Showing posts with label Battle of Arkansas Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Battle of Arkansas Post. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

John W. Mclaughlin

JOHN W. McLAUGHLIN, farmer and stock-raiser, living on section 30, Decatur Township, was born in Marion County, Ohio, April 24, 1840, he being the youngest in a family of six children.  His father was a native of Virginia, and was married in Ohio to Catherine Dunbar, a native of Pennsylvania.  He died in Delaware County, Ohio, in May, 1852, aged forty-eight years.  When our subject was fourteen years of age, in 1854, the mother came with her family to Decatur County, and made her home in Bloomington Township.  She is still living, her home being near the home of our subject.  John W. McLaughlin remained with his mother till 1862, when, August 15 of that year, he enlisted in Company I, Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry.  His first engagement was at Chickasaw Bluffs, under General Sherman, in December, 1862, after which he was in line at the capture of Arkansas Post, participating in that campaign which culminated in the surrender of Vicksburg.  He then went with his corps, the Thirteenth, to the Louisiana department, and was soon after incapacitated from duty by sickness, spending several weeks in hospital and convalescent camp at Factory Press, New Orleans.  He rejoined his regiment December 25, 1863, at Mattagorda Island, near Galveston, Texas.  During the Red River campaign his corps reinforced General Banks at Alexandria, and in Banks' disastrous retreat served as guard of property and baggage.  During the closing scenes of the war Mr. McLaughlin participated in the capture of Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan, at Mobile, Alabama, and was in line at the storming of Fort Blakely, at Mobile, Alabama.  He served gallantly and faithfully as a soldier till August 15, 1865, when he received an honorable discharge, and is now a member of Decatur Post, No. 410, G. A. R.  Returning to Decatur County he was married October 19, 1865, to Mary E. Woodmansee, of Decatur Township, where her parents, James W. and Rachel Woodmansee, reside.  They have four children living — Ettie G., Ann Laura, James W. and Reuben.  Their third child, John, died aged two years.  In December, 1865, Mr. McLaughlin bought 108 acres of his present farm, in Decatur Township, forty-five acres being broken, on which was erected a comfortable residence.  He soon commenced the improvement of his land, and has since added to it till his farm now contains 215 acres of upland, meadow and timber land, making one of the best stock farms in Decatur Township, his farm being watered by Grand River.  In politics Mr. McLaughlin has been identified with the Greenback party, since its organization.  He cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln.  He is a member of Decatur Lodge, No. 109, A. F. & A.M., and of Decatur Lodge, No. 102, I.O.O.F.

SOURCE: “Biographical and Historical Record of Ringgold and Decatur Counties, Iowa,” p. 554

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: May 11, 1863

Lieut.-Gen. J. T. Jackson died at 3 P.M. yesterday. His remains will arrive in the city at 5 P.M. this afternoon. The flags are at half-mast, and all the government offices and even places of business are closed. A multitude of people, mostly women and children, are standing silently in the streets, awaiting the arrival of the hero, destined never again to defend their homes and honor.

A letter from Gen. Lee says, emphatically, that if cavalry be not brought from North Carolina and the South, the enemy's cavalry will be enabled to make raids almost anywhere without molestation. I recollect distinctly how he urged the Secretary of War (Randolph), months ago, to send to Texas for horses, but it was not attended to — and now we see the consequences.

The exchanged prisoners here, taken at Arkansas Post, are ordered to the Mississippi. Gen. Longstreet urged the Secretary to send them off, if that were their destination, without a moment's delay, several days ago — else they would be too late to participate in the campaign.

Northern papers set down Hooker's loss at 20,000, a modest figure, subject to revision.

The Federal Secretary of War has issued a statement to mollify the panic. He is bound to acknowledge that, whereas Hooker advanced upon Lee across the river, he is now, after the battle, back again, where he started from. But he says not more than a third of the army was engaged; and as 30,000 reinforcements have been sent from Washington, and as many from Suffolk, the army will soon be as strong as ever, and in condition for another advance — and defeat.

But what credit can we attach to such statements, since McClellan, under oath, said that he had ninety odd thousand men at the battle of Sharpsburg, 75,000 of whom only were actually engaged, while Lee had 100,000? We know that he did not have 40,000 engaged!

Gen. Van Dorn is dead—being killed by a man whose peace he had ruined.

More applications for passports to leave the country are coming in — and they are "allowed" by the Assistant Secretary of War. How could he refuse, since his own family (at least a portion of it) have enjoyed the benefits of sojourning in the North since the war began?

A letter was received to day from Mr. Ranney, president of the N. C., Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad Co., asking the protection of government from harm for violations of the Act of Congress of April 19th, 1862, prohibiting the transportation of cotton within the enemy's lines. He incloses a number of peremptory orders from Lieut.-Gen. Pemberton, dated January 19th, February l6th and 19th, to take large amounts of cotton into the enemy's lines for S. J. Josephs (Jew?), and for Messrs. Clarke, Ford, and Hust, etc. etc. He says Gen. P. threatened to seize the road if he did not comply, and asserted that he had authority from the Secretary of War to issue the orders. One of these orders was from Gov. Pettus, for a small lot not more than fifty bales, to be exchanged for salt. This was authorized by the President, who most positively forbid the others. The letter from Gen. Johnston the other day said this traffic was subjugating the people. Was that “allowed” to reach the Secretary and the President? I know not; it has not yet passed through my hands from the President back to the department.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 319-21

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: May 10, 1863

Detachments of Federal troops are now marching into the city every few hours, guarded by (mostly) South Carolinians, dressed in home-spun, died yellow with the bark of the butternut-tree. Yesterday evening, at 7 o'clock, a body of 2000 arrived, being marched in by way of the Brooke Pike, near to my residence. Only 200 Butternuts had them in charge, and a less number would have sufficed, for they were extremely weary. Some of them, however, attempted to be humorous.

A young officer asked one of the spectators if the “Libby” (the prison) was the best house in the city to put up at. He was answered that it was the best he would find.

Another passed some compliment on a mulatto wench, who replied: “Go long, you nasty Abolition Yankee.”

One of our soldiers taken at Arkansas Post, just exchanged, walked along with the column, and kept repeating these words: “Now you know how we felt when you marched us through your cities.”

But generally a deep silence was maintained, and neither insult nor indignity offered the fallen foe. Other columns are on the way —and how they are to be subsisted is a vexatious question.
The Washington papers of the day preceding the first battle contain Hooker's address to his army — how different from Lee's! It is short, though:

headquarters Army Of The Potomac,
“Camp near Falmouth, April 30th.

“general Orders No. 47.

It is with heartfelt satisfaction that the Commanding General announces to the army that the operations of the last three days have determined that our enemy must either ingloriously fly or come out from behind his defenses and give us battle on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits him. The operations of the 15th, 11th, and 12th corps have been a succession of splendid achievements.

“By command of Maj.-gen. Hooker.
S. Williams, Ass't. Adjt.-Gen.

Another column of between twelve and fifteen hundred prisoners marched in this afternoon. It is said a copy of the New York Herald is in town, which acknowledges Hooker's loss to be fully 40,000. There are rumors, also, that our army in Tennessee has gained a great victory. Rumors from the West have hitherto been so very unreliable, that I shall wait patiently for the confirmation of any reports from that quarter.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 318-9

Monday, June 5, 2017

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: May 1, 1863

Gov. Vance writes that Gen. Hill desires him to call out the militia, believing the enemy, balked in the attempt on Charleston, will concentrate their forces against North Carolina. But the Governor is reluctant to call the non-conscripts from the plow in the planting season. He thinks the defense of North Carolina has not been adequately provided for by the government, and that his State has been neglected for the benefit of others. He asks heavy guns; and says half the armament hurled against Charleston would suffice for the capture of Wilmington.

A protest, signed by the thousands of men taken at Arkansas Post, now exchanged, against being kept on this side of the Mississippi, has been received. The protest was also signed by the members of Congress from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri.

Capt. Causey, of the Signal Corps, writes that there are only a few battalions of the enemy on the Peninsula; but that rations for 40,000 men are sent to Suffolk.

Gen. Lee announces the crossing of the Rappahannock at Port Royal (which the Yankees pillaged) and at places above Fredericksburg. Gen. Stuart is hovering on their flank. A great battle may happen any moment.

L. E. Harvey, president of Richmond and Danville Railroad, asks for details to repair locomotives, else daily trains (freight) must be reduced to tri-weekly trains—and then the army cannot be sustained in Virginia.

Hon. Mr. Garnett asked (and obtained) permission for a Mr. Hurst (Jew ?) to pass onr lines, and bring Northern merchandise to Richmond for sale. He vouches for his loyalty to Virginia. Congress has before it a bill rendering this traffic criminal.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 303-4

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: January 27, 1863

It is too true that several thousand of our men were captured at Arkansas Post, and that Little Rock is now in danger.

There seems to be no probability, after all, of an immediate advance of the enemy across the Rappahannock.

But there are eight iron-clad gun-boats and ninety sail at Beaufort, North Carolina, and, it is reported, 52,000 men. Wilmington will probably be assailed.

Mr. Foote said, yesterday, if Indiana and Illinois would recede from the war, he should be in favor of aiding them with an army against Lincoln. And all the indications from the North seem to exhibit a strong sentiment among the people favoring peace. But the people are not the government, and they sink peace and reconstruction together.

Yesterday Mr. Crockett, of Kentucky, said, in the House of Representatives, that there was a party in favor of forming a Central Confederacy (of free and slave States) between the Northern and Southern extremes. Impracticable.

To-day we have news of the bombardment of Fort McAlister, near Savannah. No result known. Now we shall have tidings every few days of naval operations. Can Savannah, and Charleston, and Wilmington be successfully defended? They may, if they will emulate the example of Vicksburg. If they fall, it will stagger this government — before the peace party in the North can operate on the Government of the United States. But it would not “crush the rebellion.”

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 247-8

Friday, December 23, 2016

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, January 19, 1863

Sent a letter to the two naval committees on the subject of filling vacancies in the Naval School. Members of Congress are disposed to evade all responsibility, and yet to carp at and criticize those of us who under imperious public necessity are compelled to act. The school should be full now if ever. I propose to fill it. The Members individually with few exceptions urge it. I ask them to give me at least the expression of their official, Senatorial opinion, but they shrink.

Received a telegraphic dispatch from Admiral Porter via Cairo of the capture of Dunnington and force at Arkansas Post. It is dated the 11th of January, — a long and protracted transit.

Baldwin of the Vanderbilt came up to-day from Hampton Roads, where he arrived yesterday from an unsuccessful cruise for the Alabama, his vessel having been detained by Wilkes, which defeated the Department's plan.

There are rumors of the movement of the army at Falmouth. Incipient steps have doubtless been taken, but the storm has retarded operations.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 224-5

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Colonel George A. Stone to Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood, March 14, 1863

Young's Point, La., March 14, 1863.

My Dear Sir: — Your favor of the 25th ult., is received. I had heard of the Adjutant's death several days before your letter came to hand. The news of his death cast a gloom over the entire regiment, men as well as officers, and little groups gathered in almost every street of our camp giving and receiving the sad intelligence.

It is not flattery or idle words to say that the loss of no officer would have been more deplored than his. You say truly “he was an honorable, noble boy,” and had, by strict attention to his duties, by the energetic manner of always doing his duty, by his kindness to all and by his cool, gallant conduct at the hill of Vicksburg and Post Arkansas, endeared himself to all of us. None speak of him but to praise, and I do not think he had an enemy in the whole regiment. – I cannot express in words to you, my dear sir, how I mourn him, and have only heart to say that up to this period of my life I have had but two among all my companions whom I really loved – Frank Mann and S. Kirkwood Clark – one was shot down by my side at Wilson's Creek and the other I lost at Post Arkansas.

I envy each his death. God grant when in His good providence I am to die, I may meet a soldier's death and die, like Frank and the Adjutant, charging a Rebel battery.

I am, sir, Very truly yours,
GEO. A. STONE.
Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa City.

SOURCE: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 286

Friday, July 18, 2014

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, August 26, 1863

Headquarters Dept. Of The Tennessee,
Vicksburg, Aug. 26, 1863.
My Dear Mother:

I attempted some description of these people in their homes and their luxurious mode of life. I mean the opulent of the South, generally, without reference to individuals; and in return it strikes me, you give a little bit of a rub, evidently fearing that I should be seduced from my Spartan training, while treading their flowery paths of dalliance. You need not be alarmed. I have come back to my narrow cot and canvas roof without one pang of regret. I enjoy luxury for the brief season it is accorded me, but I know it only tends to enervate. On many accounts, I like the South, but its influences are baneful, its atmosphere, physical and moral, poisonous, except to those who have been purged and purified by misfortune and the stern necessity for exertion; whose constitutions of iron have been hammered into steel. I remember the rockbound shores of New England perfectly. The icy crags over which, with iron spikes to my shoes, I have toiled and clambered on my way to and from school in midwinter. Do you quite remember, I was but six years old when I made those journeys of two miles to Master Manley's from the “Sanderson Beach,” as I used to call them; that was before Walter was born.

I have been brought to a most abrupt stop in my proceedings and hardly know how to resume my thread. You must pardon my discursive epistles. I have this moment been handed your favor of 14th inst. Mrs. Sherman is on a visit to her husband. I went out there a day or two ago to make a call upon her. She spoke of you all with much interest, and regretted her previous inability to visit you; hoped to be able to do so upon her return. She is a very charming person.

There are two brilliant examples now before the nation standing out in bold relief, in fact before the whole civilized world; their history is good for little boys to know. Let my sons ponder upon it. One is General Grant and the other General Banks. Both were born of very poor parents, both had to labor hard for a livelihood in the country in their boyhood. General Grant's father lived in Brown County, Ohio, near Georgetown. The first money he ever earned or that was paid to him, was for a load of rags, that with great enterprise he gathered together in and about the town, drove to Cincinnati, a distance of forty miles, in a two-horse wagon, by himself, sold for fifteen dollars, and returned triumphant. He had his money in silver and he was the richest boy in all that section of country. This was before he was twelve years old, and as the enterprise originated with himself, and was carried out successfully, notwithstanding the difficulties of bad roads, the winter season, his diminutive stature, it perhaps gave as good evidence of great generalship as anything he has done since. He went to West Point from the village school and graduated as the best rider of the academy — the best, because the boldest. After he had been brevetted three times for his gallantry in Mexico, he had to resign a captaincy because he was too poor to support his family; went to farming near St. Louis, and there was not ashamed to drive his own team loaded with wood to the city. He came into the service again as captain of Volunteers. He has told me himself of these things, and that his best training was before he went to the military academy. I do not want my boys to be afraid to work. I want them to ride and shoot and fish and to know how to do it all well, and above all not to be afraid of anything or anybody but God, or afraid to do anything but tell a lie, and no matter what they do, they must not be afraid to tell of it. They must never take an insult from any boy or man. If a girl or woman insult them laugh at or kiss her. Never quarrel; if there has to be a word or a blow, let the blow come first. But I was going to write a word about General Banks. His father was a woodsawyer;  . . . his boyhood was of toil, privation, and mortification, yet to-day he is one of the most courteous, gentle, kindly men in all the world. He has done for himself what no teachers could have done for him, however high their salary or brilliant their reputation. These are dazzling instances, but they are exponents of a fact. This war has brought out a latent talent, a hidden strength of character in the individual, that astounds the world, but we almost invariably find it exhibited among those who in their early years have been compelled to depend upon themselves for thought and action.

In my last to my wife, I said I should write next from Cairo or Memphis, but no sooner had I despatched that letter than I received intelligence which caused a change in my movements. I shall remain here till General Grant returns. The weather has been very pleasant for some time past, nights cool enough for two blankets. I am sitting now in a very wet tent, with my feet propped up to keep them out of the water; it is raining very hard and is quite cold. I am most agreeably disappointed in the summers of the South; take them, if the two seasons I have experienced are a test, from end to end, they are more pleasant than our own.

I received three or four days ago, a notice from the Secretary of War that the President has appointed me brigadier-general, my rank to date from the 11th Aug. “for gallant conduct and service in the field.” This I suppose applied to my assaults of the 19th and 22d May, upon the enemy's fortifications at Vicksburg. “Shiloh” and Russell's House, Corinth, Chickasas Bayou, Arkansas Post, all I suppose went for naught, or what is more probable, the President never saw my papers. I don't know how he could get over the petition of my command endorsed by my commanding generals. The assault of the 19th was the most murderous affair I was ever in, but I have led troops in battles that lasted much longer and where I have lost more men, and in which I have been as much exposed.

I have had congratulations and serenades and all that sort of thing galore, for, as is not unusual, I have found in my case that a prophet has honor save in his own country. I have some friends and pretty warm ones in the army. My old command is encamped about eighteen miles from here near Black River, and General Sherman is not far away from them. He got news of my appointment by telegraph and rode over to tell them the news, whereat there was a perfect yell. The old fellow was about as glad as the boys from all I hear, and together they had a love feast. I suppose you have heard of the appointment through the papers, though of course it is under a misnomer, and it will be old news to you.

General Grant has been away the last ten days and there is hardly anybody at headquarters but myself. I am looking for him every day, and upon his return shall be somewhat relieved.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 330-3

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Barnett Smith, April 9, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Div.,
Fifteenth Army Corps,
“Young's Point,” La., April 9, 1863.
My Dear Bessie:

How is the little baby brother? I think of him a good deal, and how anxious you all must have been for his recovery. I have had something to worry me here too in my other great family. I have a good many children to look after here, and many of them get sick and some of them die. Perhaps mother will recollect a letter she received from my aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Seeds, a letter, I think, she did not answer, but which was written just after the battle of Chickasas Bluffs to apprise her of my safety. The writer was a brave, gallant young man of singular beauty and fine address, a graduate of Delaware College, who had enlisted in my old Zouave regiment as a private and from principle, for his father was rich. A long time I sought promotion for him, and at last succeeded, and when I had obtained his commission, I placed him on my staff to have him near my person. He rode well and boldly, with a firm seat and a light hand and in both battles staid by my side, never leaving me but to take an order. At Arkansas Post he was so dashing and conspicuous as to bring cheers from both armies. Well, when we debarked at “Young's Point” I was harassed with much responsibility, and far in front had to fight the enemy, and the elements, and the great Mississippi River, and for two days and two nights hardly dismounted save to change horses. I forgot or was careless to think that my aides were not iron, or steel, or capable of my own endurance, and instead of changing them as I changed my horses, let them stay with me, and the third day they sickened, and poor Frank never got well. He pined and weakened day by day — wouldn't give up, game to the very last — and I nursed him as best I could in his tent, but it was very cold and wet, raining almost every day. His disease was typhoid, not much pain, but wasting fever, and the poor fellow would come out with his overcoat and sit shivering by the camp fire between the showers; couldn't drink whiskey, or smoke tobacco, our only luxuries; couldn't eat, and would lie awake all night, and listen to the shells hissing over us (for we were close to the canal and within range of it, and in those early days of the siege they harassed us) and look up at me with his great eyes glistening with fever. I had no comfort for him, only a word of cheer, but I didn't think he would die, and so at last when we thought he was a little better, and he had been sick four long weeks, I had him carried down to the boat on a stretcher, placed on what they call a hospital boat — that is, a steamer with the whole cabin fixtures taken out, no state rooms, but in their place, long lines of cots, and some boats carry a thousand. There I disposed him as comfortably as I could and took leave, he weeping, for he was tenderly attached to me, and I gave him letters to you all, told him to go to the house and you would nurse him and when he got well to come back, and we would ride together again in battle, saw that he had some money and left him, and to-day they write me he is dead. He only got as far as Memphis; relapse, hospital, and — “he has fought his last battle.”  Only twenty-five, tall, finely formed, beautiful bright chestnut hair, red chestnut, frank open countenance, the soul of honor; and so they drop away from me, and all my best men, all I love most, are shot down or die.

Did I write you about the flowers and the birds, the sweetest, most eloquent birds you ever heard, and the prince of all of them, the mocking bird, sings all the day and of a verity all the night long. You couldn't hear the mocking bird in perfection anywhere but here, and wild; I ought not to say wild, either, for the pert, game little rascal is as tame as a chicken; he’ll just hop out of your way, and that's all — but what a flood of song he pours forth! There's one fellow who has built his nest not far off upon the topmost limb of a fig tree, a little way from my tent, and there he has whistled since before reveille this morning everything that any bird ever whistled before him, making the welkin ring with his melody. He has to help the thrush and the red bird and the black bird and the rice bird; but altogether. They have a royal time of it while the figs are ripening and the roses bloom; the delicate sweet roses, we used to cultivate with so much care, pout their lips and ask for kisses in March, and keep on blooming on great bushes till December. All the monthlies, the Giant, Marie Antoinette, Souvenirs, beautiful white roses, such as you rarely see, and all, almost without cultivation, perfume the air, with woodbine and every variety of honeysuckle all out now. The weather is perfectly delicious, neither too warm nor too cold, just right for a blanket or two at night, a dashing gallop in the morning, a cool walk on the parade at eventide; moonlight such as you never dreamed of, and oh, such sunsets! I used to think they could get up a pretty fair performance of this kind at Mac-o-cheek, when I was young and romantic, and before you were thought of, but a sunset on the Mississippi is beyond compare; and to stand by the broad river side at night, when its surface is glassy and still, and by the clear moonlight see the reflection in the water, is worth several days' journey. This sunny South is very sweet; its clime almost genial. No one can wonder they love it, and my theory of the war now is just to go on and take it. I approve of colonizing as we go, open the crevasse and let the Northern hordes flood through, and like the waters of the great river spread over the plain not to return again to the parent rills, but to fertilize and fructify the earth.

I have been quiescent and still for eight or ten days, a good while for me, and am disciplining and drilling my soldiers in a beautiful and most convenient camp. Upon so spacious a plain I can pitch the tents of my whole brigade in the rear of a continuous color line, when all the regiments are out on dress parade. I assure you it is a pleasant sight these pleasant evenings. In the intervals of drill, the men play ball, the whole plain is carefully polished and smooth as a floor. How long we shall enjoy our pleasant rest nobody knows. I suppose we must look out for the gallinippers next month. We had already one or two little tastes of their quality.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 285-8

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, April 3, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Div.,
Fifteenth Army Corps,
Camp Before Vicksburg, April 3, 1863.
My Dear Mother:

We are fully aware of the feelings toward Sherman. We know the antagonism against the Army of the Southwest. We know the efforts of traitors at home, and those who are not called traitors but who nevertheless would rejoice at the failure of his army to open the Mississippi, jealousy is rampant; war, more terrible civil war than we have yet known, will desolate the North as well as the South. My friends at home will remember my prophecies two years and one year ago. The rebellion, revolution, call it what you will, is not understood.

David Stuart has been rejected by the Senate. He is now neither general nor colonel, and is only waiting from day to day an order to relieve him from his command. Of course it will affect me and at once. He was my immediate ranking commander, and his place will be filled, I suppose, by Frank Blair. I shall not be immediately affected in my command — that is, I shall retain my brigade — but aside from this I am seriously and personally grieved. General Stuart has been my near, dear, and most intimate friend; his place as such to me in the army can never be filled. Of splendid genius, most liberal education, wonderful accomplishments, as scholar, orator, lawyer, statesman, and now soldier. With the courage and chivalry of a knight of old, and the sweetness and fascination of a woman, he won me to his heart, and no outrage . . . has affected me more than his rejection. I have no patience to write about it or think about it. The blow was unexpected by all of us. Generals Grant and Sherman, Stuart and I never thought of such a thing — could not guard against it. When I first reported at Paducah with my regiment to General Sherman, at my own request, for I had known him in Washington, I was brigaded with him. We went directly into service and together. We fought side by side at the battle of Shiloh, till he was wounded, when I assumed his command. We made all the advances to Corinth together and rode side by side in the long marches through Tennessee. We fought at Chickasas Bayou and at Arkansas Post, and advanced together at “Young's Point.” Many and many a long night's watch I made with him, many a bivouac in the open air through night and storm and darkness, always sharing our canteens and haversacks. Had I been killed he would have perilled life to save my body. Was my honor assailed, he the first to defend it; little I could ask of him he would not grant, and when I say to you that he was really the only real, true, thoroughly appreciative friend I have in the army who I care much about, you may imagine how irreparable is my loss. His character is not well understood in the community, because an unfortunate notoriety attached to him in the . . . case.

His own sufferings therein turned him prematurely gray in a very few months. His father was a partner of John Jacob Astor in the celebrated American Fur Company, and made for Astor ten millions of dollars. He was educated at Andover and in Boston, and was the protégé of Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis. He was brought into life very early, and married into the Brevoort family in New York, but being a great favorite of General Cass, was brought into politics in Michigan. At a very early age he was Prosecuting Attorney of Detroit, and immediately afterwards represented the Detroit district in Congress; there I made his acquaintance. He abandoned political life to take the solicitorship of the great Illinois Central Railroad, which gave him the control of the railway influence of the entire State and Northwest; and he abandoned stipulated salaries of eighteen thousand dollars per annum to enter the service, having expended upwards of twenty thousand dollars to put two regiments into the field. He has travelled largely in Europe and in Canada; his family are in the army and navy, he is exceedingly familiar with military life and has a most decided taste for it. His record is clean and bright, one to be proud of; he exerts a wider and better influence than any other man in this army, and why he should have been thrown over is a mystery.

The roses are blooming here and the figs are as large as marbles, the foliage is coming out green and the mocking birds hold high carnival. This is a famous country for flowers and singing birds. My horses are all well. If there was any safe opportunity, and I thought you could manage them, I would send two or three home; they are very high-strung and want a master's hand. Bugles and bayonets don't tend to depress the spirits of a good horse, and mine are the best in the army.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 283-5

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, February 22, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Division,
Fifteenth A. C, Young's Point, La.,
Opposite Vicksburg, Feb. 22, 1863.
My Dear Mother:

I send other papers, to show the condition and feeling of our army here towards General Sherman. The public have been systematically, basely, infamously imposed upon by the journals or their paid hirelings. God knows we have enough to endure from the apathy and indifference of friends at home to say nothing of traitors and open treason. You say “it may have been wise, but not well in General Sherman to muzzle the press.” You do not, cannot know all. General Sherman has had neither the power nor the will, to muzzle the press, but he has endeavored, and I am sorry to say, most unsuccessfully, to drive from among the camp followers of the army, the scoundrels, who by tergiversation, misrepresentations, and actual falsehood impose alike upon the credulity of the people and those who are honest among the conductors of the press. General Sherman has been actuated by the purest patriotism, and would not lend himself to the contemptible chicane and meanness by which certain individuals have been puffed up or written down. Therefore these villains have conspired and confederated together to slander him and villify his command.  One, . . . the correspondent of the New York . . . who wrote one of the most shamefully false articles of all that appeared (and all were false), describing the affair at Chickasas Bluffs, admitted to General Sherman, in my presence and in answer to my questions, that because General S. was known to be opposed to the presence of professional newspaper correspondents in the army, therefore he had determined to league with others of the fraternity who were here and revenge themselves by writing him down. That neither he nor they knew anything about him, but they had determined among themselves to renew the old slander of his insanity, because they supposed that would be most injurious to him. He also admitted that his letters were false, and based upon false information. This he did in writing, and was subsequently tried by court martial, his confreres, meanwhile, making their escape. His letter to the . . . was copied into the Vicksburg papers, and the enemy actually had the reading of it before we did, and became possessed of most valuable information to them. They had never regarded our falling back from the bluffs as a retreat, but supposed the withdrawal was stratagem on the part of Sherman, and cautioned their generals against the result. Immense plans were disarranged, and in consequence of their publications much public treasure has been wasted and many lives lost. We know that very many of these newspaper correspondents are paid spies. We know that many of them are in certain interests, some in that of cotton speculators, some in that of gold brokers, some paid by combinations of bankers, who all use the intelligence they give the people for the furtherance of specific views. Hence you perceive the mischievous tendency of the productions of these canaille against the public weal, as well as the government, but aside from this a far more terrible effect is produced in the demoralization of the army and the shaking of the confidence of the soldiers in their leaders. The withdrawal of the army from Chickasas was regarded as one of the most brilliant military achievements of the war, by the army. Officers were enthusiastic and it was regarded as equal to a victory in its effects upon the minds of the men. That the army was . . . in splendid condition for battle was evidenced by their conduct at Post Arkansas, immediately thereafter. Yet no sooner were the newspapers received than their spirits were dampened and their ardor cooled by the first intelligence they had received, that they had been defeated and that their favorite general was in disgrace (for they may say what they please in Ohio, General Sherman is the favorite of this army and to-day is the hero of the West in fact, whether he has the reputation or not). Very well! from whom does the information come to depress the feelings and outrage the sensibilities of the army? — not from the public at home, but through the public journals, who, to use the mildest terms, have been imposed upon by at most five or six individuals, each one of whom is infamous in character, and because of his infamy, is fit for his nefarious trade. They find themselves cramped, and with a fiendish malignity, gratify their private revenge at the expense of a nation. To pull down Sherman they would sacrifice his army, to sacrifice that, they would betray the commonwealth. . . . Some of the journalists have a character to sustain, these have none, and it is these that should be scourged like hounds from every corps, division, and regiment of our army, whenever or whatever its service. We endorse General Sherman fully in this matter, and I refer you to the enclosed document marked “A,” a copy of the original which was signed by all the officers of the “Old Division” with enthusiastic alacrity. The public are entitled to and should have early information of the movements of our armies, when such information may be transmitted without notice to the enemy, but all such information should be under supervision and censorship, for the most obvious reason, and no personal allusion to the character or behavior of any officer or soldier should be permitted; what that leads to the most obtuse can see. . . . For my record I point with what I believe is an honest pride to the official reports of my commanding generals, now part of the archives of the nation, and I would not exchange the autograph letters of General Sherman which I now enclose to you, for all or any of the newspaper fame that I have seen bestowed on any man.

If I succeed in securing my promotion through legislative channels, it is well; I think I deserve it. I think it not only due to me from my country, but that it will enable me to render her more effectual service. I do not ask it as a favor — I demand it as a right; and I am admonished that without the demand the right will not be accorded. Therefore, and properly, the action of my personal and political friends to bring me properly to the attention of the appointing power, to urge upon the Senate the propriety of remembering those who are placing their lives in peril to save the Republic, to remind the President of the propriety of selecting for his generals those who are most competent to lead his armies in the field. Whether I receive my promotion or not you and my friends will have been made to know that my immediate commanding generals think I deserve it, and that I have the confidence of my brother officers with whom I have served so long and so arduous a campaign.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 271-4

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, June 4, 2014

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, January 14, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade,
Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps,
January 14, 1863.

My Dear Wife:

You have heard of our last battle, and this will give you the assurance of my safety. My brigade behaved splendidly. I had ninety-three officers and men killed and wounded; among them, Captain Yeoman, senior captain and in command of my old 54th, had his right arm shattered, since amputated. The 54th has lost pretty heavily in both the last engagements. She's a gallant little regiment, the men true as steel. Indeed, my command is most emphatically a fighting brigade. The day was beautiful after we had got fairly on the ground, and the spectacle was splendidly imposing as my forces made the charge. You must understand, that this post, heretofore called “Post Arkansas,” but christened by the rebels “Fort Hyndman,” is situated upon the Arkansas River about sixty miles above the mouth. The country about where the Arkansas empties into the Mississippi is flat and intersected with bayous and cutoffs; one of these leads into White River, and our fleet having rendezvoused at the mouth of White River, we sailed up that stream to one of these cutoffs, and through that to the Arkansas and up the Arkansas to a point three miles below the fort. Here we threw troops across the river to intercept reinforcements to the enemy, but the main army debarked on the side on which the fort is situated, and immediately commenced the line of march; directly as we were en route, the enemy began to throw their shell among us, which were returned by our gunboats, while the infantry steadily pursued their way. About a mile from the point of debarkation, we came upon their rifle-pits from which they had recently fled, and where we found their fires still burning and cornbread still warm. The term rifle-pit means a long ditch or trench, sometimes extending for many miles, with a barricade of logs or rails or sometimes willows or canes, to hold the earth in position, which ought to be in embankment at least four feet broad at the top. Behind this embankment, troops stand sheltered and in line firing at advancing forces. I make this explanation because many suppose rifle-pits to be holes in the ground.

Well as we advanced, the enemy abandoned their defences and after some slight skirmishing, retreated to the fort, from which was now commenced terrific cannonading. A little before sundown, other troops having marched around to the other side, and rear of the fort, it became my duty to advance my brigade to a point immediately in front of one of their batteries, and having put the troops in line of battle, I was ordered to advance them and draw the enemy's fire; this I did with such effect as to cost me fourteen men, among whom was Captain Yeoman. Under their fire we lay until nightfall, and indeed all night. The next morning, at the break of day, we were ordered to the right and to a point nearly in front of their main fortifications, and here we lay again, under shell, until one o'clock, when I was ordered to storm the works; I wish I could fully explain to you the position of the ground, and must make some faint attempt at it, so you can appreciate the movements of my troops. The original fort is an hundred years old, and was erected as a defence against the Indians; considered one of the strongest forts in the U. S. Being upon a bluff it was supposed to command the bend of the river with three immense cannon, throwing respectively 110-, 100-, and 85-pound shot and shell; besides these, were fifteen pivot guns, having range at any given point. These are in the fort itself, a most scientifically constructed work, capable of holding, crowded, fifteen hundred men. From one side of this fort, and running westwardly, was a line of breastwork extending to the river-side somewhat thus:



Now you will imagine my forces lying in the woods to the eastward, say half a mile, at the time of my receiving the order to storm, and you will imagine all of this ground north of the fort and breastworks, a beautiful level plain, a little ascending to the fort and spacious enough to admit of three regiments in line, and the day to be as bright and beautiful as ever gladdened the heart of man, and then imagine, if you can, my brigade deploying from the woods just in the rear of General Sherman, and firing exactly as you see in the diagram, with ten brave banners fluttering in the breeze and gilded by the sun. Recollect, each regiment has a banner and a regimental flag, such a banner as you saw for the 54th, and the U. S. flag, the stars and stripes. As a military display, I never saw it equalled. The troops were formed under a perfect hurricane of shot and shell, the breastworks and rifle-pits were lined thick with the enemy. We formed, advanced, and the official reports will give you the rest. Their white flag went up, and I leaped, or got my horse over somehow or other. I don't know exactly how, for it was a wicked-looking place when I surveyed it the next morning, and by order of the commanding general caused four thousand men, prisoners of war, to ground arms by my order. I marshalled them behind the breastworks, while my troops stood on the ramparts. The enemy fought most gallantly, with a most unparalleled obstinacy. The ground inside the fortif1cations was piled with corpses and strewn thick with mangled limbs. The fort was torn all to pieces. The muzzle of the 110-pound gun was shot off. A shell of ours must have entered the very muzzle. These descriptions you will get from the professional writers, and in this instance all their word painting will hardly be an exaggeration of the truth.

I have reason to thank God; for a little while this, to me, was the hardest-fought battle I have been in, and the whistle of bullets and shrieking of shells are sounds familiar in my ears as household words. This, however, is my first real action at the point of the bayonet and the muzzle of the gun. The feeling is very thrilling; nobody but the victor on the battlefield can appreciate the very madness of joy. I made speeches to my new regiments; the enthusiasm was tremendous. My old veterans are seasoned and take things quietly, but my 83d Indiana and 127th Illinois were carried up to the seventh heaven.

I suppose it is small and mean, but there is a flattery, an adulation, a praise coming from the mouths of these soldiers that is very dear to me, and not from them alone. I must confess I want it from my country.

“If we are marked to die, we are enough
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men the greater share of honor.
God’s will! I pray thee wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It grieves me not if men my garments wear.
Such outward things dwell not in my desires;
But if it be a sin to covet honor,
I am the most offending soul alive.”

I must hope for justice to my name, for my dear children's sake. If it is tardy in coming, or wholly withheld, I still have a satisfaction in the possession of the affection of these troops. Ohio in all her counties is well represented. Illinois and Indiana fairly. Many a family throughout a vast breadth will learn who led their brother, or husband, or son, at Chickasas [sic], and Vicksburg, or Post Arkansas.

The conduct of my command was under the immediate eye of the generals. My own official report is therefore very brief. I would amplify more to you now if I did not suppose I should be duplicating what you will probably have read in the newspapers, before this letter comes to hand.
The incidents of our life, thrilling enough in the start, soon become an old story; at least, we think nothing of them and suppose they have lost interest to our friends. I might tell how, leaving the boat in the expectation of an immediate fight, and, therefore, taking nothing with me in the way of nourishment or extra clothing, I stood by the head of, or sat on, my horse all the night long, the first night out, the shells coursing their fiery flight through the darkness and bursting over my head; how eagerly I watched for the streaks of dawn ; how all the day I fainted for a drop of water ; how the wounded and the dead lay all around me; of the captures I made in the way of prisoners and horses (individually, I mean), of the ludicrous scenes in the field — for strange as it may seem to you, there is always something to laugh at even on the battlefield — but this has been told over and over again; I cannot paint pain and anguish, and disappointment and dismay and death. They must be seen as I have seen them to be understood; they can never be described.

We occupied the fort for two days and then re-embarked, and, after a little, shall sail down the Arkansas to the mouth, where we expect to rendezvous with other troops from Grant's army. From thence, I suppose, to Vicksburg, to try them again with a much larger force. There’ll be many a bloody fight before Vicksburg surrenders, in my judgment; her natural position is immensely strong, and she is thoroughly fortified, well provisioned, and well manned. We have vague news from Rosecrans; nothing, however, reliable; if one half of what we hear be true, and his success as great as represented, that, joined to our late victory here, may have a demoralizing effect upon the Southern army, and cause them to capitulate at Vicksburg. Many of the soldiers we found here claimed that their time was up, and that they would have left in a few days. However that may be, one thing is certain, they will dispute every inch of ground as long as there is a man among them capable of bearing arms. It’s no rebellion, it’s revolution, and a more united people you never heard of or read of. Recollect what I used to say before the first gun in this war was fired, and for many months afterwards, how I used to talk to my friends, when they would prate about the South and its resources — a matter of which they had not the slightest conception. I propose to fight the fight out, at least as long as I have a right hand to draw the sabre.

I notice in reading my letter over, that I have not explained there were two sets of works or rifle-pits, the first about a mile and a half beyond the line of fortifications. I mean the outside lines, and the first we encountered. They were on the north and east.

The four thousand prisoners surrendered to me, of whom I speak, were only a portion of those within the fortifications; the residue being inside the fort and at other points. We took seven thousand prisoners and eight thousand stand of arms.

I speak of the representation in my brigade. I suppose there is scarcely a county in Ohio from which some men have not been recruited for the old 54th; the 57th is made up from the Hooppole region and the northwest. The 55th and 127th Illinois were both picked regiments, and came from all over the State. The 83d Indiana was recruited near Lawrenceburg and the tier of counties bordering Ohio. So you see I have gone over good space for infantry. My batteries are from Chicago and my cavalry from Illinois.

My boat is under way; she, of course, is the flagship of my fleet of six. It used to be quite a thing when I was a boy to command a steamboat. I have the sublime honor of commanding six, some of them very heavy, fine boats. Just before leaving, I went to pay my wounded a visit. Poor fellows, I found them in all stages of suffering, but all cheery, game to the last. My poor Captain Yeoman sat holding up his poor stump of an arm. I could hardly keep the tears back. The boat was crowded and they were bringing stretchers in all the time I was there. I hope the poor fellows will get good attention when they arrive at home. The Sanitary Commissioners have done nothing for us. The living for the wounded and the weak is the hardest that can be imagined — no wine, no brandy, no nourishing food. The fresh beef from starved sick cattle that have been brought upon the steamboat, the bacon, potatoes, bad; nothing fit to eat but beans, and I’ve lived on beans till I loathe the sight of them. What our poor wounded are to do, God only knows. I gave them all the money I had, and all I could borrow, but a good many of them will see hell before they die.

As I write, the weather, which was beautiful and warm, changes to rain and then cold, and now as we sail down the river, we are in a violent snowstorm. The river is wide, and winding, and beautiful, lined with the canebrake and cotton tree and now and then a fine plantation. The water is not fit to drink, being impregnated with soda and salts, that causes it to operate badly. Population is sparse upon its banks so far as we have gone.

I received two copies of your little poem, and wish you would send me some more. It was very much admired. I showed it to Stuart one day in the field before Vicksburg. We were waiting breakfast early in the morning. He insisted on reading it through, and cried like a baby as he read it. You must send me some more copies.

We are nearing the mouth of the river and soon shall be again on the broad Mississippi.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 258-64

Monday, October 14, 2013

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, February 22, 1863

CAMP NEAR VlCKSBURG,
February 22, 1863.

. . . As to my exposing myself unnecessarily, you need not be concerned. I know better than where danger lies and where I should be. Soldiers have a right to see and know that the man who guides them is near enough to see with his own eyes, and that he cannot see without being seen. At Arkansas Post the ground was nearly level and the enemy could see me, with officers coming and going and orderlies grouped near. Of course they fired at me, one rifled 10 pounder repeatedly, and when I was grouping the prisoners I recognized the very gun and asked for the gunner, who proved to be a real Paddy, and I gave him fits for aiming at me, which the fellow did not deny; but we gave them a fair return and the account was squared. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 239.  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 2/01.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, February 12, 1863

CAMP BEFORE VICKSBURG, Feb. 12, 1863.

Dear Brother:

I have hitherto sent you original papers or copies to satisfy any one of the falsehood of the attacks against me in the late Vicksburg matter. I had a newspaper reporter arrested and tried by a court-martial, but by the rulings of the court I infer they are of opinion that to make the accused come within the order of the War Department the fact should be proven that the very substance of the objectionable matter went to the enemy. I have been unable to find the identical matter, but in every Southern paper I get I find abundance of evidence to show that Northern papers furnish the Southern leaders abundant and timely notice of every movement. I send you two to show this fact. In the Vicksburg “Whig” (?), at the bottom of the last column of the first page you will see that it states positively that a correspondent of one of the Northern journals wrote in advance of the federal plans in the late move on Vicksburg. Had they received three days notice of our coming to the Post of Arkansas, they could have so reinforced that it would have cost us a siege. But then we were beyond the power of the press and succeeded. And so it must ever be. These newspaper correspondents hanging about the skirts of our army reveal all plans, and are worth a hundred thousand men to the enemy. . . .

I have no faith in the canal here, save we may enlarge it to pass supplies for gunboats below, which will enable the latter to keep supplies from Vicksburg, via the river, but we in no wise threatened Vicksburg, for the bluffs extended many miles below the outlet of the canal. The river is bank full and threatens to overflow our camps — but I have more faith in the efforts above at Yazoo Pass and Lake Providence. The former may admit us to the Yazoo from above and the latter may open a channel down the Tensas to Red, or by Atchafalaya below Port Hudson. If Banks had orders to meet me at Vicksburg on Christmas he has been slow of execution, for I cannot hear that he has even felt of Port Hudson. At all events we have not heard from him save via New York. Grant is now up at Lake Providence, McClernand and my corps are here in sight of Vicksburg, but the great Mississippi flows between us.

Affectionately your brother,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 190-1

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, January 25, 1863

CAMP NEAR VICKSBURG, Jan. 25, 1863.

Dear Brother:

I received yours of Jan. 2, to-day, and being in camp with some leisure hasten to answer. I shall be glad to meet Gen. Banks on many accounts, because of his known intelligence and high character and because we have been long expecting him. I was hurried down the river with positive orders to get away from Memphis December 18, to co-operate with Grant to come down by land and Banks to ascend the river. I was on time and made every effort to carry Vicksburg, but unsuccessfully. Hearing nothing from Banks or Grant, and being superseded by McClernand, I proposed that we should go to the Arkansas and attack the Post from which the enemy threatened our rear and line of communications. We succeeded perfectly there, and General Grant came down and met us at Napoleon and hurried us back to Vicksburg, on the theory that Banks might be here, disappointed at our non-appearance.

So here we are again, but not a word of Banks. This time instead of landing up the Yazoo we have landed on the Louisiana side and I occupy a neck of low ground enclosed with a high levee directly in front of Vicksburg. Last summer when Vicksburg was invested by our troops from below a canal was dug across a narrow neck with the purpose of turning the river so as to leave Vicksburg out in the cold. The river is now rising rapidly and already fills the canal, which however is a narrow ditch — the water flows across it, but thus far it shows no symptoms of cutting a channel, but, on the contrary, threatens to overflow the low ground embraced in the levee. All my soldiers are busy day and night in throwing up a levee on the inside of this canal to prevent the water overflowing us. My right extends along the levee below Vicksburg, and I have some guns below, which will prevent the enemy's boats coming up to town. Since I broke the railroad leading west most of the necessary supplies to Vicksburg have come from Red River by water, and we now stop this; but as they hold Port Hudson, preventing Banks coming up, and Vicksburg prevents our boats going down, they hold substantially a long reach of the river embracing the mouth of Red River. Last night my extreme right brigade, Blair's, captured a ferry boat which came in for wood, not suspecting our presence. So we have also our boat below Vicksburg — I have not much faith in the canal. It starts after the current has been turned, and I doubt if the canal will draw in a volume and depth of water sufficient to cut a new channel, and if it do the enemy will simply shift his guns to Warrenton, a point on the same range of hills, below the mouth of our canal — at last we must attack the enemy in his strong position. Outnumbering us in every sense in men, in guns, and holding a position stronger than Gibraltar. . . .

We must get on land before we can fight. That was my attempt and the point I chose is the only one between Vicksburg and Haines Bluff— we may attempt the latter, and I think it is the safest place, but on this side of the river we do no good whatever, for the Mississippi is an ugly stream to ford at this season of the year.

Unless you enact a law denying to all citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 who do not enlist and serve 3 years faithfully, all right of suffrage, or to hold office after the war is over, you will have trouble. The Army growls a good deal at the apathy of the nation, at home quite comfortable and happy yet pushing them forward on all sorts of desperate expeditions. Newspapers can now turn armies against their leaders. Every officer and soldier knows I pushed the attack on Vicksburg as far as they wanted to venture, and if others think differently, they naturally say, Why not come down and try? . . .

Two years have passed and the rebel flag still haunts our nation's capital — our armies enter the best rebel territory and the wave closes in behind, scarcely leaving a furrow mark behind. The utmost we can claim is that our enemy respects our power to do them physical harm more than they did at first; but as to loving us any more, it were idle even to claim it. Our armies are devastating the land and it is sad to see the destruction that attends our progress — we cannot help it. Farms disappear, houses are burned and plundered, and every living animal killed and eaten. General officers make feeble efforts to stay the disorder, but it is idle. . . .

The South abounds in corn, cattle and provisions and the progress in manufacturing shoes and cloth for the soldiers is wonderful. They are as well supplied as we and they have an abundance of the best cannon, arms and ammunition. In long range cannon they rather excel us and their regiments are armed with the very best Enfield rifles and cartridges, put up at Glasgow, Liverpool and their new Southern armories, and I still say they have now as large armies in the field as we. They give up cheerfully all they have. I still see no end or even the beginning of the end. . . .

The early actors and heroes of the war will be swept away, and those who study its progress, its developments, and divine its course and destiny will be most appreciated. We are in for the war, and must fight it out, cost what it may. As to making popularity out of it, it is simply ridiculous and all who attempt it will be swept as chaff before the wind. . . .

Your affectionate brother,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 183-5

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, January 17, 1863

NAPOLEON, ARK.,
STEAMER FOREST QUEEN,
Jan. 17, 1863.

Dear Brother:

. . . The gun boats were handled beautifully, and without them we should have had hard work, with them it was easy. Our entire loss will be less than 1000. We took 5000 prisoners, killed and wounded some 500, took 16 guns, ammunition, corn and wagons, mules and all sorts of traps of which you will hear enough. My official report is in, will go up to Grant at Memphis to-morrow and right on to Washington. Halleck will let you see it, and you can understand the whole thing by a glance at the maps I send along. But McClernand's reports will precede it and of course will be the accepted history. . . .

On the supposition that Banks will have taken Fort Hudson and reached Vicksburg, we start back for that place to-morrow. Of ourselves we cannot take Vicksburg. With Banks and a fleet below us and a fleet above, we may make a desperate attempt, but Vicksburg is as strong as Gibraltar, and is of vital importance to the cause of the South. Of course they will fight desperately for it. We must do the same, for all are conscious that the real danger of the war, anarchy among our people, begins to dawn. The people of the North mistake widely if they suppose they can have peace now by opposing this war. . . .

Mr. Lincoln intended to insult me and the military profession by putting McClernand over me, and I would have quietly folded up my things and gone to St. Louis, only I know in times like these all must submit to insult and infamy if necessary. The very moment I think some other is at hand to take my corps I’ll slide out. . . .

I hope the politicians will not interfere with Halleck. You have driven off McClellan, and is Burnside any better? Buell is displaced. Is Rosecrans any faster? His victory at Murfreesboro is dearly bought. Let Halleck alone, and if things don't go to your liking don’t charge it to men but to the condition of things. Human power is limited, and you cannot appreciate the difficulty of moulding into an homogeneous machine the discordant elements which go to make up our armies. A thousand dollars a day would not pay me for the trouble of managing a volunteer army. I never dreamed of so severe a test of my patriotism as being superseded by McClernand, and if I can keep down my tamed (?) spirit and live I will claim a virtue higher than Brutus. I rarely see a newspaper and am far behind the times, indeed, am not conscious that a Congress sits, though I know it must. Do think of the army and try and give us the means to maintain discipline, prevent desertion, pillage and absenteeism. Under the present system of mere threats and no punishment, our armies melt away like snow before the sun. I doubt if Burnside, Rosecrans, Grant and Curtis now have, all combined, 300,000 in their front ranks. This army, 30,000 a month ago, though reinforced by 2400 men, is now down to 24,000, though we have lost only 2500 in battle — sickness and detachments make a perfect stream to the rear. Blair has a brigade in my corps and sees now the practices of war as contrasted with its theory, and could give some useful hints on these points.

Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 181-2

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Ninth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry

The ten companies of the Ninth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry were ordered by the Governor to rendezvous at Dubuque, as part of the quota of the State under the proclamation of the President dated July 23, 1861, and were mustered into the service of the United States on dates ranging from September 2d to September 24, 1861, by Capt. E. C. Washington, United States Army.

The Hon. Wm. Vandever, then a member of Congress from Iowa, was given authority by the President to organize this regiment from the counties composing his district, and he was commissioned by Governor Kirkwood as its first Colonel. The names of the field and staff and company officers, at the date of muster in, will be found in the subjoined roster, in which will also be found notations of the subsequent changes which occurred on account of death, promotion, resignation, or from whatever cause, together with a paragraph opposite the name of each line officer and enlisted man, arranged in alphabetical order, showing his personal record of service in so far as the same could be obtained from the official records in the Adjutant General's office of the State of Iowa, and the War Department in Washington. That some of these records are very imperfect, and that they may, in some instances, do injustice to the memory of the officers and men of this gallant regiment, is a matter beyond the control of those under whose supervision this great work has been done. Every effort has been made to make this compilation historically correct, in so far as the limitations as to time and space would permit; but, where the records of individual service may have been incorrectly given in the official returns and reports, and no other source of Information was available, there was but one course to pursue, and that was to follow the official records, which, in the main, will be found to be correct.

The last company was mustered September 24, 1861, and, two days later, the regiment, with an aggregate strength of 977 officers and enlisted men, was embarked on steamboats at Dubuque and transported to St. Louis, and, upon its arrival there, marched to Benton Barracks, where it received it first supply of arms, clothing and camp equipage. Here it remained until October 11th, receiving such instruction in military drill as could be given in so short a period of time. It was then ordered to proceed to Franklin, Mo., at which place regimental headquarters were maintained, while companies were detached to different points for the purpose of guarding the railroad from Franklin toward Rolla, Mo. During the three months in which the regiment remained upon this duty it suffered greatly from exposure to the inclement winter weather, and, like all new regiments, was subjected to much sickness on account of such exposure On the last day of the year 1861, the official returns showed a death loss of l7 and 7 discharged on account of disability, total 24; but on the same date it had gained 38 by additional enlistment, and 4 by transfer, making a net gain of 18, and an aggregate of 995. Of this number, however, many were on the sick list, and the hardships which the regiment was called upon to endure, during the active winter campaign which followed, still further reduced its fighting strength, and when it first went into battle it numbered but little more than half the aggregate above stated. January 21, 1862, the regiment was again consolidated, the companies on detached duty having been relieved, and was conveyed by rail to Rolla, Mo., and from there began its first real campaign against the enemy. Marching to Lebanon, Mo., it joined the Army of the Southwest commanded by General Curtis. Colonel Vandever was placed in command of the brigade to which his regiment was attached, leaving Lieut. Col. Frank J. Herron in command of the regiment.

Upon the approach of the Union forces, the rebel General Price evacuated Springfield, which he had occupied during the winter, and began his retreat towards the Ozark Mountains. Then began that remarkable march of General Curtis' army in pursuit of the enemy. The regiment started from Springfield on the 14th of February and, in less than one month, had marched over difficult roads, and much of the time through storms of alternating rain and snow, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles. Arriving at Cross Hollows, Ark., a detachment of three hundred of the regiment was sent upon an expedition to Huntsville — forty miles distant — with the purpose of surprising and capturing a detachment of the enemy stationed there as a guard for commissary stores: but, upon reaching Huntsville, they found the place abandoned, and learned that the rebel army under General Van Dorn was marching to the attack of General Curtis' army, which had fallen back from Cross Hollows and taken up a new position at Pea Ridge. Realizing the danger of being cut off and captured by a superior force, the detachment of the Ninth Iowa at once started to rejoin the command and, after a continuous march of sixteen hours, covering a distance of forty-two miles, it reached the regiment at 8 P. M. March 6th. With only a few hours of rest after this exhausting march, these men went into the memorable battle of Pea Ridge at 10 A. M., March 7. 1862.

The enemy opened the engagement by a fierce attack upon the Union lines, and the Ninth Iowa was in the thickest of the fight. The first attack of the enemy was repulsed, and the Union line advanced, but was in turn compelled to retire under a terrific fire of musketry, grape and canister. Thus the battle raged during the entire day, with alternating temporary advantages for both Union and rebel forces. There were occasional intervals, during which the men on both sides availed themselves of the opportunity to replenish their ammunition and to attend to the removal of their wounded to the rear. The fighting was most persistent and desperate, and in no battle of the war was the valor of the American soldier—upon both sides—more splendidly exhibited. While this was the first time the Ninth Iowa Infantry had met the enemy in battle, its officers and men exhibited the steadiness and bravery of veterans. Had this been the only service rendered by the regiment, it would have been entitled to the lasting gratitude of every patriotic citizen of the Union, which it was there defending against those in armed rebellion against it.

At night the survivors lay upon their arms, ready to renew the conflict at the dawn of day. At daylight the Union artillery again opened upon the enemy, and the fire was promptly returned. In his official report Colonel Vandever says, "At this point, finding ourselves exposed to a raking fire from one of the enemy's batteries on our right, we changed direction to the east. About this time, the First Division coming into position on our left, we joined in the general advance upon the enemy, the whole cavalry force participating, and the artillery co-operating. The enemy here broke into disorder, and the fortune of the day was decided in our favor."

The entire rebel army was soon in full retreat, and the battle of Pea Ridge ended in a brilliant victory for the Union army. At the close of his official report Major General Curtis especially commended Colonel Vandever and the gallant troops of his brigade, and says, "To do justice to all, I would spread before you the most of the rolls of this army, for I can bear testimony to the almost universal good conduct of officers and men, who shared with me the long march, the many conflicts by the way, and the final struggle with the combined forces of Price, McCulloch, McIntosh and Pike, under Major General Van Dorn, at the battle of Pea Ridge." At the close of his official report Colonel Vandever says:

Of the bravery of Lieutenant Colonel Herron, In Immediate command of the Ninth Iowa Infantry, too much can not be said. He was foremost in leading his men, and, with coolness and bravery never excelled, rallied them to repeated attacks of the enemy. Unfortunately near the close of the day on the 7th, he was disabled by a. painful wound, his horse was killed under him, and he was captured by the enemy. Major Coyl, also of the Ninth Iowa, acted with distinguished valor until disabled by a severe wound, and compelled, reluctantly, to leave the field. Adjutant William Scott also deserves great praise. Lieutenant Asher Riley of Company A, my Acting Assistant Adjutant General, deserves particular mention. Upon the fall of Captain Drips and Lieutenant Kelsey, of Company A both distinguished for their bravery. Lieutenant Riley gallantly took command and remained with the company to the end of the battle. Captain Carpenter and Lieutenant Jones of Company B also acted with great bravery, leading their company in the face of the enemy, and bringing off one of our disabled guns and a caisson. Captain Towner and Lieutenant Neff, of Company F, were conspicuous for their bravery. Both of these officers were severely wounded, when the command devolved upon Lieutenant Tisdale, who gallantly led the company through the remainder of the battle. Captain Bull and Lieutenant Rice, of Company C, also deserve particular mention, the latter of whom was killed near the close of the day, while the former was severely wounded. Captain Bevins of Company E was killed upon the field, and the command devolved upon Lieutenant Baker, who acquitted himself with great credit. Captain Washburn, and Lieutenants Beebe and Levrich of Company G, Lieutenants Crane and McGee of Company D, Captain Moore and Lieutenant Mackenzie of Company H, Captain Carskaddon and Lieutenant Claflin of Company K, and Lieutenant Fellows, commanding Company I, also Lieutenant Inman, were all conspicuous for bravery, under the hottest fire of the enemy. I should also mention Sergeant Major Foster and other members of the non-commissioned staff, who did their duty nobly. Many instances of special gallantry occurred among non-commissioned officers and men, during the trying events of the battle, which I cannot here enumerate. Where all did their duty so nobly and well, distinction would be invidious. I can only say that I feel deeply Indebted to every officer and man of my command for the heroic manner in which they have acquitted themselves.


The loss of the regiment was very heavy. Of the 560 who went into the battle, 4 commissioned officers and 34 enlisted men were killed, 5 commissioned officers and 171 enlisted men wounded, and 1 commissioned officer and 3 enlisted men captured, making a total loss of nearly forty per cent of the aggregate number engaged.*

After the battle the regiment had only a brief season of rest. Its next experience was a long, devious and trying march with the Army of the Southwest, through Missouri and Arkansas, covering six hundred miles and ending at Helena, July 17, 1862. During this march the weather was very warm and dry, and the troops suffered greatly from the heat, dust and thirst, and, on the latter part of the march, from insufficient rations. For five weeks of this time the army was cut off from all communication, but fortunately no considerable body of the enemy was encountered and it at last arrived safely at Helena.

Here the regiment went into camp, and for the ensuing five months enjoyed comparative immunity from the hardships and dangers of a soldier's life. It was, however, rendering valuable service in holding an important post, and the time was not spent in idleness. The officers and men utilized the time to the best advantage, in perfecting themselves in military drill and discipline, and, when they again entered upon the duties of active campaigning, they were splendidly equipped for the hard and continuous service which they were called upon to perform during the remainder of their term of service. While the regiment was in camp at Helena, a most pleasing incident occurred, which deserves permanent preservation in this sketch and is thus described by Lieutenant Colonel Abernethy in his "History of the Ninth Infantry":

At Helena a stand of beautiful silk colors reached us, sent by the hands of Miss Phoebe Adams, in behalf of a committee of ladies of Boston, Mass., as a testimonial of their appreciation of our conduct in the battle of Pea Ridge. They were guarded and cherished while in the regiment with religious care. After having been borne over many a proud field, they were, by the unanimous voice of the regiment, given back, riddled and torn — one to the original donors, the other to Brevet Major General Vandever, our original Colonel, who, by his bravery and decision at Pea Ridge and Arkansas Post, with the regiment, and by his honorable record thereafter in other fields, won the confidence and love of his regiment.


December 18, 1862, the regiment was again called into active service, this time on the lower Mississippi, and was assigned to General Thayer's Brigade of General Steele's Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps. It participated in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, December 28th and 29th, where it maintained its good record for bravery under the fire of the enemy. Lieutenant Colonel Abernethy, describing the part taken by his regiment in this battle, says, "The regiment, though under fire the greater part of the 28th and 29th, was only engaged about half an hour of the latter day. While the hardest fighting was in progress, we were being transferred from a point above Chickasaw Bayou to where the main army was massed, reaching there only to go into position as others were falling back. We were soon withdrawn beyond the reach of the rebel batteries lining the hills in our front, and next day embarked, the attempt having been given over."

The regiment next went into camp on the Yazoo River above Vicksburg, where it remained until the close of the year 1862. The official returns show that, during the year, the regiment had gained by additional enlistments 54, and by apointment 2; total gain 56. In the same time it had lost in killed in battle 43, died from wounds 41, and from disease 37; total number of deaths 121; 178 were discharged for disability, and 8 had deserted, making a total loss for the year of 307. Its losses up to the 31st day of December, 1861, had been 24, and its gain by additional enlistment 42. It will thus be seen that, in the one year and three months that the regiment had then served, it had lost 331 officers and men, and had gained 98 by additional enlistment. Its losses thus far had aggregated nearly one-third of those originally mustered and gained by additional enlistment, while it had just entered upon the second year of its three years' term of service.

Early in January, 1863, the regiment was engaged In the movement against Arkansas Post, and on January 11th, when the attack upon the fort was made, it was in the reserve line, waiting for the order to move forward to the assault; but. before the order was given, the enemy raised the white flag in token of surrender, and the regiment had the pleasure of witnessing the fall of that stronghold without loss to itself. January 24th found the regiment again in camp at Young's Point, near Vicksburg. About this time, Colonel Vandever was promoted to Brigadier General, and the officers and men of the Ninth Iowa, while rejoicing in his well-deserved promotion, felt that they were parting from one of the bravest and most efficient commanders, and that it would be difficult to determine who should succeed him. There was an excellent list of officers from which to make the selection. Captain David Carskaddon of Company K was elected and became the second Colonel of the regiment.

Lieutenant Colonel Abernethy, in his history of the Ninth Iowa Infantry thus graphically describes the experience of the regiment for the remainder of the winter of 1863:

The history of the regiment for these two months of February and March is a tale of sorrow. The health of many of its members was already undermined by a six months' sojourn in the miasmatic regions of the Mississippi valley, and it seemed that but few could withstand the debilitating and enervating Influence of this insalubrious climate. The smallpox came now, for the first time, into our ranks. Scores of our number, hitherto stout and rugged, were prostrated past recovery, and now lie buried in shallow graves about the hospitals which once stood In that sickly region; while others only recovered completely, long afterwards, In the mountains of Tennessee and Georgia, or on the sandy plains of the Carolinas. The ordeal of these unpropitious months was the more grievous because it had all the evils of the battlefield, with none of Its honors.


Every true soldier will admit the force and truth of the above statement. The inspiration which comes to men in the midst of battle sustains them in the performance of deeds of valor, but when it comes to the struggle with disease and death, without the tender ministrations of relatives and friends, far from home and all its comforts, the men who endure and die, as well as those who endure and live, must be sustained by a fortitude and courage even greater than that which enables them to perform their whole duty when engaging the enemy in battle.

During the month of April, 1863, the regiment participated in an expedition to Greenville, Miss., and farther into the interior, in which it met the enemy in occasional skirmishes, but the object of the expedition was accomplished without severe fighting. Upon its return from this expedition, it entered upon the campaign which ended in the surrender of the rebel strongholds at Vicksburg and Jackson. Its movements and operations are described by Lieutenant Colonel Abernethy, as follows:

On the 2d day of May, leaving our tents standing at Milliken's Bend, La., the regiment started In light marching order for Grand Gulf, crossed the Mississippi, and commenced on the 8th of May the march In rear of Vicksburg. On the 14th reached Jackson, the State capital of Mississippi, and took part in its capture. Four days later, after some skirmishing in which we lost three wounded, the regiment took position In the outer works which environed Vicksburg. * * *

May 15th, after severe skirmishing, and a final assault, the regiment succeeded in getting and holding an excellent position, about seventy-five yards from the enemy's works. * * *

On the 22d of May, In line with the whole Army of the Tennessee, the regiment went first up to the assault. Its flag went down a few feet from the rebel works, after the last one of its guard had fallen, either killed or wounded, and its dripping folds were drawn from under the bleeding body of its prostrate bearer. In the few terrible moments of this assault, the regiment lost 79 killed and wounded, nearly one-third of the number in action. But that was not all. The assault had failed, and we found ourselves lying in the ravines, behind logs, contiguous to and partly under the protection of the rebel earthworks, above which no traitor could raise his head, except at the expense of his life. There we were compelled to stay until darkness gave us a cover under which to escape. Here I pause to pay the slight tribute of recording their names, to Captain Kelsey, and Lieutenants Jones, Wilbur, and Tyrrell, who fell while leading their companies to the assault, and to Captain Washburn, who was mortally wounded at the head of the regiment.

Our loss in the previous assault of the 19th of May was 16 men, and when, on the morning of Independence Day, the enemy came out and stacked arms and colors on his works, our total recorded loss in the siege was 121.


After the surrender of Vicksburg, the regiment participated in the siege of Jackson, and, after the evacuation of that place, took part in the pursuit of the enemy, and lost one man killed in a skirmish at Brandon. The regiment now went into camp on Black River, Miss., where It remained until September 22d, when it was ordered to Vicksburg, thence by river to Memphis, and from there by rail to Corinth, Miss., from which point it took up the line of march to Chattanooga, and entered upon another campaign which resulted in great success for the cause of the Union, and a crushing defeat to that portion of the rebel army against which the operations were directed. After a march of three hundred miles, during which the regiment had some skirmishes with the rebel General Forrest's troops, it arrived at the foot of Lookout Mountain, Nov. 23, 1863, and, on the 24th, took part in the battle above the clouds, and, later, in the battles of Missionary Ridge and Ringgold. Although not in the heaviest fighting in these three engagements, the regiment accomplished all that was assigned to it. Its losses in killed and wounded during the campaign aggregated 22. It now marched to Woodville, Ala., where it went Into winter quarters Dec. 29, 1863. During the year the regiment had marched 870 miles, and had been conveyed 1,300 miles by water and 100 miles by rail. In the same time, it had met with a total loss of 227 and gained by enlistment 11, leaving an aggregate of 510.

January 1, 1864, 287 men of the regiment re-enlisted as Veteran Volunteers for another term of three years, and under the terms of their enlistment were entitled to a thirty days' furlough, to begin after reaching the State of Iowa. They left Woodville, Ala., February 4, 1864, and reached Dubuque, Iowa, February 14, 1864, at which point they separated for their respective homes. March 16th found the veterans of the regiment re-assembled at Davenport, Iowa, accompanied by 125 recruits. They reached Woodville, Ala., April 10th, having marched from Nashville, a distance of 125 miles. A new supply of arms, clothing and camp equipage was issued to the regiment, and on May 1st, with Colonel Carskaddon In command. It took up the line of march for Chattanooga. In six days it had again reached the scene of military activity, and entered upon another great struggle for the preservation of the Union. The Ninth Iowa Infantry was constantly at the front, on the firing line, and in the trenches, and had its full share in the fighting during the campaign. The compiler of this sketch is compelled, by the limitation of space to which he is restricted, to omit the detailed account of the operations of the regiment given by Lieutenant Colonel Abernethy in his history, from which quotations have heretofore been so freely made. It must here suffice to say that, from the opening to the close of the Atlanta campaign, the Ninth Iowa Infantry displayed the same conspicuous gallantry which had characterized Its career In all the battles In which It had been engaged, from Pea Ridge to Jonesboro. Describing the close of the campaign, Lieutenant Colonel Abernethy says:

At Jonesboro, on the 31st of August, where we were attacked in vain, and for the last time, by the rebel army of Tennessee, we held our position easily, and with comparatively slight loss. The march thence to Lovejoy's Station, and back again to East Point, Ga., by the 8th of September, completed the campaign — a campaign which, for hard and continuous fighting, for severe labor and exposure, for long marches in the hottest weather, for duration and persistent obstinacy, is unparalleled in history. We had marched 400 miles, principally in the night, built 40 different lines of works, crossed three large rivers In the face of a powerful enemy, flanked him away from three of the strongest natural positions In the country, and fought the battles of Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Chattahoochie River, Decatur, Atlanta, Jonesboro, and Lovejoy.

The regiment lost in the campaign since the 1st of May 14 killed, 70 wounded, and 6 captured.


The non-veterans of the regiment were mustered out of the service on the 23d day of September, 1864, the original three years' term for which they had enlisted having expired. For the re-enlisted veterans and recruits there yet remained the experience of the closing campaigns of the war, which, in some respects, were more remarkable than any which had preceded them. On the 4th of October the regiment was again on the march with the army which followed the rebel forces under General Hood through Marietta, Rome, Resaca, and across into Alabama, returning to the vicinity of Atlanta on the 5th of November, having marched 354 miles. November 15th, the regiment, then under the command of its senior captain, Paul McSweeney, began the famous march with General Sherman's army to Savannah and the sea. This remarkable military exploit was accomplished in 35 days, the distance covered being 400 miles. During the year, the regiment had marched 1,400 miles, and traveled by steamboat and railroad 1,900 miles. It had gained by additional enlistment 160, had lost in killed 14 and from other causes 214, leaving an aggregate of 442 on December 31, 1864.

The closing campaign — the trip by sea to Beaufort, S. C, and the march through the states of South and North Carolina — was full of interest and most worthy of being recorded in detail, did space permit. Colonel Carskaddon, who had been wounded at Atlanta, returned to the regiment, and was honorably mustered out by reason of expiration of term of service on February 14, 1865. While the regiment was marching through Georgia, Major George Granger had died in hospital at Nashville, Tenn., and Captain Alonzo Abernethy of Company F had been promoted to Major, January 1, 1865, and was now in command of the regiment, which he led successfully during the remainder of its service. After giving a detailed description of the events which transpired during the long and toilsome march, the Major thus describes the closing scenes in the history of his regiment:

Our severe labors, hardships, and exposures were forgotten in the pleasure of having taken part in this most magnificent of all our campaigns. The remaining history is briefly told. On the 10th of April started with the army to Raleigh, N. C, where we found the rebel leader suing for terms. When these had been given, the regiment started for Washington, D. C, via Petersburg, Richmond, and Alexandria, Va. Reached the latter place on the 19th of May, after a march of 293 miles in the last nineteen days, and 360 miles from Goldsboro, N. C. Took part In the military pageant of May 24th, which consisted of the review of Sherman's army In the streets of Washington. The regiment came thence by rail and steamboat to Louisville, Ky., on the 1st of June. Went Into camp and awaited further orders, which came July 10th to the effect that the remaining regiments of the army of the Tennessee would be at once mustered out of service.

Lieutenant Colonel Coyl had resigned June 17th on account of his having received the appointment of Judge Advocate of the Department of Kentucky. Major Abernethy was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain Inman of Company I to Major. On the 18th of July, the muster out was completed.


The regiment was then sent to Clinton, Iowa, where it was disbanded, and the officers and men returned to their homes.

From the time it started from Dubuque, three years and, ten months from the date of its final muster out, the Ninth Iowa Infantry had marched over 4,000 miles, and traveled by rail and steamboat 6,000 miles. During the year 1865, there had been added by transfer from the Twenty-fifth Iowa 53, by enlistment 15, from the draft rendezvous of the State 129, a total gain of 197. The total losses had been 45, leaving an aggregate of 594 at muster out.

In closing this brief sketch, the compiler again refers to the subjoined roster for the record of personal service of each officer and man of the regiment, in so far as it has been possible to obtain such record. As an organization the Ninth Iowa Infantry has a record of service unsurpassed by that of any regiment which the State sent to the field during the great War of the Rebellion.


SUMMARY OF CASUALTIES.

Total enrollment 1440
Killed 84
Wounded 385
Died of wounds 64
Died of disease 210
Discharged for disease, wounds and other causes 299
Buried in National Cemeteries 139
Captured 32
Transferred 30


* The compiler of this sketch finds this loss statement in the return of casualties of the Army of the Southwest in the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., attached to the report of Major General Curtis, found on page 205, Series 1, Vol. 8, War of the Rebellion Official Records. In the history of the Ninth Iowa Infantry by Lieut. Col. Alonzo Abernethy, found on page 174 of the Adjutant General's report of the State of Iowa, for the year 1866, the aggregate loss In killed, wounded and captured Is given as 240, making nearly 44 per cent of the number engaged. In either event, the loss was far above the average of the battles of the War of the Rebellion.


SOURCE: Roster & Record of Iowa Soldiers During the War of the Rebellion, Volume 2, p. 3-10