USA > Iowa > Roster and record of Iowa soldiers in the War of the Rebellion : together with historical sketches of volunteer organizations, 1861-1866 > Part 91
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Very respectfully, your obedient servant, WILLIAM D. WHIPPLE, Brigadier General and A. A. G.5
On November 25th, the regiment, with its brigade and division, marched to Huntsville, Ala., and went into camp. On November 27th, the Fifth Iowa, and seven companies of the Fourth United States Cavalry, with Lieutenant Colonel Patrick in command, started upon an expedition, lasting eleven days, which accomplished important results in the capture of hogs, cattle, a ferry boat and otlier property intended for the use of the rebel army. There was some skirmishing with the pickets of the enemy at Guntersville on November 29th, in which no casualties occurred, and during the remainder of the ex- pedition, which covered a considerable extent of territory, there is no record . of any encounter with the enemy. Upon the return march, Companies F, G, H and I, of the Fifth Iowa, were left at Dodsonville, under the command of Major Brackett, where they remained and performed the duty of patroling the country along the Tennessee River for a distance of forty miles, until relieved on the 21st of December, when they marched to Huntsville and rejoined the regiment. While the detachment was on duty at Dodsonville-on the 19th of December-Major Brackett sent Sergeants McGuire and Ireland, and Private Ireland of Company H, to Paint Rock with dispatches. When within four miles of their destination the party was captured by a band of twenty-one rebel soldiers, and their arms, money and other property, together with most of their clothing, taken from them. Private Ireland, who had charge of the dispatches, managed to secrete them, so they were not discovered, but, fearing their subse- quent discovery and the penalty of being executed as spies, the three prisoners kept a constant lookout for an opportunity to escape. That night the rebels camped upon the mountain side near its summit, carefully guarding their prisoners. The next morning, leaving two of their number on guard, with orders to shoot the prisoners should they attempt to escape, the rest of the band went down the mountain to watch the road over which the Union troops might be expected to pass. The prisoners awaited their opportunity, and, at the first moment their guards slightly relaxed their vigilance, sprang upon and succeeded in partially disarming them. In the struggle which ensued both the guards were killed and the prisoners escaped. The bodies of the two rebel soldiers were found where they fell, the next day, their companions having fled and left them unburied. Major Brackett reported the affair, congratulating the men upon their good fortune in escaping, and thanking Private George Ire- land for his preservation of the official dispatches.
On December 24th the regiment, with its brigade and division, left Hunts- ville and marched to Pulaski, which place was reached on December 28th, and the troops went into camp there. On January 1, 1864, (more than three-fourths of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry having re-enlisted as veteran volunteers,) prepara- tions were made to leave the field, by turning over horses, arms and equip- ments, and, on January 7th, the regiment started for Nashville, the first part of
5Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, 1865, Vol. 2, page 995.
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the journey being made on foot and the latter part by rail. The regiment arrived at Nashville on January 10th, and went into barracks. It remained there until January 29th-having been re-mustered and paid in the meantime- and, on the date last mentioned, embarked on steamer and was conveyed to Cairo, Ill., arriving there January 31st. On February 1st, Companies L and M were furloughed at Cairo and embarked on steamer for St. Louis. On the same date, Companies G, I and K received their furloughs and left by rail for Minne- sota. On the same date, Lieutenant Colonel Patrick, with the remaining com- panies of the regiment. left Cairo on a special train for Davenport, lowa, where they received furloughs on February 3d, with orders to report at Davenport on March 5th. On the 25th of February, 1864, Companies G. I and K were re- assigned to the State of Minnesota, by Special Order No. 91, of the Secretary of War, and organized as an independent battalion, with Major Brackett in com- mand. The subsequent history of this battalion is, therefore, disconnected with that of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry.
The remaining companies of the regiment reported at the rendezvous at Davenport, March 5, 1864, and went into quarters at Camp Mcclellan, and there awaited further orders. On March 17th, Lieutenants Hays and Langdon were detailed on recruiting service, under orders from the War Department, to raise three new companies for the regiment to replace Companies G, I and K, trans- ferred to the State of Minnesota. On March 22d the nine companies then composing the regiment left Davenport by rail and arrived at Nashville, Tenn., March 31st and went into camp near that city.
During the month of April, 1864, the regiment lay in camp near Nashville, doing picket duty dismounted, as horses could not be procured. On May 5th, all the portion of the regiment for which arms had been procured left Nash- ville, under command of Major Beard, and proceeded to Pulaski, where it was assigned to the duty of guarding the Nashville and Decatur Railroal. About this time Colonel Lowe was assigned to the command of the Third Cavalry Division, and Major Young and Lieutenants Hinds and Watson were detailed as members of his staff. Lieutenant Colonel Patrick remained with the unarmed portion of the regiment at Nashville, awaiting a supply of arms and horses During the month of June, 1864, Lieutenant Colonel Patrick obtained some 360 horses, a few carbines, and horse equipments sufficient for the whole regiment. On July 9th all the companies of the regiment were reunited at Decatur, Ala .. and on the next day-horses and a sufficiency of arms having been procured- the regiment became a part of the cavalry division commanded by General Rousseau, which had just been organized and was ready to start upon an ex- pedition through a region of country which had not before been penetrated by Union troops. The command consisted of the Eighth Indiana. Secctol Ken tucky and Ninth Ohio Cavalry, composing the First Brigade, under command of Colonel Harrison of the Eighth Indiana; and the Fifth Iowa. Fourth Tennessee Cavalry and a section of artillery. composing the Second! Brigade under com mand of Lieutenant Colonel Patrick of the Fifth Iowa, with Major Beard com manding the regiment. Major General L. H. Rousseau, an able offer and a good disciplinarian, was in command of the division The whole wom n nd numbered somewhat less than 3,000 men. The men were well armed Hechtly equipped and provided with rations of bread, bacon, coffee and sugar to last five days, or longer, if necessary, with what could be procured in the country through which they were to march. No wagons accompanied the expolitie There were three pack mules to each company, to convey ration . ammunition etc., and but one ambulance to each regiment. Thus eqnippel for randil mah ing, the command of General Rousseau moved out of Decatur on July 10, 1864 Limitation of space will not permit a detailed description of this or the other
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notable expeditions in which the Fifth Iowa Cavalry participated in the closing campaigns of the war. In summing up the results of the expedition under General Rousseau, Lieutenant Hays says:
July 22d at daybreak the march was resumed, and at noon the command reached our pickets at Sweet Water Bridge, and arrived at Marietta at sunset and went into camp, the men and horses nearly worn out with the almost continuous march of thirteen days and nights, during which time the command marched 380 miles, entirely in the enemy's territory, destroyed 35 miles of railroad, five large depots filled with cotton and supplies for the rebel army, one shot and shell manufactory, one loco- motive and train of cars, and captured many valuable horses and mules, inflicting a loss on the enemy estimated at twenty millions of dollars. All this was accom- plished with a loss to us of one Captain and four privates killed and eight privates wounded. All the above loss was in the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, except one man of the Eighth Indiana Cavalry, wounded ; which shows the prominent part the Fifth Iowa Cavalry bore in what may well be termed the most successful raid of the war."
Among the killed was Captain William Curl, of Company D, and among the severely wounded was Captain J. C. Wilcox, of Company H. The entire loss of the two brigades, in killed, wounded and missing, did not exceed thirty mnen. It will thus be seen that the Fifth Iowa Cavalry sustained nearly one-half the casualties of the entire command, and took the most conspicuous part of any regiment engaged in the expedition.
The next expedition in which the regiment participated began with the accomplishment of most brilliant results, and ended most disastrously. On July 23d, the Fifth Jowa Cavalry, with the other troops composing the command of Colonel Harrison, marched to the relief of General Stoneman, whose force had been picketing the Chattahoochee River from Sweet Water to Nick-a-Jack Creek. The command marched all night, arriving at the river at noon the next day. The enemy was posted on the opposite side of the river. The Fifth Iowa Cavalry was ordered to report to General McCook. The regiment marched up the river six miles, crossed on a pontoon bridge, and reported at General McCook's headquarters, when it was ordered to proceed to Vining's Station and draw three days' rations, and then rejoin the command. The rations were drawn, the regiment joined the command of General McCook and, at noon of July 26th, started with that command on the memorable raid to the rear of At- lanta. The object of the raid was the destruction of the enemy's communica- tions on the Atlanta and Macon Railroad, the objective point being Lovejoy's Station. All the afternoon and the following night the march was continued down the Chattahoochee River, and, at sunrise on July 28th, the command had reached a point opposite Campbellton, where a force of the enemy was posted. The troops marched on down the river to a point five miles below Campbellton, where a pontoon bridge was laid across the river, upon which the troops crossed and pushed rapidly forward, reaching Palmetto Station, on the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, about dark. Here about 600 of the enemy were sta- tioned, who, after a slight skirmish, were driven off, and the depot fired, the telegraph wire torn down, and the railroad track torn up for a short distance. After completing the work of destruction the troops moved on, the Fifth Iowa Cavalry acting as rear guard, and the march continuing until a train of 500 wagons, containing the extra baggage of the rebel army at Atlanta, was over- taken and captured, together with the 250 officers and men who were guarding it, and 2,000 fine mules and horses. The wagons, which were loaded with various kinds of army property, were burned with their contents. After destroy- ing the train the command marched to Fayetteville, where it arrived at day- light on the morning of July 29th. Halting only long enough to feed and rest
6Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, 1865, Vol. 2, page 1002.
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the horses, the troops pushed forward to Lovejoy's Station, the objective point of the expedition, and, upon arriving there, destroyed a portion of the track of the Atlanta and Macon Railroad, and burned the depot.
The results of the expedition had thus far been eminently successful and the damage inflicted upon the enemy very great. The commanding General of the rebel cavalry now concentrated his forces rapidly for the purpose of inter- cepting and cutting off the retreat of the Union troops engaged in this daring raid, and the return march was replete with disaster to General McCook's com- mand. After leaving Lovejoy's Station the troops marched rapidly, with the Fifth Iowa Cavalry in advance and the Eighth Iowa Cavalry as rear guard. The troops had marched but a few miles, however, when the rear guard was fiercely attacked, and the Eighth Iowa lost two officers and seven men killed, and fourteen men wounded in the fight which ensued. Part of the command turned back to assist the Eighth Iowa, and the enemy was repulsed. In the meantime, the Fifth Iowa, marching rapidly in advance, came to the bridge over Flint River, and found the enemy in the act of firing it. After a brisk encounter the enemy was driven off, and the regiment crossed the bridge, ac- companied by the artillery-two Parrott guns, which were quickly placed in position to cover the bridge, the Fifth Iowa taking position in support of the guns. In a short time the rest of General McCook's command arrived, closely pursued by the enemy, but succeeded in crossing the bridge, which was then destroyed. The Fifth Iowa Cavalry again took the advance on the road lead- ing to Fayetteville, but, after marching for two miles, was ordered back to the main command, which had not moved. Again the regiment was ordered to advance on the same road, and again ordered to return after going about the same distance. Three precious hours were lost by this vacillation and delay. Finally, at dark, General McCook sent four companies of the Fifth Iowa to the rear, with orders to remain and report the movements of the enemy. The balance of the regiment was placed in front, with Company H, commanded by Lieutenant Hays, in the advance, with orders to charge, if he encountered the enemy, and keep the road clear for the advance of the rest of the command. Soon after the march was resumed, the advance encountered a force of the enemy. A charge was promptly made and the rebels were repulsed and driven away, without scarcely interrupting the march of the main column. The march was continued during the night, but slow progress was made on account of the difficulty of keeping the prisoners and the large number of captured horses and mules well under guard. At 10 A. M., July 30th, the advance reached the town of Newnan, where a force of 1,000 rebels had taken position. Major Beard, with five companies of the Fifth Iowa and two companies of the Eighth Indiana. charged into the town, but was unable to dislodge the enemy. General MeCook then ordered the Fifth Iowa and Eighth Indiana to remain in line of battle and hold the enemy in check, while he moved with the rest of the command, and the prisoners, around the town to the left. The movement occupied two hours, and compelled the command to march at least five miles out of a direct course, thereby enabling the enemy to concentrate a large force to resist the further advance of the column. About four miles from Newnan this force was en- countered. The two Parrott guns were placed in position and shelled the enemy vigorously. The enemy made three separate charges upon the guns. fighting desperately for their possession, but each charge was repulsed, and the guns continued their fire until the ammunition was exhausted. The guys were then spiked, the wheels cut down and, thus rendered useless, they were aban- doned. General McCook found his command completely surrounded by a greatly superior force under the command of the rebel General Wheeler. The situation was most desperate. Orders were given to each regiment to charge and cut its
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way through the enemy's lines. After desperate fighting and heavy loss, all the regiments, except the Eighth Iowa, succeeded in cutting their way through the rebel forces. The Eighth Iowa, being ordered to cover the rear, was cut off by the enemy and nearly all captured. The regiments which succeeded in get- ting through the lines of the enemy did not all get together again, but reached the Chattahoochee River at different places. General McCook, with the Fifth Iowa, Eighth Indiana and Fourth Tennessee Cavalry, arrived at Philpot Ferry about midnight, and commenced crossing the troops on the ferry boat. The Eighth Indiana had succeeded in getting across when the enemy appeared in force and attacked the remainder of the command. Finding themselves opposed to overwhelming numbers, most of the men abandoned their horses, and a con- siderable number of them escaped by swimming the river. The mounted men, under General MeCook, continued to retreat, and reached Marietta five days later. The dismounted men took to the woods in small parties and many were captured, while some escaped and reached the Union lines at different points, after suffering great hardships from hunger and exposure. They were con- stantly pursued, and it was marvelous that any of them succeeded in avoiding capture. The loss of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry in this raid was very heavy. First Lieutenant Andrew Guler, of Company E, was killed: First Lieutenant William T. Hays, of Company H, was taken prisoner, and 119 enlisted men were killed, wounded and captured.
The scattered remnants of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry were collected as they came in, at a camp near Sandtown, where they remained until August 18th. At this time the effective force of the regiment was but ninety men. With this remnant of the regiment. Major Young joined the Third Cavalry Division, under command of General Kilpatrick, in an expedition against the chemy, on the line of the Atlanta and West Point Railroad. General Kilpatrick, with the main force; moved directly against the enemy at East Point, while the Fifth Iowa and Third Indiana, under Lieutenant Colonel Kline, of the latter regiment, made a dash on the railroad at Fairburn, burning the depot, mills and store- houses, tearing up two miles of track, and returning with the loss of but one man wounded, and bringing in six prisoners. On the 26th of August the regi- ment again left its camp at Sandtown and, with the Third Indiana, made an- other rapid movement, marched all night, struck the railroad near Bear Creek Station. captured a commissary train, tore up a couple of miles of track, and, by hard marching all the following night, returned to camp. Several of the men, exhausted by their previous hard marching, halted for rest on the return march and were captured by the enemy.
On the 28th of August the regiment, now greatly reduced in numbers and with Major Young in command of the brigade (relieving Lieut. Col. Kline of the Third Indiana, who was compelled to relinquish the command on account of sickness) again moved, with the Third Cavalry Division, to the rear of the enemy at Jonesboro. In this movement the regiment lost heavily in propor- tion to its number engaged. Lieutenant Peter McGuire was killed, eight men were wounded and ten missing. The regiment was highly complimented by General O. O. Howard for its gallantry in action. On the 1st of September the regiment with its brigade covered the retreat to Jonesboro and East Point, go- ing into camp at the latter place. Here it was joined by the veterans and recruits of the Fifth Iowa Infantry, then consolidated into two companies, I and G, under command of Captain Albert G. Ellis. Under an order of the War Department, dated August 18, 1864, these companies, constituting the remnant of the Fifth Iowa Infantry, had been transferred to and consolidated with the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, on account of the fact that neither regiment had a suffi- cient number of men left to maintain a separate regimental organization. These veteran soldiers of the Fifth Iowa Infantry had a splendid record of three
FIFTH CAVALRY
years' hard service, which was continued with the Fifth Iowa Cavalry to the close of the war." The arduous campaign around Atlanta had so completely worn out the horses of the regiment that only thirty were fit for service at the time the consciidation with the Fifth Infantry took place. The regiment was therefore ordered to Nashville to be remounted and completely equipped.
On October 1, 1864, the consolidated regiment moved by rail towards Nash- ville. The water of the Chattahoochee River was at flood stage and the bridge was unsafe, but fortunately it stood until the train conveying the regiment had passed over it. Within twenty minutes after the train crossed, the bridge was swept away by the rushing waters, and the regiment proceeded on its way, saved from a great disaster. At Marietta the train lay all night and the next day, waiting for repairs to be made to the road, which had been damaged by the enemy, and a train loaded with supplies for the Union army captured. Infor- mation having been received that the construction party engaged in repairing the track had been attacked and driven off by the enemy, permission was ob- tained by Major Young to take his regiment and protect the working party until the repairs were completed. Accordingly the regiment proceeded to the point where the work was to be done. Upon its approach, the rebel force re- treated and, by 10 o'clock at night, the road was repaired and the train moved on. On October 3d, at noon, the train conveying the regiment crossed the Etowah bridge at Allatoona and, in the afternoon, that bridge was swept away. That same evening, when within four miles of Dalton, the track was found torn up for a considerable distance. The regiment promptly proceeded to repair the damage, one-half the men going out on picket duty while the other half worked all night and until noon the next day, when the damage was repaired and the train was again under way. The regiment reached Nashville without further mishap on the 6th of October, and went into camp near the city. It remained there until October 27th, when it moved by rail to Louisville, Ky .. where Major Young succeeded in procuring 500 horses, and, on November 3d. the regiment began its march on the return to Nashville, where It arrived on November 14th. It was soon after supplied with 500 Spencer carbines, and otherwise fully equipped for a renewal of active operations against the enemy.
On the 22d of November the regiment was again upon the march and, on the 24th, was within four miles of Columbia. Tenn., which was threatened with an attack. The Fifth Iowa formed in line of battle about a mile from Columbia awaiting the attack, but the enemy retired and moved towards Pulaski: the Fifth Iowa followed, taking the advance, with orders to develop the enemy's position and report to General Stanley. The movement was successfully eve- cuted, and Major Young, who was in command of the regiment, was compli- mented by the General for the promptness with which his order was executed. It was discovered that the rebel General Forrest was approaching with a strong force. and four companies of the Fifth Iowa were sent across Duck River to watch his movements. About three miles from the river the advance guard of the rebel cavalry force was discovered and the detachment retreated across th river and rejoined the regiment, which soon became engaged with the advance of the enemy, and, by hard fighting, successfully resisted his passage of the river until dark. It was then discovered that the enemy had crossed the river
"See Historical Sketch and Roster Fifth Iowa Infantry, Vol. I of this work. pages 675 to 782. Also, Report of Adjutant General of lowa, 1567, Vol 1, Figes 31 and 75.
8As limitation of space has compelled the compiler to omlt many detail of 1h. operations of the regiment, in the preceding pages, he also finds himself coffrened with the necessity of condensing the history of its concluding operations, repetit with the thrilling incidents which will be recalled by those survivors of the regiment who may read this imperfect sketch. The student of the military history of the State will, however, find these details more fully described in the history of the regiment refer- ence to which has heretofore been made.
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in heavy force, above, and that the Fifth Iowa, Sixteenth Illinois and Eighth Michigan Regiments were penned up in a bend of the river with a line of the enemy in their rear. A charge was at once ordered by Major Young and, with his regiment in the advance, the three regiments cut their way through the enemy's lines, and at 11 o'clock at night reported at Major General Wilson's headquarters. The General complimented Major Young and his regiment for the gallant manner in which they had led the charge and extricated the com- mand from its perilous position. The loss of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry in this encounter was fifteen men, killed, wounded and missing. From November 29th to December 1st the regiment took part in the operations of the cavalry corps which was co-operating with the army under command of Major General Thomas, and during the battle of Franklin, and after the battle, rendered im- portant service in covering the rear and flanks of the army. There is no record of casualties in the Fifth Iowa during these operations.
On the 1st of December the regiment was in camp at Edgefield, on the Cumberland River, opposite Nashville. On December 2d Lieutenant Colonel Beard assumed command of the regiment. On December 12th the entire cavalry corps moved across the Cumberland River for the purpose of taking part in the movement of General Thomas against the rebel army of General Hood, then investing the city of Nashville. On the 15th of December General Thomas assumed the offensive, and the battle of Nashville was fought, during which Lieutenant John W. Watson of Company H. Fifth Iowa Cavalry, was killed. The regiment joined in the pursuit of the defeated enemy, and during the pur- suit had several skirmishes, the most notable of which occurred on December 25th, at the town of Pulaski and at the bridge over Richland Creek. In these encounters the regiment lost twenty men, killed and wounded. The pursuit was continued until the last troops of General Hood's shattered rebel army had been driven across the Tennessee River. On December 31, 1864, the Fifth Iowa Cavalry went into camp on the bank of Elk River.
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