service, and, before the close of that month, had enlisted a sufficient number of men to entitle him to a first lieutenant's commission. Before
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IOWA COLONELS AND REGIMENTS.
entering the service, he had held commissions as second lieu- tenant and captain in an independent military company of the city of Ottumwa; but this company existed only in name, and the knowledge of military matters, which he derived from his connection with it, was of no importance: indeed, in this respect, he was as purely a civilian as any officer that has gone out from the State.
General Hedrick was commissioned 1st Lieutenant of Com- pany D, 15th Jowa Infantry, the 20th day of September, 1861, and on the 23d of the following December was made quarter- master of that regiment. While the regiment was at its rendezvous in Keokuk, he was promoted to the captaincy of Company K, and with this rank he entered the field.
Shiloh, as has already been stated, was the 15th Iowa's first battle; and the part taken by the regiment in this engagement has been already given. Captain Hedrick here distinguished himself, and was wounded and taken prisoner. At the time the regiment made its partially successful assault against the enemy, and just when the left wing was overpowered and forced baek by overwhelming numbers, he was wounded, and instantly surrounded and captured. Being taken to the rear he, with about two hundred and fifty other officers, was for- warded to Corinth, and thence by rail to Memphis; where he arrived on the night of the 8th, near mid-night. Hustling the prisoners rudely from the cars, the Confederates huddled them, both officers and men, into a large store-room, where they guarded them that night, and where, for the first time since their capture, they issued them rations. It had been more than fifty hours since they had tasted food, and now they received only raw bacon and rotten bread.
But in the meantime the issue of the battle having been decided, the enemy became apprehensive, not only of the
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JOHN M. HEDRICK.
capture of Corinth, but of Memphis; for a fleet of Union gun- boats was, at that very time, lying only a few miles above the eity. The Union prisoners were therefore, on the morning of the 9th, hurried on board the cars, in order to be sent South; but for some reason the train did not leave till evening.
At that time, the fiendish eruelties practiced by the Confed- erates upon all Union people within their lines, had not purged the city of Memphis of all Union sentiment; for, during the entire day of the 9th, hundreds of her citizens crowded closely around the carefully-guarded train, which con- tained the prisoners, speaking kind words and, whenever occasion offered, tendering more substantial testimonials of their sympathy. But the story of the sufferings of Union prisoners of war has been often told, and need not be here repeated.
The sojournings of Captain Hedrick in the South, and the route he traveled with his brother officers, may be given with interest. Leaving Memphis on the evening of the 9th of April, he was taken, first to Jackson, Mississippi; from Jackson to Meridian; from Meridian to Mobile; from Mobile up the Ala- bama River to Selma; and from Selma to Talladega, where for two weeks he was quartered with his brother officers in a vacant Baptist College. From Talladega he was taken back to Selma, where he remained two months; from Selma to Montgomery; from Montgomery to Atlanta; from Atlanta to Madison; and from Madison to Richmond, via Augusta, Columbia, Raleigh and Weldon. At Richmond Captain Hed- rick was paroled, after a prison-life of six months and seven days, and entered our lines on the 18th day of October, 1862.
After remaining several weeks with his family at Ottumwa, he learned that he was exchanged, and at once returned to his regiment. He re-joined it on the 9th of February, 1863, at La Fayette, Tennessee, and was immediately promoted to the
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majority, his commission dating the 17th of January, 1863. On the 22d of the following April he was made lieutenant- colonel ; and with this rank he won his chief laurels. When, after the fall of Atlanta, Colonel Belknap was made a briga- dier-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Hedrick was promoted to the full colonelcy of the 15th Iowa Infantry, his commission dating the 20th of August, 1864. He was breveted brigadier-general in the spring of 1865, for gallant services in the Atlanta Cam- paign.
As has already been stated, the 15th Iowa saw its hardest service in General Sherman's campaign against Atlanta. Just before returning home on veteran furlough, the regiment had accompanied General Sherman on the Meridian march, which, however, is celebrated only for the rapidity of the movement, and the large amount of rebel property destroyed ; and still earlier the regiment had joined in the siege of Vicksburg, and in the subsequent march on Jackson; but in none of these movements was it in any general engagement. It did not accompany its corps on the march through Bruinsburg, Port Gibson, Raymond and Jackson, to the rear of Vicksburg; but with its brigade was stationed at Grand Gulf.
In the inarch to Monroe, Louisiana, which, considering its length, is the hardest with one exception that was ever made by the Iowa Brigade, the 15th Iowa was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Hedrick. The expedition was commanded by Brigadier-General Stevenson, and left Goodrich's Landing above Vicksburg, about the middle of August, 1863. The line of march, which was almost due west, lay across the broad bottom-lands that, for nearly fifty miles, stretch westward from the Mississippi. These bottom-lands, lying as they do below Lake Providence, had in the previous Spring received rich deposits from the Lake Providence Canal; and the road, which was narrow and straight, was bordered with the most luxuri-
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ant vegetation, in many places the weeds being twelve feet high. There was hardly a breath of air stirring, and, from morning till night the troops for the most of the way had no protection from the burning rays of the sun. The weather too was dry, and the dust almost suffocating. In addition to all this, the timber and the rank and dense vegetation was thickly inhabited by snakes of all kinds, and of the most fabulous size -enemies which the troops held in much greater terror than the few hostile rebels who hovered in their front. The only alleviating circumstance in this expedition seemed to be that the country had never been ravaged by our army, and supplies were abundant. Of the two hundred and eighty-one men of the 15th who started on this march, sixty had to be brought back to the river in wagons and ambulances. Several too, who were unable to bear the fatigue, were left within the lines of the enemy, in care of Surgeon Gibbon.
The fruits of the expedition, which was some twenty days out from Vicksburg, were small. Monroe, the terminus of the Vicksburg and Monroe Railroad, was entered without opposition, the enemy abandoning the place, crossing the Washita, and destroying their pontoons. A few prisoners were captured, and a small quantity of Confederate stores destroyed.
The march of the Iowa Brigade with the greater portion of its army corps from Clifton, Tennessee, to the front at Kene- saw Mountain, has already been given. On the morning of the 2d of July, 1864, the 17th Army Corps formed the left of Sherman's army before Kenesaw. The Iowa Brigade held the right of its corps. Already, Sherman had despaired of dislodging the enemy from their strong-hold in his front, and that night he ordered a flank movement to the right, by way of Nick-a-jack Creek. Just at dusk, the 17th Corps, which was to hold the advance, broke camp, and, with the division of
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IOWA COLONELS AND REGIMENTS.
Giles A. Smith in the lead, took up its line of march down the valley, just in rear of the main line of works in the centre and on the right. The movement was a surprise to the enemy; and yet, the character of the country to be passed, which was broken and heavily timbered, enabled them to make nmch resistance. Keeping a considerable force of cavalry with light artillery constantly in the front, they would halt at every commanding point along the road, and, with their artil- lery, supported by their cavalry, dismounted, harrass the advance. These positions, in nearly every instance, had to be charged.
During two days of this march, (the 4th and 5th of July) Lieutenant-Colonel Hedrick, with four companies of the 15th Iowa, and four of the 16th, as skirmishers, led the advance. On the second day's march, the following incident occurred : on a heavily-wooded point, the enemy was found in posi- tion, and the reserves brought up and deployed, for a charge. Instantly, as the charge was ordered, the Iowans swept reck- lessly down through the ravine, and up the opposite slope to the crest, where the enemy had just shown themselves. They gained the point, and now for the pursuit. With a shout, they started down through the brush, each man striving for the lead, when-bang ! bang ! bang! went the enemy's artillery from the hill not more than seventy-five yards in advance. A deadly volley of musketry followed, when the boys, returning as quickly as they went, reported to their officers: "Damn 'em, they are right up there !"
Soon after discovering Sherman's movement to Nick-a-jack Creek, the enemy evacuated Kenesaw and Marietta, and hur- ried to their left, where, on the morning of the 6th, they showed sufficient force to prevent a further advance; for their position was a strong one on the hills that lay on the east side of Nick- a-jack Creek, and near where that stream forms a junction
,
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JOHN M. HEDRICK.
with the Chattahoochie. From the 6th of July to the 10th, the time was passed in skirmishing with the enemy; but, in the meantime, General Sherman had entered Marietta, and passed up the Chattahoochie fifteen miles to Roswell, where he secured a crossing. That stream was now passed, and the capture of Atlanta made certain. This happened on the morning of the 10th instant; and in the afternoon and evening of the same day, the enemy abandoned their works on the Nick-a-jack, and crossed the Chattahoochie. A tedious march up the valley past Marietta, and the 17th Corps also crossed the river at Ros- well, and led the advance to Decatur, which was entered with little opposition, on the evening of the 19th instant. [In giv- ing the movements of the 17th Corps, I am also giving the movements of the 15th Iowa, and of the other regiments of the łowa Brigade.]
The advance from Decatur to the south-east side of Atlanta, on the 20th, was fiercely contested; but the enemy, at night- fall, had been successfully forced back to their defenses around the doomed city. On the following morning, followed the fierce assault of the 21st, which was unsuccessful, and in which the 15th lowa lost some fifty in killed and wounded; but the great battle of the campaign, and the one in which the 15th Jowa suffered most, and most distinguished itself, was that fought on the afternoon of the day following.
After the engagement of the 21st, the Iowa Brigade marched to the extreme left of its corps, and took up a position as a sort of picket-reserve; and in this position it was assaulted near the hour of dinner-call, on the following day ; but a description of this engagement has. been already given.
Colonel Hedrick was wounded in the carly part of the engagement, and just before his regiment was forced back. He was shot with a minnie ball directly over the spine, in the small of the back. The ball, striking and cutting his sword
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JOHN M. HEDRICK.
belt in two, was turned slightly to the left; and, passing down across the ilium, came out near the lower point of the hip. Completely paralyzed by the wound, he was at once placed upon the shoulders of two men to be taken to the rear when he instantly received another shot through the left fore-arm. The first wound was supposed to be mortal; and, but for his vigor- ous constitution, it must have proven so. For many weeks he was kept upon his back, and even now he can not move about without the aid of crutches. Having partially recovered, he was detailed on a court-martial in the city of Washington, where he is still serving.
Since the battle of the 22d of July, before Atlanta, the 15th
Iowa has been commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Pomutz, a
.
Hungarian by birth, and, I am told, a good officer. The services of the regiment, since the fall of that place, are com- prised in the march from Atlanta, via Savannah, to Raleigh and Washington.
Of General Hedrick as a military man, I dare not speak as I otherwise would, were he not my fellow-townsman. All who know his military history concede that he is an officer of great worth.
In person, he is tall and slender, with spare features, dark- brown hair, and large, dark eyes. He is an energetic and rapid talker, and expresses his opinions with great positive- ness; which he can do with safety, since he has much general information. He has a firm step, and a hearty laugh; is hope- ful, cheerful and self-confident, and endures reverses with great fortitude. He is as much esteemed as a citizen, as he is admired as a soldier.
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COLONEL ALEXANDER CHAMBERS.
SIXTEENTH INFANTRY.
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ALEXANDER CHAMBERS is thirty-two years of age, and a native of the State of New York. I know little more of his history prior to his entering the volunteer service except that he was a lieutenant of the 1Sth Regular Infantry, and a resi- dent of Owatonna, Minnesota. After the war broke out, and before he was made colonel, he served as a mustering officer of Iowa troops. He was the United States mustering officer of the following Iowa regiments: the 1st, 2d and 4th Cavalry; and the 1st, 2d, 3d, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 18th and 14th Infantry. Though not an Iowa man, his military services certainly go to the credit of the State. He was commissioned Colonel of the 16th Iowa, in February, 1862, and served with this rank till the winter of 1863-4, when he left the volunteer service and returned to his former position as captain in the 18th Regular Infantry ; for he had been promoted to a cap- tainey, in the summer of 1861.
Colonel Chambers' first engagement, which was also the first of his regiment, was Shiloh. In that action he was slightly wounded. The position of his regiment in the first day's battle was on the right of the 15th Iowa, and the part it sus- tained sufficiently appears in the sketch of General HI. T. Reid. In the closing paragraph of an official statement concerning this engagement, Colonel Chambers says :
" The field officers were particularly cool under a destructive fire, and rendered great assistance. The horses of all the field and staff officers were killed or wounded, evidently showing an intention on the part of the enemy to pick off the most prominent officers. Captains Ruchl and Zettler, both gallant
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men, were killed or mortally wounded, and 1st Lieutenant Frank N. Doyle, a brave and efficient officer, was also killed. The loss during Sunday's fight was two officers and sixteen non-commissioned officers and privates killed, and nine officers and twenty-four non-commissioned officers and privates wounded, and fifteen non-commissioned officers and privates missing."
Among the wounded officers, were Captains A. Palmer, E. S. Fraser, and E. M. Newcomb; and Lieutenants Lewis Bunde, J. H. Lucas, G. H. Holcomb, and Henry Meyer. It was reported that the regiment did not conduct itself with credit, but its losses tell a different story. The conduet of Lieutenant-Colonel A. H. Sanders was especially gallant, as it ever after was, in the face of the enemy.
It is elsewhere stated that immediately after the battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, the Iowa Brigade was organized, and that the organization was preserved till the close of Gen- eral Sherman's campaign through the Carolinas, in the spring of 1865. The 16th Jowa was the junior regiment of this brig- ade, and much relating to its history will be found in the sketches of Generals Crocker, Reid, Belknap and Hedrick, and Colonels Hall and Shane. But the 16th has a chapter in its history, not to be found in those of the other regiments of its brigade. It fought Price at Iuka; was conspicuous upon the field, and suffered terribly in killed and wounded. Next to the 5th Iowa Infantry, it lost more heavily than any other regiment on that bloody field.
"For some ten days or more before the final move of the rebel army under General Price, eastward from the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, it was evident that an attack upon Corinth was contemplated, or some change to be made in the location of that army. This caused great vigilance to be necessary, on the part of our cavalry, especially that to the southern front, under Colonel Mizner. The labor of watching and occasional skir- mishing was most satisfactorily performed, and almost every
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move of the enciny was known as soon as commenced. About the 11th of September, Price left the railroad-the infantry and artillery probably moving from Baldwin, and the cavalry from the roads north of Baldwin, toward Bay Springs. At the latter place, a halt of a few days seemed to have been made; likely, for the purpose of collecting stores and recon- noitering our eastern flank. On the 13th of September, the enemy's cavalry made their appearance near Iuka, and were repulsed by the small garrison under Colonel Murphy of the Sth Wisconsin Infantry, still left there to cover the removal of stores, not yet brought into Corinth. The enemy appeared again in increased force on the same day, and, having cut the railroad between there and Burnsville, Colonel Murphy thoughit it prudent to retire to save his force."
How the 16th Iowa became separated from its brigade and fought with Rosecrans at Iuka happened thus: When Colonel Murphy was attacked by the enemy, he sent back for rein- forcements: Colonel Crocker was directed to send a regiment to his support. The 16th Iowa was ordered forward, and thus formed a junction with General Rosecrans. In speaking of the part the 16th and other regiments of his command bore at Iuka, General Rosecrans says:
"The 16th Iowa, amid the roar of battle, the rush of wounded artillery-horses, the charges of a rebel brigade, and a storin of grape, canister and musketry, stood like a rock, holding the centre, while the glorious 5th Iowa, under the brave and dis- tinguished Matthies, sustained by Boomer, with his noble little 26th Missouri, bore the thrice-repeated charges and cross-fires of the rebel left and centre, with a valor and determination, seldom equaled, and never excelled by the most veteran soldiery."
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