Showing posts with label 8th MO INF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 8th MO INF. Show all posts

Monday, April 10, 2023

8th Missouri Infantry.

Organized at St. Louis, Mo., June 12 to August 14, 1861. Attached to Cape Girardeau, Mo., to September, 1861. District of Paducah, Ky., to February, 1862. 5th Brigade, 2nd Division, District of Cairo, February, 1862. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Army of the Tennessee, to May, 1862. 1st Brigade, 5th Division, Army of the Tennessee; to July, 1862. 1st Brigade, 5th Division, District of Memphis, Tenn., to November, 1862. 1st Brigade, 5th Division, District of Memphis, 13th Army Corps (Old), Dept. of the Tennessee, to December, 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Right Wing 13th Army Corps, December, 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Sherman's Yazoo Expedition, to January, 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division. 15th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to August, 1865.

SERVICE.—Expedition against guerrillas on line of Northern Missouri Railroad July 1-24, 1861 (Cos. "B," "C"). Mexico, Mo., July 15. Wentzville July 15-17. Millville July 16. Moved to Cape Girardeau, Mo., July 29, and duty there till September 7. Expedition to Price's Landing, Commerce, Benton and Hamburg August 7-10 (Co. "F"). Expedition to St. Genevieve August 15-16. Moved to Paducah, Ky., September 7-8, and duty there till February 5, 1862. Expedition to Caseyville, Ky., November 30, 1861 (3 Cos.). Moved to Fort Henry, Tenn., February 5, 1862. Investment and capture of Fort Donelson. Tenn., February 12-16. Expedition to Clarksville February 19-21. Moved to Savannah, Tenn. Expedition toward Purdy and operations about Crump's Landing March 9-14. Battle of Shiloh, Tenn., April 6-7. Lick Creek April 24. Corinth Road April 25. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., April 29-May 30. Russell House, near Corinth, May 17. March to Memphis, Tenn., June 3-21, via Lagrange, Holly Springs and Moscow. Duty at Memphis till November. Expedition to Coldwater and Hernando, Miss., September 9-13. Grant's Central Mississippi Campaign November-December. "Tallahatchie March" November 26-December 12. Sherman's Yazoo Expedition December 20, 1862, to January 3, 1863. Chickasaw Bayou December 26-28. Chickasaw Bluff December 29. Expedition to Arkansas Post, Ark., January 3-10, 1863. Assault and capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post, January 10-11. Moved to Young's Point, La., January 13-22, and duty there till March. Expedition to Rolling Fork, via Muddy, Steele's and Black Bayous and Deer Creek March 4-27. Demonstrations on Haines' and Drumgould's Bluffs April 29-May 2. March to Join army in rear of Vicksburg, via Richmond and Grand Gulf, May 2-16. Battle of Champion's Hill May 16. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 4-10. Siege of Jackson July 10-17. Canton July 17-18. Brandon July 20. At Big Black River till October 3. Moved to Memphis, Tenn.; thence march to Chattanooga, Tenn., October 3-November 21. Operations on Memphis & Charleston Railroad in Alabama October 20-29. Bear Creek, Tuscumbia, October 27. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Brown's Ferry November 23. Foot of Missionary Ridge November 24. Tunnel Hill, Missionary Ridge, November 24-25. Pursuit to Graysville November 26-27. March to relief of Knoxville November 28-December 5. Expedition to Tellico Plains December 6-13. March to Chattanooga December 13-17. Garrison duty in Alabama till May, 1864 Expedition from Larkins' Landing to Guntersville March 2-3. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1-September 8. Demonstration on Resaca May 8-13. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Advance on Dallas May 18-25. Battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Guard duty at Big Shanty. Non-Veterans ordered home for muster out June 5. Mustered out July 7, 1864. Veterans and Recruits consolidated to a Battalion of 2 Companies. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Bushy Mountain June 15-17. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Nickajack Creek July 2-5. Chattahoochie River July 6-17. Battle of Atlanta July 22. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Ezra Chapel, Hood's 2nd Sortie, July 28. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25-30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Lovejoy Station September 2-6. Operations against Hood in North Georgia and North Alabama September 29-November 3. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Near Clinton November 21-23. Oconee River November 25. Statesboro December 4. Siege of Savannah December 10-21. Fort McAllister December 13 Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865 Duck Branch, near Loper's Cross Roads, S.C., February 2. Salkehatchie Swamps February 3-5. South Edisto River February 9. North Edisto River February 12-13. Columbia February 16-17. Battle of Bentonville, N. C., March 20-21. Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 19. Grand Review May 24. Moved to Louisville, Ky., June. Duty there and at Little Rock. Ark., till August. Mustered out August 14, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 3 Officers and 78 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 124 Enlisted men by disease. Total 206.

Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1326-7

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Brigadier-General Ulysses S. Grant to Brigadier-General George W. Cullum, February, 25, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE,
Fort Donelson, February 25, 1862.
Brig. Gen. G. W. CULLUM, Cairo, Ill.:

I wrote you that General Nelson's division had been sent to Nashville. Since that I have learned that the head of General Buell's column arrived there on Monday evening. The rebels have fallen back to Chattanooga, instead of Murfreesborough, as stated in a former letter. I shall go to Nashville immediately after the arrival of the next mail, should there be no orders to prevent it.

The soldiers of the Eighth Missouri Volunteers who were disguised and sent to Memphis have just returned. They went by the way of Nashville and Decatur. Saw Beauregard at Decatur sick; he has since gone to Columbus. They were in Fort Donelson before the attack commenced, and say the force was estimated at 40,000.

Since the battle the people through the country are much disposed to return to their allegiance. Orders have been given for the evacuation of Columbus. This I learn not only from the men themselves, but from Memphis papers which they bring with them. I send two of these papers to General Halleck. I am growing anxious to know what the next move is going to be. The Southern papers advise the Columbus forces to fall back on Island No. 10 and to Fort Pillow. The force at Memphis is said to be about 12,000.

U.S. GRANT,
Brigadier-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 666

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Captain Charles Wright Wills: October 1, 1863

Griffin's Landing, Miss., October 1, 1863.

Clear as a bell this morning; about 8 a. m. we reached Griffin's landing 125 miles above Vicksburg. Said Griffin has some 2,000 cords of wood ricked on his plantation, some 500 of which we propose to gobble for the use of our transportation. We found here a part of Blair's division which left Vicksburg over a week ago. Found the 55th Illinois, 8th Missouri and 13 regiments among other regiments. They finished wooding and left about 3 p. m.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 194-5

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Captain Charles Wright Wills: January 12, 1863

Camp 103d Illinois Infantry, Jackson, Tenn.,
January 12, 1863.

Your letters are beginning to come through with more regularity and on decidedly better time. Have received your date of December 30, although the last was dated November 16th, and was the first you wrote after we left Peoria. You bewailed our being sent south of Cairo, which I think very ungenerous in you. Well, you'll probably be suited in our present location, which is the only consolation I have in being sent so far rearward. There are some slight hopes though, that we may be sent to Vicksburg, which will ripen into a distant probability (nothing more I'm afraid) if the news of our repulse there be true. We're encamped in the suburbs of this delightful little town, but so strict are the orders of the general (Sullivan) that, as far as seeing the town or making purchases therein are concerned, we might as well be camped on Pike's Peak. All right, Mr. Sullivan, have your own way. He is by all odds the most like a soldier of all the garrison commandants I have been under. Will wager that you will never hear of his being surprised. The news from Holly Springs is that the last house in the town was burned night before last. Pretty rough, but I say, amen. Its pretty well understood in this army now that burning Rebel property is not much of a crime. I for one will never engage in it, until orders are issued making it duty, and then I think I can enjoy it as much as any of them. If any part of this army is ever called home to quell those Illinois tories, orders to burn and destroy will not be necessary. Since I have seen the proceedings of that traitorous legislature, I begin to understand why these loyal Tennesseans and Alabamians are so much more bitter against traitors than we are. It would make your blood run cold to hear the men in this army, without regard to party, curse those traitors. There is a gay time in prospect for those chaps. Don't think I am much out of the way in saying that Merrick, Jem Allen, Dick Richardson, and the editors of the Chicago Times would be hung if caught within the lines of many Illinois regiments in this army. There are many officers who, while they doubt our ability to subjugate (that is the question) the South, would take an active part in ending the man who would propose to give the thing up. I come pretty near belonging to that party, though I think that if we can't accomplish the whole end desired, we can confine the Rebels to Virginia (Eastern), the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. Alabama, I believe, we can hold if we get Mississippi. Boats which left Vicksburg on the 6th inst. reported it taken, but it must be a mistake, as it has not been confirmed. I think it was wicked to put that brave old 8th Missouri and 4th Iowa into the front of the battle, after they had suffered so severely at Donaldson, Shiloh, Farmington, etc., but ever since Shiloh it seems that the old soldiers have had the front all the time. 'Tis reported that when Grant moves again, he will leave all the new regiments as railroad and property guards, and move with the old army. The last night I stayed in Holly Springs, Mrs. Stricklin invited in some young ladies to help entertain the colonel, Lieutenant Nickolet and myself. They beat all the secesh I have seen yet. One of them played all the secesh pieces she knew, and when I asked her to play “John Brown,” she swelled up so with wrath, that I was strongly tempted to propose tying my suspenders around her to save hooks and eyes. One of them asked me if I did not think the Southerners the most polite, refined and agreeable people I had ever met. It took me twenty minutes before I could finish blushing for her lack of modesty, and then I was so dead beat that I could only take up the word refined, and tell her how much I admired their beautiful use of language. I instanced, “what do you'uns all come down here to fight we'uns for,” “I recon we war thar,” which you'll hear from the best of them. That first quotation as they speak it is the funniest sentence imaginable. I got into a row with every one I talked with, but finally, was fool enough to escort one home. Rumor (almost official) says to-night that we go to Memphis to-morrow, or soon, and thence to Vicksburg. Congratulate us on our good luck. This regiment will never be satisfied without a fight. They run in in our pickets once and awhile here, and I believe two were killed (pickets) yesterday, but guess there is no chance for a fight. The 18th Illinois Infantry is being mounted.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 145-7

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Missouri State Monument: Shiloh National Military Park


UNION ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE

2nd. Division 2nd. Brigade
13th. Mo. Col. Crafts Wright
14th. Mo. Birge Sharp Shooters
Col. B. Compton
1st. Mo. Light Artillery
Batty. D Capt. Henry Richardson
Batty. H Capt. Frederick Welker
Batty. K Capt George Stone

3rd. Division
1st. Brigade Col. Morgan Smith, 8th. Mo.
8th. Mo. Lt. Col. James Peckham
1st. Mo. Light Artillery
Batty. I Lt. Charles Thurber

4th. Division 1st. Mo. Light Artillery
Mann’s Battery C. Lt. Edward Brotzmann

6th. Division 1st. Brigade
Col. E. Peabody, Lt. Col. H. Woodyard
21st. Mo. Col. David Moore
24th. Mo. Lt. Col. Robert Vanhorn
2nd. Brigade Col. Madison Miller 18th. Mo.
18th. Mo. Lt. Col. Issac Pratt
Unattached Infantry 23rd. Mo.
Col. Jacob Tindall, Lt. Co. Quin Morton


CONFEDERATE ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI

Reserve Corps 2nd. Brigade
1st. Mo. Col. Lucius Rich


MISSOURI


[Inscribed on the back:]

IN MEMORY OF HER SONS WHO FOUGHT AND DIED TO PRESERVE THOSE FREEDOMS IN WHICH THEY BELIEVED

BATTLE OF SHILOH
APRIL 6TH AND 7TH 1862

Friday, June 6, 2014

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith and Eliza Walter Smith, January 30, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Division,
Fifteenth Army Corps,
“Young's Point,” Before Vicksburg, Jan. 30, 1863.

My Dear Wife And Mother:

I have your letters, mother's of the 15th and 18th and wife's of 22d inst. I can imagine your anxiety, and regret you could not sooner have heard of my safety and well being. But you were not born to be a soldier's wife and mother. You must keep up brave hearts; none of us can die but once; as well in the battle as in bed. I hope my life may be spared to comfort you for many years to come, and assure you that I will not unnecessarily, or otherwise than in the strict performance of my duty, expose a life dearer to others than it deserves, far dearer to them than to me, and you must write me cheeringly. Give me words of comfort and good cheer. We need comfort, for we are in a pretty tight place at the present writing; camped just in front of that famous ditch of Butler's that the papers made so much fuss about last year and in the full view of Vicksburg, about two miles, including the width of the river, from my tent. As I write, its white towers and steeples and window panes gleam in the light of the setting sun. It's the Gibraltar of America, and we shall have a good time taking it, I guess; but nil desperandum; we shall try. I believe I wrote you some account of the affairs at Chickasas Bayou, and at Post Arkansas. My troops behaved remarkably well in both engagements, though I lost rather more than my share. I stand well enough with the army here, but have not had the luck to do anything brilliant enough to make me brigadier, except so far as they can give it to me by brevet. I do most earnestly want the rank, and think I have honestly earned it, but suppose I must exercise patience and wait. My health is pretty good. Indeed I always feel well while the weather is cool and the past three or four days have been lovely. In the immediate personal superintendence of large works, I am in the saddle constantly.

My horses are peculiar, and I ride hard in battle and latterly with a large command have had to spread myself over the field. This was a good deal the case at Chickasas. Morgan L. went over almost the first pop, while I had run the gauntlet half a dozen times before him and was over the same ground where he fell for hours afterwards and always under fire. The newspaper reports are all false; there is scarcely any coloring of truth to them. I am always confounded with Morgan L. and his brother Giles A. I am utterly lost in the obscurity of the name. My only salvo is in the official reports; there alone can I be identified, and in an official report the bare detail alone is permitted. I have sent you two from my immediate commanding officer. General Sherman's I have not yet seen, but am told that I receive therein flattering mention. I have tried hard to win my spurs, but my heart has been made sick by the terrible injustice of the public prints. I have nobody in particular to blame; I don't know that I have a single enemy among the newspaper reporters; yet I am always ignored. You must take the published stories of the correspondents with very great allowance. They are never eye-witnesses of the scenes they attempt to describe. This I assure you is true, and a moment's reflection will give you the reason why. They have no business in battle; there is no position they could occupy. In the din and confusion and smoke and hurly burly, the assault, the charge, the cannonading, the rattling of musketry, the changing front of long lines of troops, the rapid advance, the quick retreat for change of position, the trampling of cavalry, and artillery and orderlies' horses — where would the newspaper reporter, with his pen and wit or pencil and paper be? No, they are far off to the rear, picking up items from stragglers, and runaways and the riff-raff of the camp and army; with just enough knowledge of the ground and the main facts to form a basis, they draw upon their imagination for fancy sketches, and paint their words in glaring colors. My regiment did go in where none dared to follow, and by my superior officer was withdrawn after the performance of the most heroic valor. It was the astonishment of the army, and no mention is made of it. The 8th Missouri was not under fire at any time during the fight at Chickasas. Its former colonel, the present major-general, was wounded by a sharpshooter before the engagement fairly began. See the reports and the absurdity. But I won't dilate upon what you cannot well understand, and in which your heart cannot possibly be.1
________________

1 Readers of Field Marshal, Lord Roberts's interesting book, will see that trouble with the correspondents of newspapers besets military commanders in these later days also. There is great similarity in the expression of his views in relation to this subject in his account of the Afghanistan campaign.

"No one could be more anxious than I was to have all details of the campaign made public. I considered it due to the people of Great Britain that the press Correspondents should have every opportunity for giving the fullest and most faithful accounts of what might happen while the army was in the field . . .  What to my mind was so reprehensible in this Correspondent's conduct was the publication in time of war, and consequent excitement and anxiety at home, of incorrect and sensational statements founded on information derived from irresponsible and uninformed sources, and the alteration of telegrams after they had been countersigned by the recognized authority, the result of which could only be to keep the public in a state of apprehension regarding the force in the field, and what is even more to be deprecated, to weaken the confidence of the troops in their commander." — Forty-One Years in India, vol. ii., p. 166.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 266-8

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, August 8, 1862

HEADQUARTERS 54TH REGT. O. V. INF.,
CAMP NEAR MEMPHIS, Aug. 8, 1862.

Your letter of the 1st inst. has just been received. I cannot understand why eight days should be consumed in the transit of mail matter when the individual requires only two to pass over the same ground. The army, however, is always scolding the mails, and perhaps without reason. We ought to be thankful for any intelligence, however tardy.

Our tents are pitched in pleasant places near the city, plenty of shade and pure water. The health of my men would improve if they would practise self-denial in food; but the temptation in the shape of green corn, fresh fruit and vegetables is too much for their frail nature to withstand. If I can get them safely through September, they will be in good training for a fall and winter campaign. My own diarrhoea has never left me — I suppose never will. I have lost flesh and strength, but I do not suffer save from the inconvenience and loss of rest at night. Sometimes it is checked slightly, but I think it is chronic and beyond the power of medicine. No furloughs or leaves of absence are granted from this division of the army, on account of sickness or for any other cause. I have asked furloughs for officers and men who have died, and whose lives, I am assured by the surgeons, might have been saved by change of air and alleviation from the miseries of the camp, but never with any success. I would not ask a furlough for myself, I would not take one if offered; but it would be worse than useless to ask. It will be long before I shall see family or friend. This hard, pitiless war will never come to an end in my lifetime. Last night three of my officers, who were badly wounded at Shiloh, returned. Two of them were shot very severely, one having his kidney, lung, and liver pierced with a Minie-ball; and yet, strange to say, he is here to-day reported for duty, while men who got only flesh wounds died. I thought they would not return to their regiment, but they felt the peculiar fascination that few are able to resist. Their welcome by their old comrades in arms was very affecting. Strong men embraced and wept. Those who had stood shoulder to shoulder during the two terrible days of that bloody battle, were hooped with steel, with bands stronger than steel; and those who might have been discharged, the scars of whose honorable wounds were yet raw, forsook friends and the comforts of home to come to their regiment, to the society of their companions. This is the great impelling feeling, though duty, patriotism, and “death's couriers, Fame and Honor, called them to the field again.” No officer whose honor is dear to him can be away now; absence from post is a burning shame and will be a lasting disgrace.

It is not probable that Sherman will be ordered to Vicksburg for some time, if at all. Meanwhile the drill and the discipline of the troops is rigidly enforced. Brig.-Gen. Morgan L. Smith, under whose command the “54th” is brigaded, is a martinet almost to tyranny.

I do not deem it beyond the range of the probabilities of this war that Cincinnati be attacked. Buell will have his hands full to prevent it. The city would be a tempting prize to soldiers.

You had better have an eye on this matter in the making of your fall arrangements. I don't want to write that which will give you uneasiness. I do not regard it as at all certain that Bragg would push his columns up between Curtis and Buell; but it is certain that there is a good deal of disaffection in Kentucky. If Richmond is evacuated — and disease and want of commissary stores may compel this — then desperate men in large guerilla bands may precipitate themselves upon a city so far as I know undefended. The South is a united people; they have over one million and a half of fighting men, their soldiers are better drilled and better disciplined than ours, they are better armed and fight as well, and above all it is far easier for them to keep their regiments filled up to the maximum number, than it is for us. Every man, who is able to fight, is willing to fight. The women, the children, the old, the feeble, take pride in the army, and cheer those on to glory whom they think are winning it in the defence of their homes, their firesides, and the heritage of their fathers.

I saw a sweet little girl the other day the very image of Bettie and very much like her in manners; of course I courted and petted her, notwithstanding she was a most bitter little “Secesh.” It was most amusing to hear her philippics, but I could not help loving her for Bettie's sake, and the little witch, as evidence that I had won her favor, though a “Yank,” came with her father to my camp. She is the first child I have spoken to for six long months, if I make an exception of the occasional pickaninny, an insect with which this sunny South abounds. It was very amusing on the march to see whole flocks of them, generally nude, by the roadside in the care of some ancient mother of the herd.

Enclosed please find an effusion from the pen of Col. Tom Worthington, a brother of the General, with whom I have become quite intimate; the lines were almost if not quite impromptu, written and handed me just after the battle, though since, I believe, published. The allusion to the azalia is very happy; the whole air was redolent with their perfume on the day of the battle, and more than once I caught a handful of them, while my horse was treading among the dead.

This afternoon I am invited to a grand review of the 8th Missouri, and to meet all the field officers of the division at General Sherman's headquarters. Within two or three days we present General Sherman with a sword, and I am expected to make the presentation speech at a grand dinner, at which I suppose nearly all the officers, certainly all the field and staff, will be present. As I remarked of General Smith, so Sherman is a martinet, but he is a soldier, every inch, and as brave as they make them. I fought by his side all day from seven o'clock in the morning till dark on Monday, sat by him when his horse was shot, and saw his hand grazed by a cannon ball. He's every inch a soldier and a gentleman and a chieftain. Colonel Worthington don't like him, which is strange, for they are both West Pointers, but the fact is the Colonel is a little jealous that he has not a higher command.

My prince of horses, Bellfounder, is in splendid health, his neigh rings out long and loud whenever he sees me. You shall ride him if he ever gets home.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 232-5

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, May 15, 1862

HEADQUARTERS 54TH REGT. O. V. INF.,
CAMP NO. 6 IN THE FIELD,
MISSISSIPPI, May 15, 1862.

We are still advancing, counter-skirmishing, and the din of cannonading is by day and night. We are close to Corinth. A great and decisive battle must soon be fought. We have been brigaded a second time. My regiment is now under command of Brigadier-General Morgan L. Smith, and consists of four regiments, the 55th Illinois, Colonel Stuart; the 57th Ohio, under Lieutenant-Colonel Rice, the Colonel being absent on sick leave; the 8th Missouri, and the 54th Ohio. I still preserve my position on the left flank, which gives me my position on the extreme left of the brigade, and as we march by the left flank, the advance of the army, which is a post of honor. The integrity and courage of my command is undoubted, and therefore the responsible trust. My address will now be 54th Regiment, Ohio Volunteers, First Brigade, Fifth Division, Major-General Sherman commanding.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 204

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, March 30, 1863

CAMP BEFORE VICKSBURG, March 30, 1863.

I got back from an excursion up to Deer Creek in connection with Admiral Porter the day before yesterday, and being on General Grant's boat which lies about four miles above me I wrote you a hasty note saying we were all well. I don't know what the people and press will make of this move, but I explain it to you. Our difficulty at Vicksburg has been to get a foothold on hard ground on that side of the Mississippi. We have endeavored to get east of the Yazoo without success by every possible channel, and Admiral Porter and General Grant thought they had discovered a new route up Yazoo and Steele's Bayou to Black Fork across into Deer Creek, up Deer Creek to Rolling Fork and then into Sunflower and Yazoo. I don't know if your maps show this route, but there is a channel during high water. Grant accompanied the Admiral up a short distance returned and ordered me to follow, to reconnoitre, to ascertain if the route was feasible to move my Corps. I got one of the Admiral's little tugs and with only two aids, Col. Johnson and Lt. Pitzman and my orderly Boyer, pushed up and overtook the Admiral in Black Bayou. I took no troops with me, but had ordered the 8th Missouri and some pioneers to go up in a steamboat to clear out trees and overhanging branches. I saw very soon that the channel was too narrow and obstructed by trees to be passable without a vast amount of clearing, and soon reported that it would not do, but the Admiral pushed up Deer Creek with his iron-clads. He had not proceeded twenty miles before the channel became so obstructed that he doubted his ability to proceed, and the enemy had detected the move and had begun to fell trees across the channel. At last he called on me for help; and having brought up three small regiments I sent them forward and worked like a beaver to get up more. I succeeded in getting up the better part of two brigades and afoot started for the fleet. I got there not a minute too soon. The enemy were swarming about the fleet, had chopped down trees in front and were in the act of doing the same below so as to block them in. There were five iron-clads and three little tenders or tugs. Their heavy guns could not contend with the rifle men who behind trees and logs picked off every man who showed his head. I do believe if I had not labored as I did, and moved as rapidly, the enemy would have got the boats and the tables would have been turned on us here at Vicksburg; but the Admiral had actually resolved to blow them all up. The mud and rain were terrific, but I marched afoot and the men were tickled to see me there; and such cheers as the gun-boats put up when they saw General Sherman! Of course we soon cleared the ground, and not a shot was fired at the gun-boats after I got there. For four days and nights they were beset by a crowd of guerrillas and soldiers and could not sleep or rest; it was the lion in a net.

The admiral was in the act of backing out when I got to him, and his judgment was that the route was impracticable. Of course, we gradually withdrew slowly and leisurely, and the enemy followed us at a distance. No place on earth is favored by nature with natural defense such as Vicksburg, and I do believe the whole thing will fail and we will have to go back to the original plan, viz: the main army to move by land from Memphis, Oxford, Grenada to Yazoo City and Vicksburg, whilst a smaller force hem in the river and attack in flank contemporaneous with the arrival of the main army. This was the original plan and the only one certain of success. Grant may resolve to attack Haines' Bluff, but we cannot bring our whole force to bear there. The river does not admit of it. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 244-6.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/02.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The Great Tennessee River Expedition

Arrived at Savannah – Scenes at the Landing – Where the Expedition is – Furthest South of any of our Armies, excepting the Sea Coast Expeditions – Union Men Enlisting – Condition of the Troops – Rank of the Generals of Division – Smith Wallace – A Balaklava Hero.

(Special Correspondence of the Cincinnati Gazette.)

SAVANNAH, Tenn., March 12.

THE FLEET ARRIVES AT ITS FINAL DESTINATION.

The greater part of the Tennessee river expedition arrived at Savannah, Hardin county, Tennessee, on the evening during the night of the 11th inst.  As the sun rose over the canebrakes that line the river banks, it is disclosed such a scene as neither that nor indeed any river on the continent ever witnessed before.  For nearly two miles up and down the stream lay the fleet.  More vessels were constantly arriving, the channel was filled with them, flying about in search of landings near their respective brigade headquarters, and the air was heavy with the murky smoke from hundreds of puffing chimneys.

The shores were covered with the disembarked soldiers, eagerly rushing everywhere and scrutinizing everything, with a genuine Yankee determination to see whatever might be worth seeing “away down here in Dixie.”  They early found the canebrakes, and the number of fishing poles carried aboard the boats to be sent up North and used in more peaceful times, was something astonishing.  Cotton fields were more distant, but long before noon plenty could be heard describing how the fields looked, and exhibiting scraps of cotton and handfuls of seed they had confiscated as specimens from the adjacent warehouses.  Officers were galloping over the bottoms, trying to get an idea of the country – not a few privates deemed it their duty to give the mules a little exercise by beating them into a jog trot through the country, too.

Half a dozen regiments were brought out on dress parade, and the delighted inhabitants of the pleasant little country town of Savannah crowded into the streets or peeped out behind the curtains of the second-story windows to see the unwonted sight, and convince their halting faith that, beyond peradventure, the Yankees were there at least to defend them in their ill concealed preference for the Union cause.  Conspicuous among the troops were the noted Eleventh Indiana and Eighth Missouri, of General Lew. Wallace’s division, whose steady tread and precision of movement was unexcelled by any equally numerous body of regulars our old army ever boasted; and amid all the shouldering and presenting of arms, the flashing swords, waving of banners, prancing of gaily caparisoned horses, and shouting of orders, there came wailing up thro’ this pomp and circumstance of glorious war the unutterable sorrow of the dead march in Saul, as with reversed muskets and measured tread of a squad of his companions bore a brave Buckeye boy to his lonely grave on the banks of the Tennessee.  Poor fellow, he had left Paducah, all life and hope; had sickened on the river and now – well, in a few minutes a regiment was deploying by companies almost over his grave.


A CONSULTATION.

Gen. Smith’s headquarters boat was landed at the Savannah wharf boat about 3 o’clock on the afternoon of the 13th, his yawl came across to Gen. Lew Wallace’s headquarters, on the opposite side of the stream, and the two Generals had a brief conference.

The group was one worth studying.  The two Generals – between whom certain newspapers have sought to foster rivalries and jealousies, though I happen to know that the most cordial feeling has existed between them all the time – presented a marked contrast.  Smith must be fifty, if not fifty-five years of age, has been twenty years in the regular army, and has allowed the regular army ways to become stereotyped with him – has grizzly hair and a noble white moustache, with a lion-like front, massive head, and imposing general physique.  Wallace does not look over thirty-five, is rather slight in figure, with black hair, full beard and moustache, a keen sparkling eye, and quick active movements.  A thorough tactician, and one of the very best drill officers in Indiana, he has not forgotten the arts of civil life, and though of few words and, when occasion demands, stern as the sternest, is a perfect pet among his men, who pride themselves especially on belonging to “Lew. Wallace’s fighting crowd.”  By their side sat a young aid of Smith’s you caught yourself fairly staring at.  His general appearance was that of a bedizened captain of a fancy city company in peaceful times; but you ceased to smile as you caught on the flashing decorations that crossed his breast, the word of glory forever – “Balaklava.”  He rode with the six hundred – what better title to immortality could any man show?

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 4

Friday, January 13, 2012

Reliable Details of the Fight

Special to the Chicago Tribune.

CAIRO, April 10.

We are just beginning to get some reliable details from the great battle at Pittsburg.  From several gentlemen who were on the field afterwards on in the fight, the following are gathered and sent.  Our informant left the battle field on Wednesday morning at 5 o’clock:

The rebels Attacked Prentiss’s brigade 4 o’clock on Sunday morning, while they were at breakfast.  It consisted of the 61st Illinois, 16th Wisconsin, 24th Indiana and 71st Ohio.  The rebels were said to be 120,000 strong.  Prentiss had no artillery.  His brigade was cut to pieces, and forced to retire, with Prentiss and many other prisoners.  At 12 m. the entire line was fiercely engaged, but in full retreat.

At 4 p. m. the enemy had taken Swartz’s battery – 6 guns, Dresden’s, of 4 guns, Waterhouse’s battery, 2 rifled Ohio 56-guns, and another Ohio battery.  Thousands of our soldiers had taken refuge under the bank of the river, and utterly refused to fight – in fact they could not, for officers and men were in inextricable confusion, and the army seemed utterly demoralized.

Gen. Mitchell’s [sic] division, about this time arrived on the opposite shore with 15,000 men, who were ferried across during the night.

The gunboats Lexington and Tyler opened a tremendous fire of shell upon the enemy, and kept it up every half hour during the night, saving the army from utter ruin. – They set the woods on fire, and many of the rebels were burned.  At 7 the firing generally ceased.  At midnight the rebels attempted to plant a battery within three hundred yards of our siege guns, but they were driven back by the gunboats and siege guns, supported by three regiments of Mitchell’s division.

Our informants persist in estimating our loss on Sunday at 3,000 killed and 5,000 wounded as a low figure.  It was undoubtedly tremendous.  During the night the rebels were reinforced by Price and Van Dorn from Arkansas, with a very large force.

Gen. Lew Wallace came up from Crump’s Landing with the 18th and 23d Ind., 44th Ill., 8th Mo and Willard’s battery, and in the morning fiercely attacked the left wing of the enemy.  They went into the fight on the double quick with tremendous shouts, and did terrible execution.  By 10 o’clock they had driven the rebels back two miles.  The battery performed prodigies of valor.

About 10 o’clock the rebels were reinforced, and for a few minutes our gallant boys were forced to yield.

The other divisions of Buell’s army now appeared and at once became fully engaged, and for two hours all the destructive elements of earth seamed striving for the mastery on that fatal field.  Southern chivalry proved no match for the unflinching courage of the army of freedom, and the rebels fled in all directions with some 12,000 troops.  Gen. Buell followed the fugitives taking thousands of prisoners and smiting without mercy those who would not surrender.  He was reported to have taken Corinth with all the immense stores of arms and ammunition.  Carson, the scout had his head torn off on Monday by a round shot.

The rebel troops were mostly from Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, with many from Georgia and Alabama.  They fought like tigers.  Our informant could ride through the battle field where our forces were posted, but the dead were so thick in the enemy’s line that they could not do it.  They assure us that the rebels surprised our camps on Sunday night, took care of our sick and wounded, but destroyed nothing, expecting confidently to have our entire army the next day.  They thought the battle already won on Sunday.

Gen. McClernand cut his way through the enemy that had surrounded him.  Most of his troops behaved with great gallantry; but the 53rd Ohio was ordered to the rear in disgrace for refusing to fight.

Capt. Harvy of Bloomington, Illinois is among the killed.

Our informants were assured by those who know the man, that John C. Breckenridge was taken Prisoner.  They saw him pass to the General’s quarters.

It is impossible to get lists of the killed and wounded.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, April 12, 1862, p. 2

Saturday, January 29, 2011

By Telegraph

WASHINGTON, February 17.

Gen. McClellan has received a dispatch fully confirming the capture of Fort Donelson.


ST. LOUIS, February 17.

Dispatches from Gen. Grant to Gen. Halleck announce the surrender of Fort Donelson with 15,000 prisoners, including Johnston [sic], Pillow and Buckner.


ST. LOUIS, Feb. 17.

Further official advices from Fort Donelson say Gen. Floyd escaped during the night with 5,000 men, and the rebels in the fort denounced him as a black hearted traitor and coward.

The enemy are known to have had thirty thousand troops, fifteen thousand of whom are our prisoners.  Five thousand escaped, and the balance are reported killed, wounded or otherwise disabled.

Our loss is not stated, but the slaughter in our ranks is mentioned as terribly severe.

Previous to the surrender our forces en route had most all arrived.

Gen. Halleck intended to leave to-day, but orders for preparations were countermanded on receipt of Fort Donelson dispatches.

The steamer John Warner left to-day with Gen. Hamilton, the 25th Mo. Regiment and 3d Mich. Battery, for the Tennessee river.

The greatest activity prevails at the Arsenal here, backing cartridges and loading shell for shipment down the river.

It is reported on high military authority that Gen. Curtis captured most of Price’s men after leaving Springfield, including his Chief Adjutant.


ST. LOUIS, Feb. 17.

Fort Donelson surrendered at 9 o’clock yesterday morning to the land force.  The gun boats were present at the time.

An immense amount of war material is among the trophies of the victory.

Floyd skulked away the night before the surrender.

The gun boat Carondolet, Capt. Walker, arrived at Cairo with the news.

A large number of our wounded have been brought to the Paducah and Cairo Hospitals.

This city is wild with excitement and joy.  The news was received at the Union Merchants exchange, creating the most intense enthusiasm.  The Star Spangled Banner, the flag of our Union, and Red White and Blue were sung by all present, after which they adjourned and marched to the army headquarters, 120 to 150 strong, where three rousing cheers were given for Halleck and Foote.  Halleck appeared at the window and thanked the people for their hearty demonstrations and said: “I promised, when I came here, that with your aid I would drive the enemies of our flag from your State.  This has been done and they are virtually out of Kentucky and soon will be out of Tennessee.”

More cheers were given for the Union, the Star Spangled Banner was repeated, and the crowd dispersed.

Judge Holt wept for joy when he heard the news.  Many stores are closed, and the city is being decorated with flags, and evidences of great joy are everywhere manifest.

Gov. Yates, Sec. Hatch and Auditor Dubois, of Ills., left for Ft. Donelson this forenoon, to look after the wounded Illinois troops.

A requisition has been made for all the steamboats in this vicinity, to be held in readiness for the transportation of troops and Government stores.


ST. LOUIS, February 17.

The casualties on the gun-boats at Fort Donelson are as follows: St. Louis, 3 killed, including P. R. Riley of Cincinnati.  Two wounded, among them Lieut. Kendall, slightly.  Louisville, 5 sailors killed; 4 slightly wounded and 2 severely, each having both arms shot away.  Carondelet, 4 killed and 6 badly wounded, including Wm. Hunter.  Pilot, 2 severely.  Pittsburg, 2 wounded.

The force en route for Fort Donelson, had mostly come up and were located on the left.

Gen. Lew Wallace, with the 8th Missouri and 11th Indiana arrived Friday.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, February 18, 1862, p. 1

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Deaths in Keokuk Post Hospital

May 2 – J Thornburg Co E, 70th Ohio
May 3 – John Trexler Co E 8th Missouri
May 4 – Ed W Elkin Co E 61st Illinois
May 4 – J E Neal, Co A 13th Iowa
May 5 – L M Randolph Co K, 15th Iowa
May 5 – S M Conn Co D 68th Ohio
May 5 –R E Peebles Co E 6th Tenn. pris.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 1

Friday, July 2, 2010

From Pittsburgh Landing

(Special to Missouri Democrat.)

CAIRO, April 26. – Passengers who reached here this morning on the Steamer N. W. Thomas which left Pittsburgh Landing Thursday night bringing highly important intelligence.

An engagement took place between the advance guards of the National and rebel armies on Thursday. The rebels were driven back towards Corinth. Halleck was pushing his whole army vigorously forward.

Mr. Stevenson of Danville, Ill., arrived last night from Pittsburgh Landing, he left there at 9 a.m. Friday, on steamer Thomas, on Thursday he accompanied Col. Smith of the 8th Missouri regiment on a reconnoisance toward Corinth with a strong force, they advanced by the lower road, when 7 miles out, surprised a rebel camp, men mostly absent and took 27 prisoners, destroyed camp equipage and advanced to Pea Ridge, within 6 miles of Corinth, remained there from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and saw no armed men but heard constant rattling of cars and sounding of whistles toward Memphis. They got the impression that the rebels were evacuating for Memphis. The feeling seemed to be gaining ground, that there would be no stand at Corinth. He visited our camps generally and gave positions and advances of our forces, not proper to telegraph. At Savannah he says we have 1556 sick and wounded, 800 from Illinois, the balance from Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana, all in great need of relishable food and care. Efforts were made to get 200 of the convalescent immediately sent down the river but hat not succeeded when he left.

Gov. Harvey’s friends and several members of the Illinois Sanitary Commission, came by the same steamer. Governor’s body was not found.

It is currently reported by deserters that Beauregard’s sixty and thirty days men are dissatisfied. They will not stand the fire of the dauntless north west boys.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 3, 1862, p. 4

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Corinth Evacuated

(Special to the Chicago Journal.)

CAIRO, April 26.

Mr. Stevenson of Danville, Illinois, arrived last night from Pittsburg Landing. He left there at 9 o’clock A. M. Friday, on the steamer Thomas. On Thursday he accompanied Col. Smith of the 8th Missouri regiment on a reconnoisance towards Corinth, with a strong force. They advanced by the lower road. When 9 miles out we surprised a rebel camp of men, mostly absent, and took 27 prisoners, destroyed camp equipage, and advanced to Pea Ridge, with in 6 miles of Corinth and remained there from 11 A. M. to 3 P. M. We saw no armed men – heard constant rolling of cars and sounding of whistles towards Memphis. – They got the impression that the rebels were evacuating for Memphis. This feeling seemed to be gaining ground, that there would be no stand at Corinth. He visited our camps generally, and gave positions and advances of our forces not proper to telegraph.

At Savannah, he says we have 1556 sick and wounded: 800 from Illinois and the balance from Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana, all in great need of relishable food and care. Efforts were made to get 200 convalescent immediately sent down the river, but were not successful. When he left Gov. Harvey’s friends and several members of the Illinois sanitary commission came by the same steamer. Gov. Harvey’s body has not yet been found.

It is currently reported by deserters that Beauregard’s six and thirty day’s men are dissatisfied, and will not stand fire of the dauntless Northern boys.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, April 28, 1862, p. 1

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Colonel Charles Henry Abbott

FIRST COLONEL, THIRTIETH INFANTRY.

The late Charles H. Abbott of the 30th Iowa Infantry was born in Concord, New Hampshire, on the 25th day of January, 1819. His ancestors were Puritans. His grand-father of the sixth generation was George Abbott, who, coming from Yorkshire, England, settled in Andover, Massachusetts, in the year 1643. Of that patriarch's grand-children, numbering seventy-three, thirty settled in Andover. The others wandered through New England and the Middle Colonies, where they made themselves homes. The family is one of the oldest in the country, and also one of the most numerous and widespread. Nathaniel Abbott, the colonel's great-grand-father, was a captain in the Provincial Army, and served through the French and Indian wars. His grand-father, Joshua Abbott, was a captain under Warren, and commanded a company at Bunker Hill; and his father, also christened Joshua, a Congregational minister. The latter died at Norfolk, Virginia, in about the year 1828. The Rev. John S. C. Abbott, the celebrated author and historian, is a cousin of the late colonel, as is also Jacob Abbott, an author of some note.

The subject of this memoir, who was the youngest of eight children, left New England at the age of sixteen for New York, whence, after a few months' residence, he removed to Michigan. In 1850 he left Detroit, and, coming to Iowa, settled in Louisa county. Later he removed to Muscatine. His business in Iowa was that of a farmer, land-agent and banker. In 1853 he married Miss Julia Beach, an accomplished lady and a daughter of the Rev. John Beach of Michigan. Two little boys remain to her as her only hope.

Colonel Abbott entered the service in the summer of 1862, as colonel of the 30th Iowa, and commanded his regiment in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, and in the charge against the enemy's works at Vicksburg, on the 22d of May, 1863. In the last named engagement he was killed, while leading his regiment. Of the Iowa colonels, he was the third to fall dead or mortally wounded in battle.

The operations of the 30th Iowa, while under the command of Colonel Abbott, will be found substantially recorded in the sketches of Brigadier-General, then Colonel Williamson, of the 4th, and Colonel Milo Smith, of the 26th Iowa regiments. The 30th Iowa was not engaged at Chickasaw Bayou, though it had four men wounded, while lying under the enemy's guns, on the third day of the battle — one corporal and three enlisted men.

At Arkansas Post, the regiment was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Torrence, Colonel Abbott being sick. In this action, it was under fire for about three hours. It engaged the enemy from behind their works on the left, and, lying down, kept up an incessant fire, till the white flag was hoisted. The regiment suffered quite severely in killed and wounded: five were killed, and thirty-nine wounded. Among the wounded were Captains R. D. Cramer and Uley Burk; Lieutenants H. L. Creighton and W. L. Alexander; Sergeant-Major Clendening, and Sergeants York, Detwiler and Gregg. The following is from Lieutenant-Colonel Torrence's report:

"There is nothing further which I deem it my duty to mention, save that both officers and men generally acted well for new troops. I might mention to you with great propriety a few instances of cool and commendable courage, displayed by some of the men, they having fallen under my immediate notice during the action; but I forbear mentioning any save one, and that is the case of James M. Smith, a private of Company C, a single young man, not yet arrived at his majority. * * * His conduct on the battle-field, in the late engagement, was such as to secure implicit confidence in his courage and ability." The night following the engagement was one of great fatigue to the 30th Iowa; for it was detailed to guard prisoners, and to escort them inside the fort, and was not relieved till after midnight. The "Deer Creek raid" follows next in the history of the regiment, an account of which is elsewhere given; and next, the march to the rear of Vicksburg and the environment of that city. In this march, the regiment was attached to the 15th Army Corps — Sherman's — and marched by way of Grand Gulf to Jackson, and thence to the rear of Vicksburg. General Sherman's account of the advance from Jackson will be read with interest. The 30th Iowa, it should be remembered, was attached to Steele's Division.

"On the morning of the 16th, [May] I received a note from General Grant, written at Clinton, reporting the enemy advancing from Edward's Depot, and ordering me to put in motion one of my divisions toward Bolton, and to follow with the others as soon as I had completed the work of destruction ordered.

"Steele's Division marched at ten A. M., and Tuttle's followed at noon. As the march would necessarily be rapid, I ordered General Mower to parole the prisoners of war, and to evacuate Jackson as the rear of Tuttle's division passed out. I paroled these prisoners because the wounded men of McPherson's Corps had been left in a hospital in charge of Surgeon Hewitt, to the mercy of the enemy, who I knew would re-enter Jackson as soon as we left. The whole corps marched from Jackson to Bolton, nearly twenty miles, that day; and the next morning resumed the march by a road lying to the north of Baker's Creek, reaching Bridgeport, on the Big Black, at noon. There I found Blair's Division (which, with one of McClernand's Divisions, and a wagon-train had been left near New Auburn) and the pontoon-train. The enemy had a small picket on the west bank in a rifle-pit, commanding the crossing; but, on exploding a few shells over the pit, they came out and surrendered — a lieutenant and ten men. The pontoon bridge was laid across under the direction of Captain Freeman, and Blair's and Steele's Divisions passed over that night. Tuttle's followed the next morning. Starting with the break of day, we pushed on rapidly and by nine and one-half A. M. of May 18th the head of the column reached the Benton road; and we commanded the Yazoo, interposing a superior force between the enemy at Vicksburg and his forts on the Yazoo. Resting a sufficient time to enable the column to close up, we pushed forward to the point where the road forks, and sending forward on each road — the 13th Regulars to the right, and the 8th Missouri to the left, with a battery at the forks, I awaited General Grant's arrival."

From this point, Sherman, by Grant's order, gained a position in front of the enemy's works north of Vicksburg. Steele's Division led the advance, and, by a blind road on the right, winding through rugged, precipitous hills, came up squarely to the Mississippi above the city. This happened on the morning of the 19th instant; and that morning a cheering sight greeted the eyes of the soldiers, who, for two weeks, or more, had been shut completely out from God's country. In plain view were the old camping-grounds at Young's Point; and, only five or six miles away, the Union fleet loaded down to the guards with government rations. Looking southward, the sight was less cheering. "Vicksburg was in plain view, and nothing separated us from the enemy but a space of about four hundred yards of very difficult ground, cut up by almost impassable ravines, and his line of intrenchments."

Without that line of intrenchments, bristling with hostile bayonets, and defended by artillery, with black, gaping mouths staring madly at you through embrasures, the sight would have been magnificent; for the dome of the court-house and the tall spires of wealthy churches looked up through the waving branches of luxuriant shade-trees, which dotted the hills and hill-slopes in all parts of the city. Splendid private residences, too, adorned with all the taste of modern art, reflected their beauty in the morning and evening sun.

The first charge against the enemy's works was made on the 19th of May, the day concerning which I have just now spoken. General Grant's reasons for making this charge, and the results which followed, he gives as follows:

"I was not without hope of carrying the enemy's works, relying upon their demoralization, in consequence of repeated defeats outside of Vicksburg; and I ordered a general assault at 2 P. M. on this day. The 15th Army Corps, from having arrived in front of the enemy's works in time on the 18th to get a good position, were enabled to make a vigorous assault. The 13th and 17th Corps succeeded no further than to gain advanced positions, covered from the fire of the enemy."

Neither this charge, nor the one made three days later, was successful; and is it strange? It is rather wonderful that every man who joined in these assaults was not left, either dead or wounded, under the guns of the enemy.

The character of the country for miles around Vicksburg is hilly and broken; and the nearer you approach the city the wilder and more impracticable it becomes. The hills lie, as a general thing, I believe, in great parallel, semi-circular ridges, with Vicksburg as the centre; but they lap each other, and shoot out spurs in every direction, thus forming deep, winding ravines, which were filled, as a general thing, with underbrush, and standing and fallen timber. The works around Vicksburg were constructed by the best engineers the Confederacy could boast; and not a ravine was there which approached these works that was not swept by artillery and enfiladed by musketry. The hill-sides were precipitous, and in many places obstructed: these were also swept by a front and enfilading fire. None who know the ground will say that I have drawn too strong a picture.

Grant failed to carry the enemy's works on the 19th instant. The following are his reasons for attempting it on the 22d.:

"I believed an assault from the position at this time gained could be made successfully. It was known that Johnson was at Clinton with the force taken by him from Jackson, reinforced by other troops from the east, and that more were daily reaching him. With the force I had, a short time must have enabled him to attack me in the rear, and possibly succeed in raising the siege. Possession of Vicksburg at that time would have enabled me to turn upon Johnson, and drive him from the State, and possess myself of the railroads and practicable military highways, thus effectually securing to ourselves all territory west of the Tombigbee; and this, before the season was too far advanced for campaigning in this latitude. I would have saved the government sending large reinforcements, much needed elsewhere; and finally, the troops themselves were impatient to possess Vicksburg, and would not have worked in the trenches with the same zeal, believing it unnecessary, that they did after their failure to carry the enemy's works."

There was one other reason, I believe, which influenced General Grant in making the assault, of which from some cause he does not speak. Valorous Falstaffs at the North, some of them wearing civic honors and others at the head of influential public presses, had long croaked of indecision and inactivity. Such (and they were legion) could not be appeased, except by blood; but even now he had not closed their twaddling lips; for they prated of the "useless sacrifice." Now that he wears triumphal honors, they fawn about him like so many worthless curs; but I know he spurns them with contempt.

Twice it has been my fortune, myself removed from danger, to witness the fierce conflict of two contending armies. Once, standing on a high hill on the north bank of the Tennessee, I saw the veterans of Howard assail the enemy and drive them from their works on Orchard Knoll, back of Chattanooga. I also had previously witnessed the bloody and unsuccessful charge of the 22d of May, at Vicksburg: that was the grandest and most terrible sight I ever looked on. The high ground east of Fort Hill and near the White House was the standpoint; and I can now recall the whole scene, as though it had passed but yesterday. Here was Grant's look-out, and, near him, were McPherson and Logan. Sherman was already advancing on the right; and soon McClernand was boasting that he had captured three forts, and was master of his position. I heard a lieutenant-colonel announce this to Logan, when that general yelled with an oath to the new brigadier, Leggett, "to move at once on the enemy's works in his front, or he would arrest him."

All this time, and for more than an hour previous, above an hundred pieces of artillery had been booming, and throwing their ponderous projectiles into and above the enemy's works. Porter, during the same time, was tossing his big mortar shells into the doomed city. Huge volumes of smoke in front, and on the right and left, were rising lazily in the air, revealing the most interesting and anxious part of the scene — the infantry. There they were — some winding their long lengths through the deep ravines, to gain their designated positions, and others, further on, deployed on the hill-sides, and, with their bodies thrown forward, working their way up toward the enemy's works. So intent was I in watching those in front that I did not observe others. These, soon arriving near the summit of the hill across which stretched the enemy's works, raised the battle-cry, and dashed forward. I began to hope there was no enemy to oppose them, or that they would not fire; but at that very instant, the smoke from at least two thousand muskets leaped down in their very faces. Horrors! It seemed as though three-fourths of them fell. The line did not waver: the men were butchered; for I saw only a few run hurriedly back down the hill. By reports afterward made, however, the casualties could not have been as large as I suppose: many of the men, while enveloped in the smoke, must have sought and found cover.

The 30th Iowa was under Steele, away on the extreme right, and beyond my observation; but it joined in the same general charge, a portion of which I have given. Among the many gallant men who fell that day, on the slopes and ridges that encircle Vicksburg, was the lamented Colonel Charles H. Abbott. He was struck in the chin by a musket-ball, which, passing through his throat, came out at the back of his neck. He fell instantly and was carried from the field. His last words were words of cheer to his men. He never spoke after he was shot, and lived only about three hours. He died and was buried near the spot where he fell; and the valley beneath whose turf he was temporarily laid was designated by General Sherman as "Abbott's Valley." His body was afterward removed to Muscatine and buried on the banks of the majestic Mississippi. Iowa, "the land of flowers," and the State he loved so well is the shrine of his mortal remains. Brave, good man! he lived worthily and died nobly; and his name stands among the first on the State's Roll of Honor.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 453-60

Thursday, May 21, 2009

COLONEL AARON BROWN

SECOND COLONEL, THIRD INFANTRY.

Aaron Brown was born in Mississippi, about the year 1822, and is the only native from that State who has held a colonel's commission from Iowa. He entered the service from the county of Fayette, Iowa, and was the first lieutenant of Captain Carman A. Newcomb's company. He was made captain, April 8th, 1862, and promoted to the majority of his regiment, after the resignation of Major William M. Stone. I am unacquainted with Colonel Brown's history, prior to his entering the service.

In resuming the history of the 3d Iowa, I shall go back to its encampment at Shiloh, where it rested immediately after the battle. It was the same whence it had marched on the previous Sunday morning to the bloody field. Its dead comrades it had gathered and buried; and now it rested and contemplated the scenes of the past conflict. It had won military glory; but was this an equivalent for its dead comrades just buried? All were sad, and yet all hearts swelled with secret and inexpressible joy at their miraculous escape from harm. Shiloh had taught the regiment a new lesson—to respect the valor of the enemy, and, needlessly, not to seek a new encounter; and such has been the experience of every regiment that has once met the enemy in a desperate engagement. No one will a second time leave his cot in the hospital to be present in battle, and yet there are hundreds of instances where this thing has been done by novices. Good soldiers soon learn to do their whole duty, and no more.

During the siege of Corinth, and for several months after, the 1st Brigade of the 4th Division was commanded by General Lauman; but neither the 3d Iowa, nor any other regiment of the brigade, met the enemy during the environment of that place. I of course, except the affairs on the skirmish line. Before the fall of the city, there was but one affair in front of the 3d Iowa, which approached to any thing like an engagement : this was the charge of the 8th Missouri, of General Sherman's command, to capture a block house, known as Russel's House. The charge was successful, and gave the regiment an enviable reputation; and it sustained its name well, for it was this same regiment that so distinguished itself nearly a year after, at Raymond, Mississippi. The position of the 4th Division before Corinth was to the left of General Sherman, that general holding the extreme right of the besieging army. While the 3d Iowa was lying in the trenches before Corinth, it was joined by Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, who had but just recovered from his sickness. "All welcomed him joyfully."

Much was expected of General Halleck at Corinth. He had command of the finest army that had ever been marshaled in the South West. The enemy, in his disasters at Shiloh, had lost his best general; his troops were dispirited; and it was expected, nay demanded, that Beauregard and his army be either routed or captured. But, if General Grant had been lazy in pressing the enemy after his defeat at Shiloh, so was Halleck cautious not to push him to a new engagement. He thought he would capture the whole thing, never dreaming, I suppose, but what Beauregard was fool enough to sit still and be surrounded.

But, presto change! At a quarter before six, on the morning of the 30th of May, a deafening explosion was heard in the direction of Corinth, and, instantly, dense clouds of smoke were seen rising over the city. But few wondered at the cause. Pope had told Halleck several days before that Beauregard was evacuating; and that time Pope told the truth. Many privates, even, could have told as much. Pope had begged eagerly for permission to swing the left wing against the enemy's works; but, No! The severe jar that all had just felt was caused by the explosion of the enemy's magazines. And so the enemy escaped, and the government gained — a little, sickly, strategical point. The whole army was at once put under arms, and marched, a part into Corinth and a part in pursuit of the enemy. With the divisions of Sherman and Hurlbut, there was a strife to see who would be first in the city: who was the winning party, I never learned. I only know that we, of Pope's command, were put in pursuit.

Corinth fell on the 30th of May, 1862, and, seven days later, Memphis was surrendered to Captain, now Rear-Admiral Charles H. Davis. On the 2d of June, and before the fall of Memphis, the 4th and 5th Divisions, under General Sherman, left Corinth, and marched west in the direction of the last named city. The object of this movement was, I believe, to co-operate with the fleet of Ellett and Davis in the capture of Memphis, and ultimately to open up the railroad between that place and Corinth. The news of the fall of Memphis reached these troops while they were camped on the high bluffs that overlook the Big Hatchie—that stream which, four months later, General Hurlbut's Division was to render historic. Before them, where they were then encamped, lay the future battlefield of Matamora.

After considerable delay at La Grange and Moscow, General Sherman resumed the march to Memphis, where he arrived with his command on the 21st of July. The 3d Iowa led the van of its division into the city. On the 6th of September following, General Hurlbut was ordered back in the direction of Corinth; and, on the departure of his division from Memphis, the 3d Iowa was again in the van.

On the 13th of September this command was encamped at a point on Spring Creek, where it remained till the 19th instant, when a detachment of it, consisting of the 1st Brigade and two battalions of the 2d Illinois cavalry, under General Lauman, marched south to create a diversion in favor of General Grant. It will be remembered that this was the date of the battle of Iuka; and the reason of this movement on the part of General Lauman will be found elsewhere. General Lauman's scouts came on the enemy in the vicinity of La Grange. They were moving north in force; the column, on the march, was a mile and a half in length. The force of Lauman being unequal to engage them, that general beat a hasty retreat, and marched till he came within supporting distance of General Hurlbut; but the enemy, although they pursued, declined to give battle. Northern Mississippi was at this time full of scouting parties of the enemy: they were actively developing their plans for the re-capture of Corinth and the destruction of General Grant's army. Price was disheartened by his defeat at Iuka; but Van Dorn resolved to strike again at Corinth.

While General Hurlbut was encamped near Bolivar, Tennessee, on the 3d of October, 1862, he received orders to march promptly in the direction of Corinth; and the next morning reveille beat at one o'clock. Soon after the column was in motion. He had his own division, and, in addition to these troops, the 68th Ohio and 12th Michigan, two regiments of Ross' command that had come down from Jackson. The march was to be made in light trim — only two wagons to the regiment. The ambulances were to go along, and the men knew that all this meant fighting. The march was pushed rapidly, and, just beyond Pocahontas, the cavalry van-guard came on the enemy's pickets. That night the column reached the Big Muddy, about two miles west of the Hatchie, and that same forenoon Van Dorn and Price had been repulsed and utterly routed at Corinth. All that afternoon, the enemy had been in rapid retreat in the direction of the Hatchie; but of all this General Hurlbut was ignorant.

The 1st Brigade had just stacked their arms, and were preparing supper, when it was reported that the cavalry in front were engaging the enemy. Instantly orderlies began flying to and fro, and for a time there was much apprehension; but the firing soon ceased and all remained quiet till morning. That night General Ord arrived from Jackson via Bolivar, and reported the defeat of the enemy and his subsequent retreat in the direction of the Hatchie. He would probably be met on the morrow, and all nerved themselves for the conflict. General Ord, who was the ranking officer, now assumed command of the forces. In the early part of the engagement which followed he was wounded, and retired from the field, leaving Hurlbut in command of the Federal forces. To Hurlbut, therefore, belongs the credit of that brilliant victory.

The battle of the Hatchie, or Matamora, was fought on the 5th of October, 1862, and was an unequal and most desperate engagement. It was good fortune for the 4th Division that the enemy had been previously routed and demoralized; and also that he was being hard pressed by Rosecrans: had this not been so, General Hurlbut and his command must have been certainly crushed. Even after the demonstration of the Federal cavalry of the previous evening, on the west bank of the Hatchie, the enemy never dreamed that there was any considerable force to resist his advance. He supposed it was a small cavalry command, sent forward to harrass him on his retreat. Therefore, on the morning of the 5th, he began pushing his infantry across the Hatchie with all confidence; his surprise can be imagined, when he met the division of Hurlbut. Beating a hasty retreat back across the bridge, he took up a strong position on the bluffs opposite; but the particulars of this engagement appear in the sketch of General Lauman. The 3d Iowa was one of the regiments that was filed to the right, into the pocket, and, with the other troops there stationed, was subjected to a murderous fire, without being able to protect itself, or return it. But for the movement round the bluffs to the left, General Hurlbut must have been defeated before Rosecrans came up.

The disproportion in killed and wounded of the 3d Iowa was unprecedented: two only were killed, while nearly sixty were wounded. One of the former was Lieutenant Dodd. He was struck by a shell just before reaching the bridge, and killed instantly. Captains Weiser and Kostman were wounded, as also were Lieutenants Hamill, Foote and C. E. Anderson. The latter was wounded just at the close of the battle, after having done his duty nobly. In their conduct in the battle, the men of the regiment vied with the officers; and their names should all be recorded, to go down in honor to posterity.

After the fighting had closed and the result of all three battles learned, there was both sadness and rejoicing. The 3d Iowa, with its division, marched back to Bolivar, and there tendered and received congratulations. General Hurlbut was lavish of his praises to all his troops: — "Comrades in battle, partakers of the weary march and long watches! the title of the Fighting Fourth, earned at Shiloh, has been burnished with additional splendor." He was now Mr. Hurlbut, and no longer General. His heart was as warm and tender as a woman's. But he had covered himself with glory, had been made a major-general, and was now taking leave of his division.

After the battle of the Hatchie, the seven subsequent months were not eventful to the 3d Iowa Infantry. General Lauman succeeded General Hurlbut in the command of the 4th Division, and under him the regiment remained, and, in the following spring, followed him to Vicksburg. It had in the meantime made many fatiguing marches, the most important of which was that under General Grant, through Central Mississippi to the Yockona. For many weeks it was stationed on guard-duty at Moscow, on the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. During these seven months, there had been many changes in the regiment, the chief one of which was the resignation of Colonel Williams, and the promotion of Major Brown to that rank.

On the 18th of May, 1864, the 3d Iowa left Memphis for Vicksburg. Its days of rest and quiet camp life had passed, and now, for many months to come, it was to endure the hardships and breast the dangers of active field service. With its brigade it sailed up the Yazoo River, at day-light of the 21st of May. The object was to open up communication with Sherman, then just forcing the enemy back into his inner-works at Vicksburg. It is claimed that companies G and K, of the 3d Iowa, were the first to occupy the enemy's strong works at Haine's Bluff; but about this there must be some mistake.

One incident in the passage of the 3d Iowa from Memphis to Vicksburg, I must not omit to mention. The Crescent City, on which the regiment was embarked, had arrived, in the afternoon of the 19th instant, at the bend of the river near Island No. 65, and was sailing on unsuspectingly, when it was suddenly opened on with two howitzers from the eastern bank. Thirteen men of the regiment were wounded at the first discharge, one of them mortally; but, before the guerillas had time to re-load, a gunboat came up and drove the wretches from their cover. This circumstance will be remembered, when I state that the 41st and 53d Illinois, having landed and pursued the guerillas without being able to overtake them, returned and burned to the ground the village of Greenville, some two miles below the scene of murder. If reports were true, its fate was merited, and for other reasons; for it was said that, early in the war, a father and his son, Union residents of Greenville, were headed up in barrels by the fiendish citizens, and rolled down the steep bank into the Mississippi.

Before Vicksburg, the services of the 3d Iowa were the same as those of the other troops, buried in the heated trenches around that beleaguered city.

I now hasten to the most eventful chapter in the history of the 3d Iowa Infantry — its charge on the enemy's works at Jackson, Mississippi, on the 12th of July, 1863. Vicksburg had fallen, and the 3d Iowa had marched with the forces of General Sherman against Johnson [sic], who, for several weeks, had been raising the siege—with official dispatches. On the advance of Sherman, Johnson had fallen back and planted himself behind his works at Jackson; and there he was on the 12th of July, in a state of siege, confronted and watched by three corps—the 9th, under Parke, on his right; the 15th, under Steele, in his front; and the 13th, under Ord, on his left. General Lauman was in Ord's command, and his division held the right of Sherman's army. And thus matters stood on the morning of the 12th of July.

At the date above mentioned, it was thought by General Ord that the position of Lauman's Division was too much retired. He therefore ordered it forward, so that its left should dress on the right of General Hovey, whose division, from right to left, came next in order. Its right was to be thrown forward so as to correspond with the advance on the left. The object was to shorten and strengthen the line, and not to bring on an engagement; nor would one have followed, but for the aspirations of an ambitious general, who was charged by his own men with hunting for promotion among the slaughtered and mangled soldiers of his command.

The scene of this merciless butchery is south of the city of Jackson, and between the New Orleans and Jackson Railroad and Pearl River. "At about 9 o'clock in the morning," (I quote from Major Crosley's official report) "the 3d Iowa, 41st and 53d Illinois Infantry, and the 5th Ohio Battery of six guns crossed the New Orleans and Jackson Railroad, at a point about two miles south of Jackson, and one mile from the enemy's works. After crossing, line of battle was formed, skirmishers thrown out, and the line ordered forward. After advancing about one-fourth of a mile, the line was halted; and the battery, placed in position one hundred yards in our rear, opened fire with shell, and continued to fire rapidly for about twenty minutes. The enemy replied promptly with two guns, getting our range the first shot. As soon as the battery ceased firing, the line again moved forward. We advanced half a mile through timber and a dense under-growth, our skirmishers meeting with no opposition, when, coming to the edge of an open field, the line was again halted. Here we were joined by the 28th Illinois, which took position on our right." There the line should have rested; but General Lauman now coming up, ordered it forward.

This was now the position: In front were open, undulating fields, cleared of every thing that could afford protection or cover, even down to corn-stalks; about four hundred yards in advance were the enemy's skirmishers, backed by reserves, and, a little further on, a strong line of works, so constructed as to give the enemy a concentrated fire on a charging column. Behind these works, in addition to two brigades of infantry, were fourteen cannon—more than two full batteries, whose dark mouths spoke almost certain death to assailants. There was in addition, a formidable abattis, constructed with occasional gaps, to pass which, it would be necessary for the charging party to break its line and assemble in groups. This formidable strong-hold was to be carried by less than one thousand men, and that, too, without any diversion in their favor.

The brigade advanced in compliance with orders, until it had reached, forced back and occupied the position of the enemy's skirmishers. The order had been to move forward; but Colonel Pugh, the brigade commander, believing there must be some mistake, again reported to General Lauman — this time in person. He explained to the general the point his command had reached, the position of the enemy, and the character of his works, and then waited for further orders; but they were still the same — to move forward. There could be no mistaking the general's purpose. All, from field-officers to privates, saw the situation; but, although the movement filled them with amazement, there was no faltering. Literally, they were to enter the jaws of death; but they would not sully their good name by disobeying orders.

The order to advance was given, and the whole line moved forward at double-quick and in perfect order, when — but what need of further recital? They were, of course, repulsed. Many, passing the abattis, advanced to within pistol-shot range of the enemy's works; they could go no further, and, after struggling a few moments, retreated precipitately. As soon as the exhausted, bleeding troops reached the edge of the timber, whence they had advanced before encountering the enemy's skirmishers, they rallied promptly, and, soon after, were marched back to the point on the railroad at which they had crossed in the morning. All the dead, and nearly all the wounded, were left upon the field; nor would the enemy allow them to be reached and rescued by flag of truce; and there they lay, mangled and bleeding, beneath the rays of the scorching sun, comrades in agony, as they had long been comrades in battle.

The escape of any from death was almost miraculous; and yet, in the 3d Iowa, the loss was only about fifty per cent. The regiment went into the engagement with an aggregate of two hundred and forty-one officers and men, and lost, in killed, wounded and missing, one hundred and fourteen. Company B lost all three of her officers, killed — the two Ruckmans and Lieutenant Hall. Colonel Brown was severely wounded. The loss of the 53d Illinois was greater than that of any other regiment. Among others, it lost its gallant colonel. He was struck by a charge of canister, and fell from his horse, literally torn in pieces. It is said that General Lauman wept when he looked on the remnant of his old brigade.

After the lamentable affair at Jackson, the 3d Iowa returned with its division to Vicksburg, and sailed thence to Natchez. In the following Winter it again returned to Vicksburg, and accompanied General Sherman on his march to Meridian. The regiment re-enlisted as veterans, and came North in the early spring of 1864. Returning to the front, it was ordered to join General Sherman, already on the march against Atlanta. Before the fall of that city, Colonel Brown, and a majority of the field- and line-officers resigned their commissions. In re-officering the regiment, a lieutenant was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy: it was entitled to no colonel, on account of the fewness of its numbers. On the memorable 22d of July, 1864, before Atlanta, the regiment was again put in the thickest of the fight, and lost heavily. Among the killed was its lieutenant-colonel, who had only the day before received his commission. The regiment was soon after consolidated with the 2d Iowa Infantry, and lost its organization as a regiment.

In closing this sketch of Colonel Brown and his regiment, I will add an extract from a letter of Captain J. H. Reid, of the 15th Iowa:

"Our men, captured on the 22d of July, were taken through Atlanta that day, and their names reported to the provost marshal-general, when they were marched to East Point the same night. In passing through the city, whenever a shell fell in the streets from our batteries, they cheered and sang, 'Rally Round the Flag.' Rebel officers told them to dry up, they were prisoners of war; but they answered, 'We will always cheer a Yankee shell.' A squad of rebel cavalry was passing through the streets with the flag of the 3d Iowa Infantry, captured after the color-sergeant fell, literally pierced through and through with bullets. Some of that regiment among the prisoners saw their old flag in the hands of the enemy. They made a rush for it, wrested it from its captors, and, amid torrents of threats and curses from the guards, tore it into a thousand shreds."

I never saw Colonel Brown; but, from what I can learn of him, he must be a large man, with phlegmatic temperament, and an easy-going disposition. He may not be a brilliant man, but he was certainly a brave and faithful officer.

SOURCE: Stuart, A. A., Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p 97-108