USA > Texas > A comprehensive history of Texas, 1685-1897 > Part 22
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During the time the regiment remained at Tupelo many promotions were made to fill vacancies in the different companies. In Company B, First Lieutenant Jas. D. McCleary was promoted to captain, vice W. C. Timmins, promoted to major ; Second Lieutenant A. S. Mair was promoted to first lieutenant, and Sergeant . Ambrose J. Hurley was promoted to second lieutenant. In Company C, First Lieutenant P. M. Woodall was promoted to be captain, vice Captain Ashbel Smith, promoted to be lieutenant-colonel ; Second Lieutenant B. W. LeCompte was pro- nioted to first lieutenant and Lieutenant O. J. Conklin to second lieutenant. In Company D, First Lieutenant Ed. Daly was promoted to captain, vice E. F. Williams, who had been missing since the battle of Shiloh, and the other lieutenants were advanced to the higher grades, but the promotion from the ranks to fill the junior second lieutenant's place cannot be recalled. In Company G, First Lieu- tenant C. C. McGinnis was promoted to captain, vice John W. Hood, resigned on account of ill health, and Lieutenant E. J. Chance having also resigned for the same reason, Sergeant George W. Parker was promoted to first lieutenant and Thos. N. Persons to second lieutenant. In Company 1, Second Lieutenant Reuben de Borde became first lieutenant, vice W. D. Goff, promoted to captain of Company K, and Lieutenant Geo. Weakley having died, L. J. Duren was promoted to second lieutenant in his stead. In Company K, W. D. Goff, first lieutenant of Company I, was made captain, vice Clark L. Owen, killed at Shiloh ; Second Lieutenant J. M. B. Haynie was promoted to first lieutenant, vice Maurice K. Simons, promoted to brigade quartermaster ; and Sergeant John Tucker, of Com- pany A, was promoted to junior second lieutenant.
About July 25, 1862, General Bragg departed for Tennessee with a portion of the army, and General Sterling Price took command of the balance. On the 12th of September, General Price's army moved to Guntown and Saltillo, and a few days
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
afterwards advanced in a northeasterly direction towards Iuka. During the day of the 15th the Second Texas was deployed as skirmishers, advancing all day through the woods, and struck the enemy's skirmish line in the afternoon. After exchang- ing a few shots the enemy retreated, and the Confederates followed cautiously.
As the vicinity of Iuka was approached it was observed that most of the farm- houses, including all improvements, had been burned, but some few had been left uninjured. The explanation given was that the burned houses were the homes of the sympathizers with the Southern cause, and that those unburned were the homes of Unionists. The groups of women and children, thinly clad and barefooted, gath- ered around the ashes of their beloved homes, was doubtless sufficient to arouse feelings of retaliation, but the Southern soldier scorned to make war upon the weak and helpless. As the Confederate army advanced upon Iuka the enemy retired, leaving a large quantity of stores in possession of the Confederates, which was quite acceptable to that army. The same evening that Iuka was reached the Second Texas was ordered out on skirmish line to the west of the town, just south of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, to feel the strength of the enemy, with the other regiments of Moore's brigades and Bledsoe's battery in reserve. It soon came in contact with their skirmish line, and a spirited exchange of leaden compli- ments took place. The field was open and well suited to a practical application of the tactics of the skirmish line, in which the regiment had become most proficient upon the drill-ground, and Colonel Rogers put it through some manœuvres never before attempted in the face of the enemy.
For three days and nights the regiment was kept on the skirmish line, with a constant exchange of shots with the enemy all day, and rallied by fours and sleeping on their arms at night, with haversacks pretty well filled with bread, crackers, cheese, and canned goods taken from the stores left at Iuka by "our friends the enemy."
While the Second Texas, supported by the other regiments of Moore's brigade, was manœuvring in front of the enemy, they were detaining and holding in check General Ord, with about six thousand men, who had been sent by General Grant from Burnsville to form a junction with General Rosecrans, who was marching from Corinth to attack General Price at Iuka ; and on the evening of the 19th of September, while General Ord was being thus entertained, a bloody battle was going on, about three miles south of him, between two brigades of General Little's division of Price's army, about three thousand strong, and General Rosecrans's army, numbering over ten thousand.
General Ord did not know anything about it until after the battle was over, and says in his report that he did not hear a gun of the conflict, because a strong wind was blowing in the direction from his position towards the battle-field. In the engagement that day between Little's division and General Rosecrans's army, the latter was driven back about half a mile, with heavy losses on both sides. Very late that evening the Second Texas was called in, formed in line with the brigade, and the whole command double-quicked about three miles south, and took position between the late contending armies to cover the retreat of General Price. Only one little brush took place between Moore's brigade and the enemy under General Rosecrans, which occurred about dark. The enemy did not push forward that
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TEXAN TROOPS IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.
night, and after standing on picket all night, the Second Texas moved into Iuka about daylight next morning. It being impossible to prevent General Rosecrans and General Ord from forming a junction next morning, General Price determined to evacuate luka rather than risk an engagement with their superior combined forces ; and while the enemy were awaiting a renewal of the battle, General Price moved southward, carrying with him the great quantity of stores which he had captured.
The Second Texas and Bledsoe's battery formed the rear-guard on this retreat, as usual, and the enemy were marching into Iuka before the rear-guard left, but did not fire a gun. About seven or eight miles from Iuka the enemy's cavalry overtook the rear-guard, and the regiment formed across the road behind a dense thicket, with the battery in position in the centre of the line ; and when the enemy approached to within about fifty yards, the command was given to fire, and a deadly volley of artillery and musketry was poured into their ranks with telling effect. The enemy's loss must have been very heavy, for the woods were full of riderless horses and staggering men, and the little squadron of Confederate cavalry charged among them and captured some prisoners. This ambuscade taught the enemy a severe lesson, and they gave no further trouble.
The regiment reached Baldwin, Mississippi, on the 22d of September, where it remained only a few days, and then took up the march towards Pocahontas, which place it reached on the Ist day of October, 1862, after having formed a junction with General Van Dorn's army at Ripley. The entire army, composed of Maury's, Hebert's, and Lovell's divisions, then marched northward as if to threaten Bolivar, Tennessee. It bivouacked near Chewalla, a station on the Memphis and Charles- ton Railroad, ten miles west from Corinth, on the night of the 2d, and at four o'clock next morning the march was resumed, but the direction was suddenly changed eastward. About ten o'clock in the morning the order to advance was `received, and the command moved forward cautiously with its skirmish line deployed in front. In a short time the skirmishers of the Second Texas became engaged with those of the enemy, and the other regiments of the brigade coming up during the engagement, one of them mistook the skirmishers of the Second Texas for the enemy, fired upon them and killed Lieutenant J. M. B. Haynie, of Company K, and six privates. During this fight on the skirmish line Major William C. Timmins, commanding the skirmishers of the Second Texas, was severely wounded in the arm, and Captain John Mueller, of Company F, took his place as acting major. The main column coming up, the skirmish line was withdrawn and the engagement soon became general. The enemy, however, retreated at the first charge, and fell back behind the old Confederate breastworks. After a short halt at this place the advance was cautiously resumed, and it was soon discovered that the enemy had made a stand at an intrenched camp which was strongly fortified. A stubborn resistance was here made and some very hard fighting was done, but an impetuous charge with a yell drove the enemy from their position. At a short distance to the rear they made another stand, seemingly with greatly increased numbers, and they returned the attack with a gallant charge upon the Second Texas, but the regiment met it with a furious counter-charge, cutting the enemy's line in two and capturing some three hundred prisoners. At this juncture several Union batteries opened a tremendous tire upon the right of the Texans, from an elevated position on the
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
south side of the Memphis and Charleston 'Railroad, and the Second Texas was ordered to capture and silence them. Upon arriving at the foot of the elevation occupied by the batteries, Colonel Rogers discovered that they were supported by a brigade of infantry, and sent to General Moore for reinforcements. After waiting about an hour Johnson's and Dockery's Arkansas regiments of Cabell's brigade arrived, and the three made a most impetuous charge, driving the enemy from their position in confusion and capturing two batteries of light artillery. The Second Texas soon afterwards recrossed the railroad and hastened on to the front, where the brisk fire indicated that the enemy were making another stubborn resistance. For some time the fight went on in the open woods, the enemy yielding stubbornly and contesting every inch of ground, and then returning with a desperate but unsuccessful charge. The foe slowly retired to an intrenched camp situated upon an elevation between two prongs of a creek, where fresh troops had already been massed. Here was presented the most determined stand which the enemy had made during the day, but after some hard fighting, with heavy losses on both sides, the Union troops were finally driven from their camp and intrenchments at the point of the bayonet. The Union officers tried gallantly to stem the tide, Brigadier- Generals Richard J. Oglesby and Pleasant A. Hackleman both being desperately wounded in vain efforts to rally their beaten soldiers. In this camp the Texans found bread, butter, cheese, crackers, and other food in abundance, and while enjoying a short rest partook of the enemy's hospitality during their absence, the first food they had tasted that day. When driven from this position the enemy fled precipitately to the protection of their inner fortifications at Corinth, and the tired Texans followed them slowly. About sunset the exhausted Confederates, with empty cartridge-boxes, halted within about half a mile from Corinth, and very near the inner fortifications. The Second Texas lay on its arms that night, with pickets up to within one hundred yards of the breastworks and forts. The loss of the regiment was very heavy, the hard day's work had been a severe strain upon the physical endurance of those who were still in line, and that night they slept soundly in the face of the enemy, without anything to eat. Among the wounded that day were Lieutenant Arthur K. Leigh, adjutant of the regiment, and J. Halbert Rogers, the youthful son of the colonel.
Before daylight on the morning of October 4 the Confederate artillery opened a vigorous fire upon the enemy's works, which was promptly returned in a spirited manner, and a lively duel continued until some time after daylight. During the early morning there was some sharp fighting on the skirmish line in front of the Second Texas, in which the enemy's skirmishers were driven in and their com- mander, Colonel Joseph A. Mower, of the Eleventh Missouri Regiment, was se- verely wounded and taken prisoner, but again fell into the hands of his friends that evening upon the retreat of the Confederate army. This is the same gentleman who was afterwards a distinguished major-general in the Union army, and became celebrated under the sobriquet of " Fighting Joe Mower."
After the enemy's skirmishers had been driven in, preparations were made for the assault upon the works. Directly in front of the Second Texas, a short distance north of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, was Battery Robinett, with three twenty-pounder siege-guns, and in Battery Williams, just on the south side of the
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TEXAN TROOPS IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.
railroad and about two hundred yards in the rear of Robinett, there were four twenty-four pounders and two eight-inch howitzers. On the eminence between Bat- tery Williams and the railroad were the six guns of Battery F, Second United States Light Artillery, and on the south side of the same fort were two guns of the Second Illinois Light Artillery, all commanding the field to the westward and sweeping the hill-side in front of Robinett. In addition to these, a section of two guns of the Eighth Wisconsin Light Artillery occupied a position just north of and close to Battery Robinett, between it and the Chewalla wagon road, sweeping the top and side of the hill in its immediate front. These were the positions of the Union artil- lery, seventeen guns in all, bearing on the field in front of the Second Texas, over which it was about to make one of the most daring and desperate assaults of the war. The infantry of the Union army was also placed in the most favorable posi- tions for dealing destruction to the assaulting column. The Forty-seventh Illinois Regiment lay behind the railroad just in front of Battery Williams, about opposite Battery Robinett, fronting north and sweeping the hill-side in front of the latter with their deadly Springfield rifles. The Forty-third Ohio occupied the breastworks to the south of Robinett, extending from the fort to the railroad, and the Sixty-third Ohio occupied the breastworks on the north side, with its left near the fort. The Eleventh Missouri was lying down under the hill, about fifty yards in the rear of Robinett, with its right and left wings extending opposite the Forty-third and Sixty- third Ohio respectively. The Twenty-seventh Olio occupied the trenches on the right of the Sixty-third, and the Thirty-ninth Ohio was still farther to the north, on the right of the Twenty-seventh, with its right wing facing north, at right angles . with the line of its left wing and of the Twenty-seventh and Sixty-third. The order to charge had been expected every moment since daylight, but, owing to the sudden illness of General Louis Hebert, commanding the left division of Price's corps, the initial attack had been delayed until about ten o'clock. During the interval of waiting the men were subjected to the most intense mental strain, as all old soldiers know that the suspense of waiting just on the eve of battle is more trying on the nerves than the actual conflict, in which men seem to lose the power of reflection amid the excitement and dangers of the combat. When the order to advance came the men obeyed it with wonderful alacrity, the different regiments being massed in columns of five lines of two companies cach. When they encoun- tered the abatis of trees, which had been felled with their tops outward and the limbs interlocked, with smaller branches carefully interwoven, the formation was considerably broken under the terrific fire of the enemy's artillery, but each man picked his way through, and all advanced as rapidly as possible towards the common point, Battery Robinett. As soon as the abatis was passed, a slight reformation, under a heavy fire, was made, and the lines sprang forward with the regular Texas yell. When they reached the brow of the hill they were staggered by a murderous fire from both artillery and infantry. the infantry regiment behind the railroad cut pouring a deadly enfilading fire into the right flank of the Texans, while the thunder of the artillery was deafening and its awful showers of grape and canister most destructive. Under this galling fire the front lines recoiled upon the rear ones, and the whole seemed to resistlessly float back down the hill upon the flaming crest of a rolling billow of fire. With words of encouragement from the colonel a hurried
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
but partial realignment was effected, and the order to charge again given. The men responded with redoubled fury, but human strength seemed unable to with- stand that besom of destruction. The slaughter was fearful, and the assaulting column was again blown back down the hill. As they yielded the second time to that overpowering force, the fourth man fell with the colors in his hand, and Colonel Rogers seized them and rode back in the midst of his heroic band. Once more forming them in a ragged line, he asked if they were willing to follow him, and they responded with a yell of approval. The order to advance was again given, and the colonel rode straight up the hill directly towards Battery Robinett, with the colors in his hand. He kept his eye on the fort and graduated the pace of his horse to the pace of the men, and the column moved forward at double- quick, with heads bowed to receive the deadly missiles like men do when facing a blowing rain. Their ranks are literally ploughed through and through, but the living close up the open ranks left by their fallen comrades and press forward directly to the fort. Colonel Rogers rides into the ditch around the fort, followed by the head of the column, and as the others come up they scatter around either side of the fort. The right wing of the Second Texas is met by the determined front of the Forty-third Ohio on the south of Robinett and a hand-to-hand conflict ensues ; but the onset of the Texans is made with such reckless desperation that the Ohioans are put to flight, leaving one-half of their number upon the ground either killed or wounded, its brave colonel, J. L. Kirby Smith, being among the slain. On the north side of Robinett the left wing of the Second Texas comes in contact . with the Sixty-third Ohio, and, after a bloody contest at close quarters, the Ohioans are driven back at the point of the bayonet, leaving fifty-three per cent. of their number upon the ground, and the section of light artillery at that point makes its escape to the rear.
While these bloody conflicts are taking place on both flanks of the fort, Colonel Rogers climbs upon the parapet and plants the flag of his regiment in triumph upon its top ; and the men who follow him leap fearlessly down inside the fort, and, with others who have in the mean time crawled through the embrasures, engage the can- noneers in a desperate hand-to-hand conflict. It is short but fierce, and thirteen out of the thirty-six men of the First United States Infantry who man the siege- guns are either slain or wounded, their gallant commander, Lieutenant Robinett, being among the latter. Battery Robinett is captured and silenced, but Battery Williams continues to pour its deadly fire of shot and shell into it upon the strug- gling mingled mass of friend and foe, while the Forty-seventh Illinois, from its clevated position along the railroad in front of Battery Williams, sweeps the para- pets of Robinett with long-range rifles as the Texans clamber up them and do fear- ful execution. In the mean time a dreadful hand-to-hand conflict has been raging in the very heart of the town. The other regiments of Moore's brigade, led by General Moore in person, passing on the north side of Robinett, have penetrated to the centre of the town ; and around the railroad depot, the Tishomingo Hotel, and the Corinth House the unequal contest was waged ; and even in the yard around General Rosecrans's head-quarters the fighting was furious. But the heavy reserves of troops which the Union commander had massed in the centre and southeast portions of the town met the shattered columns of the Confederates
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TEXAN TROOPS IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.
and literally "plucked the rose, victory, from the thistle, defeat." The ammuni- tion of the Confederates having become exhausted, they were driven back by sheer force of numbers. Some of them mounted horses which were hitched in the streets and in the yard of General Rosecrans's head-quarters and made their escape amid showers of bullets. The victorious reserves of the enemy march upon Robinett from the town, and General David S. Stanley advances from the south with the re- formed Forty-third Ohio and two fresh regiments. The little band of Texans in and upon Robinett see that the day is lost. When Colonel Rogers saw the over- whelming forces of the enemy approaching after the repulse of the Confederates in the centre of the town, his first thought was to save the lives of as many of his men as possible, and he waved his handkerchief from the top of the parapet in token of surrender ; but the enemy either did not see it, or, seeing it, refused to recognize it, for the firing continued from both advancing columns. He told the men around him that " the enemy refuse to accept our surrender ; we will sell our lives as dearly as possible." With the utmost calmness he ordered his men to fall back into the ditch on the outside of the fort, and there gave orders for the retreat ; and climbing out of the ditch with the flag in one hand and his pistol in the other, the remnant of the regiment clustering around him as the central figure, the little band retreats backwards as it returns the fire of the advancing enemy. During all this time the Eleventh Missouri Regiment had not fired a shot ; but about the time that the re- treat was commeneed it rose from its cumbent position, rushed upon and around the fort, and poured a murderous fire into the retreating band of Texans, and their intrepid leader falls, pierced with eleven wounds. The flag falls across his body, and those heroic men, recalling the vows made at Houston when that banner was presented to the regiment by the ladies of Texas, seize and bear it away amid the deadly storm. The whole Confederate army is already in retreat ; General Ville- pigue's brigade of Lovell's division marches by the left flank across the Memphis and Charleston Railroad and interposes between the shattered ranks of Maurey's division and the expected pursuit. But no pursuit is made ; the conquerors stand aghast at the combination of fortuitous circumstances which has rescued them from annihilation. They are enchanted with their own prowess, seem satisfied with their narrow escape, and make no effort to follow up the victory. The smoke of battle clears away and the ground is seen to be strewn with the dead and wounded. It is a veritable field of carnage. There lay the lifeless forms of the knightly Rogers, the gallant Mueller, and the intrepid Daly, surrounded by a host of heroic com- panions. Mississippi's soil is sanctified by the blood of Texan hcroes. The whole country was electrified by the news of this fearless assault ; illustrated papers in the North contained pictures of the heroie sacrifice, and it was characterized by many as the most gallant decd of the war.
The next day General Van Dorn sent Colonel W. S. Barry, of the Thirty-fifth Mississippi, into Corinth under a flag of truce, with a detail to bury the Confederate dead, but General Rosecrans sent him back with the following note : "Major- General Rosecrans's compliments to Major-General Van Dorn, commanding officer Confederate forces, and states that provision has been made for the burial of the dead, and a soldier's tribute will be paid those who fell fighting bravely, as did many in Maurey's division."
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In his report of this battle General Sterling Price, whose corps was the only one engaged, says : "The history of this war contains no bloodier page, perhaps, than that which will record this fiercely-contested battle. The strongest expressions fall short of my admiration of the gallant conduct of the officers and men under my command. Words cannot add lustre to the fame they have acquired through deeds of noble daring, which, living through future time, will shed about every man, officer, and soldier, who stood to his arms through this struggle, a halo of glory as imperishable as it is brilliant."
The loss of the Second Texas during these two days' fighting was about fifty per cent. in killed and wounded. This was a very heavy loss, but when the terrible odds are considered, even this is not so much a surprise as that any escaped at all from the fearful cul-de-sac on the second day.
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