Fourth Minnesota Regiment

Six companies of this splendid regiment passed down the river yesterday on the steamer Sucker State, bound for the theater of war. They got off the boat as it neared the bridge and marched down the steamboat landing, preceded by their martial band, and re-embarked. Shortly after they again formed in line and marched to the top of the bluff, up rugged Perry street, where they went through sundry evolutions, and returned to the boat. They are a fine looking stalwart and intelligent set of men. Each company numbers about 100 men, bringing the regiment to very near the maximum number. One company has about forty or fifty half-breeds, who are represented to be the most obedient and docile of all the men, faithfully and promptly performing all that is required of them. – Four more companies will be down on the Hawkeye State this morning, accompanied by a battery of artillery and a company of sharp-shooters. Two companies of the regiment have been stations at Fort Abercrombie the past winter, two at Fort Ridgely and one at Fort Ripley, while about fifty men have been stationed at Georgetown, under Capt. Lueg. The regiment have thus been under drill all winter, and are consequently proficient in the manual of arms. Col. John B. Sanborn, late Adjutant General of the State, is Colonel of the regiment. The other officers are, Lt. Col. Thomas, Major Baxter, Assistant Surgeon E. C. Cross, Q M. Sergt. F. E. Allen, Com. Sergt. T. P. Wilson, Hospital Steward George Lambert. The companies here yesterday were Companies B, Capt. Inman; D, Capt. Edson; E, Capt. Legroe; G, Capt. Lueg; I, Capt. Parker; and K, Capt. Morse.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, April 23, 1862, p. 1

Capt. Holmes

We were pleased to meet this gallant officer down town yesterday. He is rapidly recovering from the effect of his wound, though he is yet on crutches. He hopes to be able to rejoin his regiment in about thirty days. The others who were wounded at Fort Donelson, we believe are all recovering.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p. 1

Colonel David Stokely Wilson

FIRST COLONEL, SIXTH CAVALRY.

David S. Wilson is a native of Steubenville, Ohio, where he was born on the 18th of March, 1823. Both on the paternal and maternal side he came of loyal stock. His father was a Revolutionary soldier, and later, for twenty years, was an United States receiver of public moneys at Steubenville. The father died when the son was six years of age, leaving him to be cared for and instructed by his mother. Upon the organization of the Iowa Territorial Courts, Thomas Wilson, an older brother of David, received the appointment of Judge of the Northern District. In 1841, David joined his brother at Dubuque, and passed his first year in Iowa, in opening up a farm of his brother's, near that place. The next year he entered the office of the "Miner's Express," the old-time Democratic organ at Dubuque, and shortly after purchased an interest in the concern. He held the editorial department.

In 1844, he was elected a member of the Territorial House of Representatives, but with this exception confined himself to the editorial duties of the "Express" till the declaration of war with Mexico. Then he began enlisting a company for the service, and succeeded so well as to secure a lieutenancy. He was ordered with his command to relieve Captain, later General Sumner, who was stationed at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien. Lieutenant Wilson continued in the service about three years, a chief portion of this time being stationed at Fort Atkinson, and having charge of the Winnebagos. This tribe of Indians he assisted in removing to their reservation in Minnesota.

While stationed at Fort Atkinson, I am told he devoted his leisure moments to the study of law; and the knowledge thus gained enabled him, soon after leaving the service, to enter the law practice. He opened an office in Dubuque, and made the law his business till the breaking out of the rebellion. I should not omit to state that in 1857 he was elected to the State Senate from the Dubuque District. He was a democrat; but I need not have added that, for he was elected from Dubuque.

The services of the 6th Iowa Cavalry, like those of the 7th, are for the most part tame and uneventful. The regiment has served constantly on the Western Frontier, with head-quarters, the most of the time, at Sioux City. The history of its marches and campaigns may be found in General Sully's reports of his operations against the Indians in Dacotah Territory. In the latter part of August, 1863, Colonel Wilson marched with his regiment on General Sully's expedition up the Little Cayenne, and took part in the battle fought with twelve or fifteen thousand warriors near the head-waters of Elm River.

The above is the most important engagement the regiment ever took part in.

Colonel Wilson resigned his commission late in the spring of 1864, and was succeeded, in the colonelcy of the regiment, by Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel M. Pollock of Dubuque.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 631-2

2d Regiment

Among the wounded at Pittsburg, given in the Chaplain’s report of this regiment, we see the name of our correspondent, Jules Meredith. In his last letter written immediately after the battle, he makes no mention of his own wound.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, April 23, 1862, p. 2

Resigned

Lieut. Flanagan has tendered his resignation as second lieutenant of Co. B 2d regiment.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, April 23, 1862, p. 2

Colonel William W. Lowe

FIFTH CAVALRY.

W. W. Lowe, at the time of being mustered colonel of the 5th Iowa Cavalry, or Curtis Horse, was a captain in the regular army, which is all I know of him.

The 5th Iowa Cavalry is not strictly an Iowa regiment, for a majority of the men composing it are not citizens of Iowa. The regiment was organized at Benton Barracks, near St. Louis, Missouri, early in 1862, and in pursuance of an order from the War Department, "directing the organization of a cavalry regiment, to be called the Curtis Horse." It was made up of troops from Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois. M. T. Patrick was its lieutenant-colonel, and a Nebraska man; Carl Schaffer de Boernstein, William Kelsay and Alfred B. Brackett were its majors, the two former being from Iowa, and the latter from Minnesota. Companies E and F, and parts of Companies A, B, C and H, are from Iowa. One company of the regiment, (L) known as the Irish Dragoons, had seen service, and had proud antecedents. It formed part of the command of Major Zagonyi, at the time he made his brilliant charge into Springfield, Missouri, during the Fremont Campaign. In the charge, it lost its captain severely wounded, and its first-lieutenant killed.

The 5th Iowa Cavalry left St. Louis for the front, on the 8th of February, 1862, and first served in Tennessee. Indeed, the head-quarters of the regiment were maintained at Forts Henry and Donelson and vicinity, a principal portion of the time from the 12th of February, 1862, till the 5th of June, 1863, when they were transferred, by order of General Rosecrans, to Murfreesboro. The services of the 5th Iowa, for the first year and a half, were more arduous than brilliant. The regiment was kept constantly on the scout. It took part in no severe engagements, where the dead and wounded were counted by scores, and consequently gained little distinction. While serving in North Western Tennessee, the following are among the most important operations of the regiment.

Immediately after the fall of Fort Donelson, a detachment of the 5th Iowa under Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick moved up the Tennessee, by order of General Grant, to destroy the Memphis and Ohio Railroad-bridge, over the Tennessee River. The object of the expedition was successfully accomplished; and this was the regiment's first march. March 11th, Captain Craft led a battalion of the 5th Iowa to Paris, Tennessee, with a view of dispersing a rebel force under Colonel Clay King, who was enforcing the rebel conscript-law in the neighborhood. This expedition resulted in quite a serious engagement, in which the regiment lost its first men killed in battle; seven were killed and wounded. Late in March, 1862, Companies C, I and M, of the regiment, were detached, and ordered on duty with the Army of the Tennessee, then lying at Savannah. Major Brackett commanded the detachment, which was absent from the regiment for the period of five months.

The first serious misfortune which [befell] the regiment was the loss of its gallant major, Carl Schaffer de Boernstein. He was mortally wounded in the evening of the 6th of May, near Loughridge's Mills, Tennessee, and died the next day. On the 3d of May, a detachment of the regiment, under command of the major, had marched, by order of Colonel Lowe, beyond Paris, to the neighborhood of the Obion River, for purposes of reconnoissance. On the 6th instant, the detachment had completed its marching for the day, and gone into camp. Having thrown out pickets, they began preparing their supper, when they were startled by firing on the picket-line. The men seized their guns, and, under the direction of the major, formed line of battle; but they were almost instantly assaulted by a superior rebel force under Colonel Clayborne, and, after a short struggle, completely routed. The major was shot while cheering his men to continue the struggle. Lieutenant William T. Hays, the regiment's historian, pays this gallant officer the following tribute:

The untimely death of Major Schaffer was deeply deplored by the regiment. A nobleman by birth, he left his fatherland on account of political troubles, and sought an asylum in the land of the free; and, in defense of the country of his adoption, he poured out his blood on the battle-field. Only a short time before his death, he had succeeded to his paternal titles and estate of the Barony of Boernstein. The gallant major had preferred service in the army of the United States, to a life of inglorious ease. His body was forwarded to Dubuque, Iowa, and attended to the tomb by a larger concourse of citizens than had ever assembled there before on a similar occasion."

Captains Haw and Van Minden were wounded in this same engagement, at Loughridge's Mills.

From the 10th of May till the latter part of August, 1862, the 5th Iowa continued on the scout, but without any thing happening worthy of special mention: during this time, Colonel Lowe had command of Forts Henry and Donelson, and also of Fort Heiman.

On the 26th of August, the rebel Colonel Woodward attacked Major Hart at Fort Donelson, with a force, numbering about six hundred. Colonel Lowe, who was at the time at Fort Heiman, marched to the major's relief; but before his arrival the enemy had been repulsed. He at once started in pursuit, and came on the rebel pickets near the mines of the Cumberland Iron Works. A sharp engagement followed, in which the regiment lost twelve killed and wounded: all the casualties were from Company B. Lieutenant McNeely was severely, and Lieutenant Summers mortally wounded.

Of Lieutenant Milton S. Summers, Lieutenant Hays says: "A more gallant officer never drew sword for his country. Riddled with balls, he fell from his horse near the enemy's cannon, and was surrounded by a crowd of them, who attempted to bayonet him; but, although unable to rise to his feet, he cut at his assailants with his sabre, and split one of them from the shoulder to the centre of his body, and cut the hand of another nearly off. He fought with his sabre till it become so bent as to be useless, and then shot five times with his revolver, when the crowd of rebels, pressing on him from all sides, wrenched his pistol from his grasp, and made him a prisoner. When taken, he had seven minnie balls in his body, and a bayonet-wound in his thigh." Lieutenant Summers was a native of Illinois, and a resident of Glenwood, Mills county, Iowa.

After this affair at the Cumberland Iron Works, the rebel forces remained in the neighborhood of Fort Donelson for many weeks, giving constant annoyance to the Federal troops. Several expeditions were sent out to disperse them, and thus the Fall and Winter, and following Spring passed. On one of these expeditions, Lieutenant Gallagher, of Company L, was killed.

On the 5th of June, 1863, the 5th Iowa Cavalry left its old field of operations for one which, if it did not promise greater activity, promised better reward. General Rosecrans summoned it to Murfreesboro. That general was about assuming the offensive against Bragg, and the 5th Iowa was among the troops the Government gave him, to enable him to push his operations to success. The regiment arrived at Murfreesboro on the 11th of June, 1863, and served under General Rosecrans till he was superseded. It was the only Iowa regiment in the celebrated Army of the Cumberland. Rosecrans began moving his army about the middle of June, and, from that time till the rebel army was flanked and forced from its intrenchments, the 5th Iowa was constantly in the saddle, and riding from one wing of the army to the other. After Bragg had been forced back across the mountains, the regiment was stationed in the rear, to protect the line of communications, and to guard supply-trains to the front. During the months of July and August, it served, a chief portion of the time, at Murfreesboro; but, on the 6th of September, except Companies I and K, left for McMinnville, Tennessee.

Early in October, 1863, the rebel General Wheeler appeared in Middle Tennessee, threatening General Thomas' communications to the rear. He had crossed the mountains, and was hourly looked for at almost any point along the line of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. Accordingly, on the 4th of October, Colonel Lowe, who was at the time in camp with his regiment near Winchester, received orders to move in the direction of Murfreesboro. On the 6th instant, he reached Tullahoma, where he learned that Wheeler was in force at Wartrace. He accordingly proceeded to Duck River Bridge, where he left his train, and then moved rapidly against the enemy. They were found in force in the woods near the town, and engaged and driven in the direction of Shelbyville. The 5th Iowa made pursuit, pressed them through Shelbyville and to the Tennessee River, which Wheeler succeeded in crossing, by breaking his force up into small detachments. Having thus escaped, he re-organized his troops, and moved out through Tuscumbia. It was this same force which fought Sherman's advance at Cherokee and other places, while that general was on his way from Corinth to Chattanooga.

After Wheeler had been driven across the Tennessee, the 5th Iowa Cavalry turned on the forces of Roddy, reported in the vicinity of Huntsville and Athens, but after marching as far as Salem, Tennessee, turned back with its division to Maysville, Alabama, where it arrived on the 17th of October, and went into camp. In November following, Major Young of the 5th Cavalry performed a most successful raid along the Tennessee River, for which he received the special thanks of Major-General Thomas. The fruits of the expedition are given thus by Lieutenant Hays:

"In this expedition, in which the 5th Iowa Cavalry bore so prominent a part, a rebel captain and eight soldiers were captured, nine large ferry boats captured and destroyed, (eight of them from under the enemy's guns) two hundred fine mules and horses captured, one mill in the possession and employ of the enemy destroyed, and contrabands brought in to complete the organization of a regiment then forming at Maysville."

The following is from General Thomas:


"BRIGADIER GENERAL GEORGE CROOK,
Commanding 2d Cavalry Division, Maysville, Alabama.

" * * The major-general commanding directs that you tender his thanks to Major Young, for the brave, energetic and prudent manner, in which the expedition was conducted."


Major J. Morris Young is a native of Indiana, and an Iowa man, having entered the service from Page county.

The month of December was passed in scouting through Northern Alabama, principally along the Tennessee River. During the operations of this month, Sergeants McGuire and Ireland, and Private Ireland, of the 5th Iowa Cavalry, were the heroes of a story which deserves to be related at length.

"On the 19th of December, Major Brackett sent Sergeants McGuire and Ireland, and Private Ireland, all of Company H, to Paint Rock, with letters and dispatches. When within four miles of Paint Rock, the party were captured by twenty-one guerrillas, and taken to the mountains, where they were stripped of their clothing and money. Private Ireland, who had charge of the dispatches, secreted them inside his drawers, where the enemy failed to find them. Next morning, the prisoners were left under guard of two guerrillas, while the balance of the gang went down the mountain to watch for more booty. Our brave boys watched their opportunity, sprang on the guards, took their guns away from them, and told them to go down the mountain and give no alarm, and their lives should be spared; but, after going about fifty yards, the guards drew their revolvers, (which our men, in the excitement, had overlooked) and commenced firing, but without effect. Our men then fired, killing both the guerrillas, and made their escape to camp. The bodies of the guerrillas were found next day, where they fell, their companions having decamped in such haste as to leave them unburied."

The 5th Iowa Cavalry re-enlisted as veterans in December, and in the following month were granted veteran furlough. Returning to the field in March, the regiment lay at Nashville (except a part of it, which guarded railroad at Pulaski) till the 8th of the following July, when it joined General Rosseau at Decatur, preparatory to starting on the celebrated Alabama raid. This was a most daring undertaking, and it will be interesting to know the troops composing the command. They were the 8th Indiana, 2d Kentucky, 9th Ohio, 5th Iowa and 4th Tennessee, (all cavalry regiments) and a section of artillery.

The object of this expedition was to make a diversion in favor of General Sherman, then well on his way to Atlanta, and to destroy important lines of rebel communication. It was a complete success, and was made with less sacrifice of life and property than any other like expedition of the war.

General Rosseau, equipped with fine horses, and with five days' rations of bread and bacon and fifteen of sugar and coffee, marched quietly out of Decatur, in the afternoon of Sunday, the 10th of July, and the first night rested in Summerville. Taking a south-easterly course, his line of march lay through the following points: Summit, Blountsville, over Sand Mountain, Ashville, Springville, Jackson's Ford, Talladega, Stone's Ferry across the Tallapoosa River, Dadeville, and Lochepoga on the line of the West Point and Montgomery Railroad. This was the objective point. The march progressed without accident, until the arrival at Springville, on the Coosa River, in the evening of the 13th of July. The 5th Iowa Cavalry was, at the time in question, rear-guard, and was some three or four hundred yards behind the main column, when Captains Curl and Wilcox, riding forward in the interval between their own regiment and the mule-train, were ambushed by guerrillas. Being ordered to surrender, they turned back their horses to escape, when the marauders fired, killing Captain Curl instantly, and seriously wounding Captain Wilcox

Crossing the Coosa at Jackson's Ford, so christened from General Jackson having crossed at that point during the Creek War, the command marched in the direction of Talladega, and, during the day, destroyed some extensive rebel iron works. At Talladega on the line of the Blue Mountain and Selma Railroad, General Rosseau burned a large depot, stored with cotton and extensive rebel supplies, and destroyed the telegraph and the railroad for a considerable distance. Lochepoga was finally reached in the evening of the 17th instant This, as I have said, was the objective point. It was situated on one of the chief arteries of the Confederacy — that connecting Atlanta and the East with Montgomery and the Gulf. Its destruction would be an irreparable damage to the enemy, and was a misfortune they never looked for.

The work of destruction was at once begun. All that night, one-half of the command worked tearing up the road and burning bridges and trestle-work, while the other half watched for the enemy, and rested on their arms. Near Chehaw, some ten miles west of Lochepoga, was a long line of trestle-work, which, on the morning of the 18th instant, Major Beard of the 6th Iowa Cavalry, with a small command, was sent out to destroy; but he met the enemy twelve hundred strong a few miles out, and was driven back. Reinforcements were sent for and came up, when an engagement ensued, which resulted in the defeat of the enemy and the complete destruction of the road. That same afternoon, the 18th, General Rosseau left Lochepoga, moving in the direction of West Point on the Georgia and Alabama line. He passed through Auburn, and as far east as Opelika, destroying the road all the way.

The enemy were now filled with alarm; for rumor had magnified the Federal force to fabulous numbers, and they looked for a direct advance on Atlanta. Rebel troops were therefore summoned from every quarter to West Point, where they were to make a desperate stand. But Rosseau left them watching, and quietly took himself in the direction of the Federal lines. Leaving the West Point road at Opelika, he marched in a north-easterly course, and, passing through La Fayette, Rock Mills, Carrollton and Villa Rica, reached the Federal pickets at Sweet Water Bridge, at noon of the 22d of July. That evening he marched into Marietta.

The results of this expedition are summed up as follows: It was out thirteen days, "during which time the command marched three hundred and eighty miles, entirely in the enemy's territory, destroyed thirty-five miles of railroad, five large depots filled with cotton and supplies for the rebel army, one shot and shell manufactory, one locomotive and train of cars, and captured many valuable horses and mules, inflicting a loss on the enemy estimated at twenty millions of dollars. All this was accomplished with a loss to us of one captain and four privates killed, and one captain and eight privates wounded. All the above loss was in the 5th Iowa Cavalry, except one man of the 8th Indiana Cavalry, wounded," ample evidence, showing the part that regiment bore in the brilliant and successful raid.

After a few days' rest, the 5th Iowa Cavalry started on the McCook raid to the rear of Atlanta, a history of which luckless affair will be found in the sketch of Colonel Dorr and his regiment. The regiment lost in this raid one hundred and twenty-one officers and men in killed, wounded and captured. Lieutenant Andrew Guler was killed, and Lieutenant William T. Hays, the regiment's historian, captured. Next in its history is the advance on Jonesboro, which the regiment, with the cavalry troops under Kilpatrick, led. In this movement, it lost nineteen killed and wounded, the largest list of casualties in proportion to the number engaged that was sustained by any regiment in the engagement.

On the 8th of August, 1864, by special order of the War Department, the veterans of the 5th Iowa Infantry were consolidated with the 5th Iowa Cavalry, and thus the noble 5th Infantry lost its organization. The two commands were united early in September, and, not long after, were sent back to Nashville to be re-mounted and re-fitted for the field. At Nashville, the regiment took part, under General Thomas, in beating back Hood from that city; and, finally, after several weeks' rest, joined General Wilson in his brilliant march through Alabama and Georgia. It is now stationed near Macon, Georgia, with the prospect of being soon mustered out of the service.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 621-30

The Operations of Commodore Foote’s Flotilla

CAIRO, April 18.

A man of known veracity from our fleet before Fort Pillow says the same strategic movement is to be acted on there as at No. 10. Gen. Pope is there, 5 miles above, with an army of 30,000 men. A canal is to be cut through the timber so as to come in below Pillow on the Arkansas side, large enough to take transports, etc., etc., through – then cross over and attack in the rear.

There are only 16 heavy guns at Fort Pillow, one 128-pounder – the water batteries mounting light cast-iron guns, overflowed. The mortars have already been playing away on the Fort.

When our gunboats got down near Fort Pillow they saw five rebel gunboats. The Benton gave chase, and went on with great speed – bore down on them, and opened. The rebels fired only one gun and then broke and run; being light, they got out of our way. A shell from the Benton burst over one of them tearing away her upper rigging, and cleaning off loose trash generally.

The rebel gunboats are the awfulest, scalyest looking things you ever saw. They are old river steamers with the upper decks torn off, there being only so much left of them as is needed to support the chimneys &c. Railroad iron is placed over the tops like the roof of a house. The guns stand on the lower deck without any sort of protection. They look as forlorn and God-forsaken as the Southern Confederacy will next 4th of July.

The steamer Imperial went to St. Louis to-night with 450 wounded, including 80 secesh – five of them surgeons.

Governor Kirkwood, of Iowa, has been here several days, trying to arrange from sending the Iowa sick to river towns, and has succeeded pretty well. Two hundred went up to-day from St. Louis (per order of Gen. Strong) to Keokuk. The Iowa folks have a Sanitary Commission of their own, and if their friends could be got to their cities their relatives could come down and take care of them.

A gentleman just up from Arkansas represents a strong Union feeling in that State, and says if Corinth goes in our favor Arkansas will wheel back into the Union.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p. 2

New Orleans

Formidable Rebel Preparations for Resistance

A correspondent of the Richmond (Va.) Dispatch, writing from New Orleans, says:

The Mississippi is fortified so as to be impassible for any hostile fleet or flotilla. Forts Jackson and St. Philip are armed with 175 heavy guns (68 pounders, by Barkley Britain, and received from England). The navigation of the river is stopped by a dam of about a quarter of a mile from the above forts. No flotilla on earth can force that dam in less than two hours, during which it would be within short and cross range of 170 guns of the largest caliber, many of which would be served with red hot shot, numerous furnaces for which have been erected in every fort and every battery.

In a day or two we shall have ready two iron cased floating batteries. The plates are four and a half inches thick, of the best hammered iron, received from England and France. Each iron cased battery will mount twenty 68-pounders, placed so as to skim the water, and striking the enemy’s hull between wind and water. We have an abundant supply of incendiary shells, cupola furnaces for molten iron, Congreve rockets and fireships.

Between New Orleans and the forts there is a constant succession of earthworks. At the plain of Chalmette, near Janin’s property, there are redoubts, armed with rifled cannon, which have been found to be effective at five miles range. A ditch thirty feet wide and twenty deep extends from the Mississippi to La Cypsiere.

In Forts St. Philip and Jackson there are 3,000 men, of whom a goodly portion are experienced artillerymen and gunners who have served in the navy.

At New Orleans itself, we have 32,000 infantry, and as many more quartered in the immediate neighborhood. In discipline and drill they are far superior to the Yankees. We have two very able and active Generals, who possess our entire confidence. Gen. Mansfield Lovell and Brig. Gen. Ruggles. For Commodore we have old Hollins, a Nelson in his way.

We are ready to give the Yankees a hot reception when they come. Around me all are mad excitement and rage. Our only fear is that the Northern invaders may not appear. We have made such extensive preparations to receive them that it were vexatious if their invincible armada escapes the fate we have in store for it.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p. 2

Colonel Edward Francis Winslow

SECOND COLONEL, FOURTH CAVALRY.

Edward F. Winslow was born in Kennebeck county, Maine, on the 28th day of September, 1837. He was raised and educated in Augusta, his native town, where he continued to live till the spring of 1856. In 1856, he came to Iowa, and settled in Mt. Pleasant, where he entered the mercantile business. He was engaged in this business at the time of entering the service, in the fall of 1861.

Colonel Winslow enlisted in the war as captain of Company F, 4th Iowa Cavalry. On the 3d of January, 1863, he was promoted to a majority in his regiment, which rank he held till the 4th of the following July, when he was mustered colonel. Since promoted to his present rank, he has been in command of his regiment but little. He commanded it during the month of July, 1863, and also while it was at home on veteran furlough. At all other times, if we except a few weeks in the fall of 1863, when he was chief of cavalry to the 15th Army Corps, he has been in command of a brigade of cavalry. With the succession of Colonel Winslow to the command of his regiment, a new and more fortunate chapter opened in its history. Prior to that time, the discipline of the regiment was bad, and its efficiency questionable. Indeed, I am told that at one time mutiny was threatened; but, under the new commander, order and confidence were soon restored.

A brief summary of the services of the 4th Iowa Cavalry, subsequently to the time it left Helena in the spring of 1863 to date, may be given as follows: It led the advance of General Sherman's Corps in the march from Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, to Jackson, and thence to the rear of Vicksburg; operated during the siege of the city on the right-rear of the besieging army, and in front of the line held by General Sherman on the Big Bear Creek and the Big Black River; returned with Sherman to Jackson after the fall of Vicksburg, marching thence under General Bussey to Canton; accompanied the expedition across the country to Memphis, which passed through Yazoo City, Lexington, Grenada and Panola, in August; took part in the movement that was made in September, 1863, to divert the attention of the enemy while Sherman was en route with his corps from Memphis to Chattanooga; accompanied the reconnoissance made, in October following, by Major-General McPherson in the direction of Canton; led the van of Sherman's army in the rapid march from Vicksburg to Meridian, Mississippi; came North on veteran furlough in the early spring of 1864; returned to the front in April, and reported at Memphis, from which point it marched on the expeditions of General Sturgis against Forest, and on those of General A. J. Smith against the same rebel leader; marched from Memphis in pursuit of General Price in Missouri, in September, 1864; accompanied General Grierson in his raid from Memphis down the Mobile and Ohio Railroad to Okalona, and thence to Vicksburg; and, finally, reporting to General Wilson, accompanied that officer in his brilliant and successful march through Alabama and Georgia, to Macon.

Two instances are given, where officers of the 4th Iowa, in command of detachments of their regiment, distinguished themselves in rear of Vicksburg. The following occurred just after the investment of the city: "Being ordered to Haines' Bluff on a reconnoissance, the regiment was halted at Mill Dale, and Captain Peters [now lieutenant-colonel] with twenty men of Company B, went to the point indicated in the order, capturing seven men, nine large siege-guns, and a quantity of ammunition, remaining in the works until the gun-boat De Kalb, which had been signaled by Captain Peters, came up and received the prisoners, cannon, &c. Captain Peters and the regiment are justly entitled to the credit of capturing this strong-hold."

The other instance is that where Major Parkell, with a detachment of one hundred and twenty-five men from Companies A, K, F, and I, was suddenly surrounded while on a scout in the vicinity of Big Black River. The enemy, whose strength was estimated at not less than six hundred, demanded instant surrender; but the major, instead, resolved to fight his way out, and succeeded. The fight was short, but most bitter, as I have been informed by Captain Zollars of the regiment; and, indeed, the list of casualties evidences as much. One officer and ten enlisted men were killed, and the wounded and captured numbered thirty-three. Lieutenant Joshua Gardner was one of the killed, and Lieutenant W. J. McConnellee was captured.

The operations of General Sherman in his expeditionary march against Johnson, after the fall of Vicksburg, have been fully detailed elsewhere, and can not be repeated with interest. After returning from that expedition, the 4th Iowa Cavalry rested near the Big Black till the 10th of August, and then left on a raid through the country to Memphis. As already stated, the line of march lay through Yazoo City, Lexington and Grenada. This expedition was commanded by Colonel Winslow, and resulted in the destruction of much of the Mississippi Central Railroad, and the burning of a large amount of railroad stock.

The 4th Cavalry re-enlisted as a veteran regiment in the winter of 1863-4, and, immediately after its return from the Meridian march, came North on veteran furlough. On the expiration of its furlough, Colonel Winslow left in command of it for the front, and was proceeding to Vicksburg, when he received orders from General Sherman assigning him to duty under General Sturgis, at Memphis. The regiment reached Memphis on the 23d of April, and from that time till the last of July following was almost constantly in the saddle and on the scout. Indeed, from that time till its arrival at Macon, Georgia, nearly one year later, the regiment enjoyed little rest. At Memphis, in the spring of 1864, the regiment was brigaded with the 3d Iowa and 10th Missouri Cavalry, and all its subsequent history has been made with those regiments. The brigade, from the time of its organization, has been under the command of Colonel Winslow.

Among the operations participated in by the 4th Iowa Cavalry, that of General Sturgis against Forest, made in the early part of June, 1864, is prominent. If the expedition terminated disastrously, it did not with discredit to this regiment; for few soldiers have ever shown greater patience, endurance and courage in the hour of calamitous defeat than did those of the 4th Iowa Cavalry, and I should add, of the entire 2d Brigade. The "regiment left Memphis on this expedition the 2d or 3d of June, marching by way of La Fayette, Salem, Bucksville and Ripley, where it arrived in the forenoon of the 7th instant. Thus far the march was made in an almost incessant shower of rain; but no enemy had been encountered. That evening, however, Company C of the 3d Iowa Cavalry, while out in search of forage, was attacked by rebel cavalry in considerable force, and a sharp skirmish, lasting nearly an hour, followed. In this skirmish two companies of the 4th Iowa were engaged, and lost four men wounded. On the 8th and 9th, the advance was continued in the direction of Guntown, or Baldwin, without opposition, though evidences of the nearness of the enemy were seen all along the route. The 1st Brigade of Cavalry led the advance on the morning of the 10th instant, and was the first to engage the enemy in the disastrous battle of Guntown, or rather of Brice's Cross Roads; for Guntown was nearly six miles distant from the battle-field.

Guntown, Mississippi, is situated in a region of country which is made up of barren hills and difficult morasses. In this same region of country the Hatchie, Tallahatchie and Tombigbee Rivers take their rise. Just north of Brice's Cross Roads, where the main battle was fought, was one of these swamps; and through this, General Sturgis must march to meet the enemy. The roads, which are narrow and difficult of passage in their best stages, were, at the time in question, in a wretched condition, rendered so from the incessant rains. Indeed General Sturgis, to a large extent, attributed his defeat to the condition of the weather and roads, and in that he was doubtless correct; but he offers no excuse for bolting down into that difficult swamp with his whole train, while the rattle of musketry was telling him of the presence of the enemy in force, not more than two miles in advance.

On the evening of the 9th instant, Sturgis encamped at Stubb's plantation, fifteen miles from Ripley, and some seven miles from where the enemy were first encountered. The march was resumed on the following morning, the cavalry leaving their camp at five o'clock, and the infantry following closely on their heels. The manner in which the engagement opened, and its progress till the arrival of the infantry, General Sturgis gives as follows in his official report:

"On this morning I had preceded the head of the infantry column, and arrived at a point some five miles from camp, when I found an unusually bad place in the road, and one that would require considerable time and labor to render it practicable. While halting here to await the head of the column, I received a message from General Grierson that he had encountered a portion of the enemy's cavalry. In a few minutes more, I received another message, saying the enemy numbered six hundred, and were on the Baldwin road; that he was himself at Brice's Cross Roads, and that his position was a good one and he would hold it. He was then directed to leave six or seven hundred men at the cross-roads to precede the infantry on its arrival, in the march on Guntown, and, with the remainder of his force, to drive the enemy toward Baldwin, and then rejoin the main body by way of the line of railroad, as I did not intend being drawn from my main purpose.

"Colonel McMillen now came up, and I rode forward toward the cross-roads. Before proceeding far, however, I sent a staff officer back, directing McMillen to move up his advance brigade as rapidly as possible, without distressing his troops. When I reached the cross-roads I found nearly all the cavalry engaged, and the battle growing warm; but no artillery had yet opened on either side. We had four pieces of artillery at the cross-roads; but they had not been placed in position, owing to the dense woods on all sides and the apparent impossibility of using them to advantage. Finding that our troops were being hotly pressed, I ordered one section to open on the enemy's reserves. The enemy's artillery soon replied, and with great accuracy, every shell bursting over and in the immediate vicinity of our guns. Frequent calls were now made for reinforcements; but until the infantry should arrive I had, of course, none to give. Colonel Winslow, 4th Iowa Cavalry, commanding a brigade, and occupying a position on the Guntown road a little in advance of the cross-roads, was especially clamorous to be relieved, and permitted to carry his brigade to the rear. * * * * * * * *

"About half-past one P. M., the infantry began to arrive. Colonel Hoge's Brigade was the first to reach the field, and was placed in position by Colonel McMillen, when the enemy was driven a little. General Grierson now requested authority to withdraw the entire cavalry, as it was exhausted and well nigh out of ammunition. This I authorized as soon as sufficient infantry was in position to permit it, and he was directed to organize his command in the rear, and hold it in readiness to operate on the flanks."

The rest may soon be told; for alarm begun to seize on all. The enemy, seeing their successes, pressed their victory with great energy and determination, and the infantry line was hardly formed before it was broken. General Grierson was called on for cavalry to support the right flank, and it no sooner met the enemy in that quarter than it was repulsed. An effort to hold the left was equally unsuccessful. All saw that the day was lost, and acted with indecision and irresolution. Sturgis was already driven from the high ground, and beaten back on his wagon-train. This he made a spasmodic effort to save; but, seeing the enemy in heavy columns swinging by his left flank, he gave the order to retreat. And such a retreat! Every thing but his army, and much of that was lost. For the portion saved, he was indebted chiefly to the cavalry, and in no slight degree to the Iowa cavalry regiments. It is positively asserted that the 2d Brigade, of Grierson's Division, reached Collierville (and the enemy made pursuit to that point) in a less disorganized condition than any other brigade command of the army.

The list of casualties of the 4th Iowa cavalry in the battle at Brice's Cross Roads and in the retreat to Collierville is not given. The regiment's historian, Adjutant Ambrose Hodge, closes his account of this affair as follows:

"On arriving at Collierville, the men had been in the saddle fifty-four consecutive hours, fighting the greater part of the time without feed for their horses or provisions for themselves. The regiment arrived at Memphis, on the 14th instant, the men and horses being completely worn down by excessive labor performed on this march. The distance traveled was three hundred and fifty miles."

Following the disastrous expedition of General Sturgis, was that of General A. J. Smith; and the latter was as successful as the former had been unfortunate. The 4th Iowa Cavalry joined Smith on this march, and fought in the battle of Tupelo; but an account of this expedition has already been given in the sketch of Colonel Woods of the 12th Iowa Infantry. Neither in this, nor in the second expedition of General Smith against Forest, are the losses of the regiment stated. It was during the absence of the 4th Cavalry, or rather of eleven companies of it, in August, that Forest dashed into Memphis, on a hurried call on General Washburne. Company C was left behind, being detailed on provost-duty in the city, and was the only company of the regiment that, actually encountered Forest. In this affair, the company lost Lieutenant L. P. Baker, severely wounded. It is reported as having conducted itself with/much gallantry.

Next, in the history of the regiment, follows the expedition against General Price in Missouri, an account of which has been given in the sketch of Colonel Noble and his regiment. During the Missouri Campaign, Colonel Winslow was severely wounded. He was shot in the leg, while his brigade was charging the enemy, on the Big Blue River, near Westport. Though severely wounded, it is stated he refused to leave his command till the enemy had been driven from the field.

In the charge made on the 25th of October, near the Osage, the 4th Iowa Cavalry captured two hundred and thirty-five prisoners, and two stand of colors, and lost during the expedition four killed and twenty-six wounded. Lieutenant H. W. Curtis, of Company F, was killed in the charge on the Osage, and Major A. B. Pierce, commanding the regiment, was severely wounded in the foot. Among those mentioned for special gallantry during the campaign, were Major Pierce, Captains Drummond, Dana and Lee, all commanding battalions of the regiment, and Lieutenant and Acting Adjutant John S. Keck. Company commanders, in all cases, managed their commands in a manner highly creditable to themselves.

If we except the expedition made by General Grierson through Mississippi, late in December, 1864, there remains but one more important campaign to be recorded in the history of the 4th Iowa Cavalry — that made under General Wilson through Alabama and Georgia.

On the route from Missouri to the Military Division of the Mississippi, and during the few weeks of rest that the brigade of Colonel Winslow enjoyed before starting on the Macon march, there is little of special interest; and I therefore pass at once to the history of the memorable raid. Brevet Major-General Wilson, with a cavalry corps numbering about twelve thousand men, left Chickasaw on the Tennessee on the 21st of March, 1865, for a destination known to few of his command. The outfit was extensive and had been long in making; and it was known to the command that the expectations of the commanding general were commensurate with his preparations, and that was all. The rest, the future must disclose. The route of the column was nearly south-south-east, till its arrival at Montevallo. From that point, it was south to Selma, and thence, nearly due east, to Montgomery, Columbus and Macon. In this line of march was included four of the most important inland cities of the Confederacy — important as places of note and pride, and as manufacturing points.

Let me state, while I have it in mind, that, on the march in question, the 3d and 4th Iowa Cavalry were attached to the division of General Upton, (the 4th) and the 5th and 8th to that of General McCook. These were the only Iowa troops who accompanied the march.

The enemy first made a determined stand at Six-Mile Creek, between Montevallo and Selma. They had just previously occupied Montevallo, with the expectation of defending it; but, on the near approach of the Federal column, their hearts foiled them, and they fled in the direction of Selma. At Six-Mile Creek, the enemy were under Chalmers, Roddy and Lyon, with the inhuman wretch, Forest, as commander-in-chief. The battle was fought on the last day of March, and on that day the division of General Upton was in the lead of the column. The enemy were found in a strong position, which was defended by artillery; but after some skirmishing they were charged and routed, losing their artillery and more than two hundred prisoners. The second fight was at Ebenezer Church, about twenty miles from Selma. Here the enemy were no more successful; for after a brief engagement they were a second time routed and forced back toward Selma. This battle was fought on the 1st of April. The following day, General Wilson defeated Forest for the third time, and entered and occupied Selma.

Selma, on the north bank of the Alabama, and one of the chief railroad-centres of that State, was defended by two lines of works, each swinging entirely round the city, and resting on the right and left of the river bank. The outer line was guarded by a strong palisade. This strong-hold was captured by two divisions of the Federal troops — Generals Upton's and Long's. General Long took position on the right, and General Upton on the left. Line of battle was formed on the high ground, and, after the usual skirmishing and signaling, an assault was ordered. As In all successful charges, the work was well and quickly done. With less than three thousand men, the outer works were carried, in the face of artillery and nine thousand muskets; and only some two thousand of the latter were in the hands of the citizen militia.

In taking the outer line of works, the 3d Iowa Cavalry was In the front, and the 4th, in reserve; but, in taken [sic] the second line, the 4th held the front. Lieutenant George W. Stamm, of the 3d Iowa Cavalry, who wields a good pen and I believe a good sword, says: "Immediately after we took possession of fortifications, the 4th Iowa Cavalry were mounted, and rushed on the flying foe with an impetuosity which nothing could withstand. Weary, out of breath and heated with our double-quick, we saw them pass us like a whirlwind, scattering death and confusion among the Johnnies, while the brass band that had boldly ventured to the front was playing the enlivening strains of 'Yankee Doodle,' in singular unison with the rattle of musketry and the shouts of victory." Thus Selma was captured, the great military store-house and manufacturing depot for the Confederates, in Alabama. The enemy lost many killed and wounded, and about two thousand prisoners.

Montgomery fell without a struggle, as also did Macon, Georgia; but Columbus, Georgia, made a determined defense. General Wilson appeared before the place at noon of the 16th of April, and that evening carried it, as he had Selma, by assault. Columbus is situated on the east bank of the renowned Chattahoochie; but the works that protected it from the west, and which General Wilson was obliged to carry, were on the west bank of the stream. Both above and below the city, bridges spanned the Chattahoochie: the approaches to each were covered by artillery, mounted in strong forts. Rifle-pits and other defenses commanded the approaches in every other quarter westward. The 2d Brigade of General Upton's Division first approached the city, and when near the works that defended the lower bridge made a charge with the hope of carrying the position and gaining the bridge. They were unsuccessful, being repulsed with much loss. Colonel Winslow's First Brigade now coming up was sent back by the commanding general, and directed to gain, by a circuitous route, a position in rear of the upper bridge. The movement was successfully made, and at dusk in the evening a charge was ordered which resulted in the fall of Columbus. As at Selma, the 3d and 4th Iowa Cavalry were in the front line. Indeed, there was little fighting done during the whole campaign in which these regiments did not have part.

I have already said that the last fighting of the expedition was done at Columbus. After resting here one day, General Wilson marched on Macon; but when near the city, he was advised of the terms agreed on between Sherman and Johnson, and informed that his entrance into the place would not be opposed. The 4th Iowa Cavalry is now in camp at Macon, and the war is virtually ended.

The loss of the regiment during the campaign was not very severe. Captain E. R. Jones, Chief Bugler Tabor, and Sergeant Beezley, were among the killed, and Quarter-Master Sergeant Detrick and Sergeant Stocks among the wounded. The entire loss of the regiment in killed and wounded was, I think, twenty-five. Captain Jones was killed in the charge at Selma.

I never saw Colonel Winslow, but am told he has an intelligent and pleasing countenance, and a feminine voice. He is a man of great energy, great ambition and unlimited self-confidence. All agree that he is a splendid officer. He has both the courage and the skill to handle troops successfully in the face of the enemy. His worst fault, if it can be termed a fault is his self-conceit, which sometimes discovers itself immodestly.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 609-20

From the 2d Iowa Cavalry

ABOARD STEAMER CITY OF ALTON,
Mississippi River, April 13th.

EDITOR GAZETTE:– Yesterday at noon the 2d cavalry received orders to be ready to march to the river to take transports for Memphis. The Infantry and artillery had been striking tents, moving post and going aboard all day during a drenching rain. The 1st battalion moved to the river at 7 o’clock, but owing to the rush it was 2 o’clock this morning before all were aboard. This is a large, fine boat. Had Jeff. Thompson captured her last February, he would have had quite a prize. Besides the 1st Battalion, with 300 horses, the 10th Iowa and the 26 Missouri regiments, infantry, are aboard. – We are very much crowded.

At 7 o’clock we cast loose, and with banners streaming and the band playing, we headed for “Dixie.” The Emilie and Choteau are close in our wake; the day is clear, bright and beautiful. We soon passed Tiptonville, the appearance of which was familiar to some of us. Old “Mississipp” is on a “big high,” and like some individuals when in a similar condition, has a general spreading tendency, and without any regard to natural limits or moral propriety, exhibits a great overflowing tendency, and encroaches largely on surrounding territory.

As we pass swiftly along, feeling perfectly secure, the gun boats and a fleet ahead, about 4 P. M. we see our steamers rounded to and lining for a mile the Tennessee shore. As there is no “sight” for sandbars, it must be something ashore that gives us a hint to lay to. Twenty-seven large steamers line the shore, all boats of the largest class – J. D. Perry, Memphis, G. W. Graham, Hannibal City, Emma, &c. Seven gun and several mortar boats and two of the frisky little tugs are also in sight. The boats are crowded to their utmost. It is truly a magnificent fleet, with a respectable army afloat – a scene never before witnessed on the Father of Waters. The tug and gun boats are reconnoitering, and we will know more to-morrow.

MONDAY EVE, 14TH. – All was quiet during the night. As the shore was overflowed where the boats landed, they cast off this afternoon and crossed over and down two miles, landing at a large plantation on the Arkansas side. The owner ran off, leaving only an old negro man and woman, but some 300 head of stock. Though it would, under such circumstances, not be secure in time of peace, it will be protected and remain safe from harm. Strange it is that Secesh are so ignorant and slow to learn.

We are fifty miles above Memphis, and less than five miles below Fort Wright. From where we lay the river runs east then west. The fort is in Tennessee. Our mortar boats have taken position two miles below us on this shore. About noon they opened fire, throwing their shell over the point of land (about a mile) and across the river into their works. The point is heavily timbered, and we can see nothing of the river below nor the fort from this shore. Our gunboat a the end of the bend can see the effect or range of the shot. The mortars lay into shore and as the ponderous shells mount the air we can see the treetops that interpose shattered into fragments, and scattered to the winds. The rebels responded but once, – faintly – as they can do nothing at the range.

A reconnoitering party this afternoon brought in a secesh officer captured in the woods. He was the best dressed officer I have yet seen, and looked like a gentleman. He had an extensive pink musquito bar around his hat and covering his shoulders, giving him a gay appearance. Weather is very warm, and musquitoes, as I write, are buzzing about in a manner not agreeable. All is quiet, and I await the morrow. I received here to-night the GAZETTE of the 12th. Tuesday morning – I have the opportunity and mail.

DIFF.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p. 2

How the Negroes of the District of Columbia Receive their Promised Emancipation

(Washington Cor. N. Y. Tribune.)

In anticipation of the liberty-day that seems so near to them, the slaves all over the city, and the free negroes, who are connected with them by the ties of kindred and sympathy, are dressed in their best to-day (many of them in their seedy best, to be sure,) and are assembled to celebrate this Sabbath as a day of praise and thanksgiving. I have talked with several “candidates” this evening, from whom I gather that this “Thanksgiving Day” has been kept joyously in nearly all their seventeen churches. There seems to have been preconcert among them, and the afternoon was devoted to love feasts.

I attended the Bethel Church, near the Capitol, this morning. The black clergyman preached a very good sermon from the text, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” to an audience of 200 or 300 of his own people.

He spoke of the deliverance of Moses and the children of Israel from bondage; and by a natural transition, referred to the condition of the slaves in America, and especially in this District. He thanked the Lord most fervently that he had been permitted to live to see this day. Forty-three years ago he was tarred and feathered in Washington because he would preach the Lord Jesus as he understood it; “but now,” shouted the sable preacher, “let Ethiopia lift up her hands to God, for a great good is coming out of this war! – A good for me, for us, and for our people, whom every nation has set its heel upon!” His audience was boisterously joyous from the beginning to the end of the discourse. Of course, the expressions and demonstrations were extravagant – true to the quick fancy and fervent hearts of the race. Some rubbed their hands in glee, some laughed outright, some leaped in the air or twisted themselves into grotesque attitudes, as if their joy was too intense to be entertained at a staid perpendicular; many shouted “Glory to God!” “Hallelujah!” “Amen!” “The blessed day has come!” &c.; while nearly all were in tears. When the speaker thanked the Lord that the slaves were to be free, the jubilee became utterly indescribable. What a Babel of triumphant voices! An old “aunt,” off in the right hand upper corner, shouted and wept persistently. Probably she had a reason for it, I thought – perhaps two or three of them, helpless, and in the hands of the kidnappers. “Glory to God!” said the preacher, solemnly and slowly. “Glory to Lovejoy!” yelled a voice at the right that belonged to a strongly built mulatto. “No,” commanded the speaker instantly, “I tell you glory to God!” for he seemed determined from the first word that God should have the undivided praise refusing to give a moiety to the President or Congress. A pair of hands clenched spasmodically the top of the seat in which I was sitting. I looked back and the man was hopping up and down, as if he had just caught a glimpse of Heaven, and presently interrupted the speaker by trying to sing, “I am bound for the land of Canaan.” His face bore a deep scar across the nose, and tears were streaming from the long furrows of his cheeks. He had seen thirty years perhaps, and light gray rage that he gathered about him told me that he had “come out of the house of bondage.” Most of the hearers were partly white; many were mulattoes, quadroons, octoroons – and one or two women, I imagined would attract attention, for their good looks, on Broadway. But what a day of sunshine it was to the stricken souls! They seemed to think little of the kidnapper; they were full of hope, and looked ahead. Such a chorus of exultation I never heard before; such joyful gestures I never beheld – it was a spectacle for men and angels.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p. 2

From Jamaica --- Destructive Fire in Kingston --- Loss $2,500,000

By the arrival of the Plantagenet at New York yesterday, we learn of a destructive fire in Kingston, Jamaica, which broke out on the 4th inst. The Fire caught so suddenly, and communicated from street to street with such rapidity, as to cause the belief that it was the work of an incendiary. The flames raged during the whole of Sunday, 6th inst., and until a late hour in the night. Thirty-seven of the largest mercantile houses in the city have been destroyed, and such was the intensity of the fire that the wharves have been burnt to the water’s edge. The loss of property is estimated at £500,000, a very small portion of which was covered by insurance. The disaster has deprived the island of provisions of all kinds, and it is feared that the inhabitants may suffer from want. – Phila. Press, 17th.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p. 2

Colonel Asbury B. Porter

FIRST COLONEL, FOURTH CAVALRY.

Asbury B. Porter was born in the State of Kentucky, in the year 1808. At the time of entering the service, he was a resident of Mt. Pleasant, Henry county, Iowa, where, for several years, he had followed the business of a merchant and trader. He first entered the service in May, 1861, as major of the 1st Iowa Infantry; and in that regiment he made a good record. His conduct at the battle of Wilson's Creek was mentioned by Lieutenant-Colonel Merritt in terms of much praise. Why he was so unfortunate as colonel of the 4th Iowa Cavalry, I am unable to say. He was the first Iowa colonel dismissed the service of the United States, by order of the President. Before receiving his dismissal, however, he had resigned his commission, and returned to his home in Mt. Pleasant. He left the service in the spring of 1863.

The 4th Iowa Cavalry, at the time of entering the service, was made up of a fine body of men. The Mt. Pleasant schools were largely represented in the regiment; and, in addition to this, there was a larger per cent. of men with families and homes than in any other Iowa regiment previously organized. Its outfit, too, was superior, especially as regarded its horses. Colonel Porter served as his own inspector, and, being one of the best judges in the State of a good horse, he mounted his men in magnificent style. The regiment promised much, and yet it accomplished little worthy of special note, under its original colonel.

The 4th Iowa Cavalry served first in Central and Southern Missouri, and then in Arkansas; and the character of its labors were the same as were those of the 1st Iowa Cavalry, while that regiment was stationed in Missouri. They can not be detailed with interest.

Colonel Porter is a short, stocky man, with a broad, oval face, beaming with much good nature. I speak of him as he looked to me in the stage-coach, in the summer of 1863, on our return from the gubernatorial convention. I did not know who he was till after we had parted, and consequently formed my judgment of his character without prejudice. He is familiar and pleasing in his manners, and makes friends readily. I judged him to be intelligent, and of an extremely social disposition, and thought he would be happy and at home with his friends at a beer-table.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 607-8

Senator Grimes’ Speech

The Pittsburg Gazette says that Senator Grimes’ excellent speech on Monday, against slave catching, directly or indirectly, by army officers and in favor of garrisoning the southern forts with blacks in order to save Northern lives during the sickly season, was listened to with marked attention. Its general views are understood to meet with the approval of most, if not all the Republican Senators.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p. 2

An Incident at Yorktown

An Incident at Yorktown

Our contemporary of the Peoria Transcript says the appearance of our forces at Yorktown recalls some of the more striking incidents in connection with the siege of that historic town by Washington. That siege as is well known – participated in by the combined American and French forces – lasted one month. General Cornwallis, finding himself hemmed in on every side, unconditionally surrendered his army to our victorious army. He wished to give up his sword to the American Commander-in-Chief; but Washington, who saw an opportunity to vindicate “poetic justice,” and compliment a brave but unfortunate associate, conferred the honor of receiving the last token of humiliation from the proud Britton upon General Lincoln. This latter chieftain – one of the bravest men that ever drew a sword – had been compelled, a few months previous, to give up his sword to an English victor at Charleston.

The name is suggestive. Who knows but the incident, with the facts inverted, may be repeated; and that a second enemy of American liberty, finally overcome on that memorable spot, may surrender his sword to a second Lincoln? History is full of strange parallels; of parallels even my strange than this.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p. 2

Emulation at the North

While each State and almost every family at the East and the West are represented in the army fighting in defence of the Union, a generous rivalry exists between the two sections, as to which shall acquit itself the more honorably. This feeling is not confined to the two sections, but States and even counties feel ambition that the troops hailing from their respective localities shall sustain themselves in a manner to elicit admiration. If not carried too far this emulation is praiseworthy, as it will encourage the soldiers to greater exertion. We observe the effect in our own State. At the battle of Springfield, in the beginning of the war, the first regiment enrolled in Iowa acquitted itself so admirably as to elicit praise East and West and established an enviable name for our State. The Iowa regiments that took the field afterward had a reputation to sustain, and nobly they did it at Belmont, Donelson, and Pittsburg. Iowa at this time stands as high, if not higher, than any State in the Union for the alacrity with which she responded to the call upon her to defend the old flag of the Union, for the number of her sons that hastened to enroll themselves in the army and for the noble daring that has distinguished her troops on the battle-field.

Some of our contemporaries, to their shame, are seeking to build up the reputation of the troops of their own States, by undermining those of other States. Particularly are they jealous of the brave sons of Iowa, whose reputation is no factitious nature, but based upon solid merit. With the news of the battle at Pittsburg came intimations that certain regiments had acted in a cowardly manner. The Chicago Times was the first journal to fasten the obloquy upon the State of Iowa. But when the truth came out, it was ascertained that the Iowa regiments had all fought well, and those of another State had been the ones to cluster under then bank and refuse to participate in the engagement.

The Iowa troops ask not for reputation based upon the shortcomings of others, but they wish to stand upon their own merits, and in doing so are willing to concede to the regiments who fled from the battle-field on the 6th of April, that under the circumstances it was no evidence of cowardice. The affair of the first day, without preparation or Generalship, could scarcely be called a battle, and the wonder is, that the whole army was not thrown into utter panic.

An effort is now being made by some of the Illinois papers to throw the onus of the surrender of certain troops on that day on an Iowa regiment. It will not succeed; that certain regiments from this state and Illinois did surrender is true, but not until completely surrounded by the enemy and when any attempt to fight their way through would have been simply suicidal. When the official reports furnish the evidence, it will be time enough to attempt to disgrace regiments; in the meantime let us all united in ascribing honor to the noble troops who so gallantly sustained the reputation of the West, although taken at every disadvantage by a more numerous and better drilled enemy.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday, April 22, 1862, p. 2

Colonel John Wesley Noble

THIRD COLONEL, THIRD CAVALRY.

John W. Noble was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in the year 1831, and is a son of Colonel John Noble, a distinguished citizen of that State. His education is liberal and thorough, and was acquired at Yale College, New Haven. His profession is the law, which he first studied in the office of Hon. Henry Stansbury of Ohio, and afterward at the Cincinnati Law School. In 1857, he came to Iowa and settled in the city of Keokuk, where he formed a law partnership with Henry Strong, Esq. From that time until the breaking out of the war, he practiced his profession with great success, and in the opinion of most competent judges was, without regard to his age, one of the best read lawyers in his district. In the spring of 1861, the firm of "Strong & Noble" ranked only second in ability and business, to the many law firms in the city of Keokuk. In August, 1861, John W. Noble entered the service as adjutant of the 3d Iowa Cavalry. He held that rank till the 18th of November, 1862, when he was mustered to the majority of the 2d Battalion of his regiment. Early in May, 1864, he was made lieutenant-colonel, and in the following June was mustered colonel, vice Colonel H. C. Caldwell.

For several months before he was commissioned colonel, and while he held the rank of major, Colonel Noble commanded his regiment — or rather the 1st and 3d Battalions of it. These battalions were under his command in rear of Vicksburg, during Sherman's advance on Jackson, on the march to Canton, and the raid made by Colonel Winslow of the 4th Iowa Cavalry from near the Big Black River through the country to Memphis. The last named expedition was made in August, 1863, and we resume the history of the regiment from that date.

On the 26th of August, the 1st and 3d Battalions of the 3d Iowa were embarked on boats for Vicksburg, but they had proceeded no farther than Helena, when they were ordered by General Grant in person, to debark and report to General Steele, then marching on Little Rock. It will be remembered the 2d Battalion of the regiment, with the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell, had marched with the cavalry division of General Davidson from Arcadia, and that it now formed a part of General Steele's forces. On the arrival of Major Noble the regiment was therefore re-united after a separation of nearly two years. From September, 1863, until the following February, the histories of the 1st and 3d Iowa Cavalry regiments are nearly the same. They served in the same department, and took part in the same operations; but on the last named date, the 3d Iowa having re-enlisted, came North on veteran furlough. Since that time the histories of these regiments have been widely different.

While en route for the front, after the expiration of its furlough, the 3d Iowa Cavalry was stopped at Memphis, and, in the latter part of April, 1864, was brigaded with the 4th Iowa and 10th Missouri Cavalry. These troops constituted "Colonel Winslow's Brigade;" and by their gallantry in six important expeditions they have made their name distinguished.

An account of the operations against General Forest in the spring and summer of 1864, I have given elsewhere, and I need not detail them here. The 3d Iowa took part in all these operations, and sustained its reputation for gallantry. In the disastrous affair of General Sturgis near Guntown, Mississippi, the regiment lost five killed, eighteen wounded, and forty-nine captured. In speaking of the conduct of his regiment in this engagement, Colonel Noble says:

"My officers and men behaved universally so well that I can not make much distinction among them. But, for their aid in getting a new line to force the enemy at one particular emergency, I deem Captain Curkendall, of Company D, and Lieutenant McKee, of Company B, worthy of particular notice. Major Jones was constantly at his post, and did all a good and brave officer could. If occasion offers, I hope to bring the merits of others of the brave men more prominently forward than I can do now."

Lieutenants Thomas J. Miller and Reuben Delay were both wounded in this engagement and captured.

The loss of the 3d Iowa Cavalry in the expedition made by General Smith against Forest to Tupelo, Mississippi, was one killed, seventeen wounded, and one captured. Major Duffield and Captains Crail, Brown, McCrary and Johnson, are mentioned for special gallantry.

The history of the operations against General Sterling Price in Missouri, in the fall of 1864, is one of great interest, and the brilliant part which the 3d Iowa Cavalry and its brigade sustained in it I give in full.

Colonel Winslow's Brigade had only returned from its second expedition under General Smith against Forest, when it was ordered in pursuit of Price: indeed, it was re-called from Oxford, Mississippi, if I mistake not, for this express purpose. The brigade left its camp near Memphis, at two o'clock on the morning of the second of September, and, crossing the Mississippi, marched to Brownsville, Arkansas, when it arrived on the 9th instant. Here the command rested till the morning of the 18th, awaiting the arrival and organization of the infantry command of Major-General Mower. On the 18th, the march was resumed northward, and, passing through Austin, and Searcy, and crossing the White River fifteen miles below Batesville, and Black River at Elgin, entered Missouri at Poplar Bluffs. Price was now well into Missouri, living liberally, and inviting his rebel adherents to join him. From Poplar Bluffs, Winslow's Brigade marched east to Cape Girardeau, and proceeded thence by boat to St. Louis, where it arrived on the 10th of October.

At this date, there was great alarm, both in Southern Iowa and Eastern Kansas; and the militia in both States were being organized and disciplined to meet the invader. Dollar-men along the border in Iowa, (I do not speak for Kansas) who, during the whole war, had hugged closely to their business and about their firesides, and who had thought of nothing but their per centage, now looked anxiously over into Missouri, and talked loudly of patriotism. I could not pass without paying the patriots this compliment.

Winslow's Brigade rested only one day in St. Louis to refit; then pushed up the Valley of the Missouri River, on the direct road to Independence. The command struck the enemy's trail at Franklin, only thirty miles west from the Mississippi; and at that time Price was at Lexington. On the 22d instant, they reached Independence, where they formed a junction with the cavalry command of General Pleasanton. That same evening the brigade was thrown to the front, and encountered the enemy's rear-guard; for Price was now only a few miles distant from Independence. Of the operations of the 3d Iowa Cavalry that night, Colonel Noble says:

"My regiment, though not having the advance, was dismounted, sent to the front, and immediately engaged the enemy on the Kansas City Road, fighting and driving Clark's rebel brigade a distance of five miles, from five o'clock until nine and one-half P. M., when my command was relieved. The command rested on the field for the night in the face of the enemy, having marched from twelve o'clock on the night of the twenty-first, without water or forage for our animals."

The next morning, the 23d, the 3d Iowa Cavalry was in the saddle by four o'clock, and pressing the enemy. The 10th Missouri and 4th Iowa Cavalry had the advance. It will be remembered that, as early as the 20th instant, General Blunt, under orders from General Curtis, had moved out from Kansas to Lexington and engaged Price's advance. Pleasanton, with his cavalry, soon after struck him in rear, and from that time till the 23d, the date of the battle on the Big Blue, the rebel general was between two fires. It will also be remembered that it was on the Big Blue that the invading army was defeated and disorganized. In this splendid victory, the brigade of Colonel Winslow contributed not a little. Early in the day, Company A, of the 3d Iowa, charged the enemy in a strong position, and captured a stand of colors and several prisoners; and later in the same day, the entire regiment, in company with its brigade, "joined in the gallant mounted charge against the enemy in column of regiments, which was continued through farms and over the prairie for five or six miles." The loss of Price here was extremely severe, and, as I have said, his army was demoralized.

The history of the pursuit, during the two subsequent days, Major B. S. Jones gives as follows:

"Having, at day-light, [the 14th] joined the Army of the Border under General Curtis, we marched early, constantly and rapidly in a southern direction after the retreating enemy, down the line dividing Missouri and Kansas, over extensive prairies, dotted with devastated farms and lonely chimneys, which marked the ravages of war. We marched without halting, until three o'clock A. M. of the 25th, when we reached Trader's Post on the Osage River: there we found the enemy, and eagerly waited for morning. The enemy, having been routed from his position on the river, was followed up at a gallop for several miles by Winslow's Brigade, in the following order: 10th Missouri, 4th Iowa, 3d Iowa, 4th Missouri, and 7th Indiana Cavalry. When he attempted to make a stand, we formed on the open prairie in two lines of battle, supported by eight pieces of artillery.

"My command was formed in line of battle with the brigade, in column of regiments, in their order of march, and constituting the left centre of our whole line. We charged the enemy, breaking his right and centre, killing, wounding and capturing many of his men. Among the captured were Generals Marmaduke and Cabell, the former by Private James Dunlavy, of Company D, and the latter by Sergeant C. M. Young, of Company L — both of the 3d Iowa Cavalry. Companies C, D and E captured three pieces of the enemy's artillery. The whole of my command did nobly on that field, as also on all others, and the highest commendations are due to every man and officer. The remainder of the day was one continual charge upon the enemy, resulting in his complete rout. We rested on the open prairie over night, near Fort Scott, Arkansas."

The charge made by Winslow's and Philip's Brigades, on the 25th instant, against the command of General Marmaduke and near Mound City, was brilliant in the extreme. It was in this charge, and after the rout of the enemy that Marmaduke and Cabell were captured. General Marmaduke was holding Price's rear at the place above designated, and had formed his division in line to check our advance. But he had chosen his position badly. It was at the foot of a gentle slope, and in front of a small creek, skirted with brush. The charge was made down the slope at full run, with the 10th Missouri in the lead, that regiment being followed by the 4th Iowa, and the 4th by the 3d. The sight was a magnificent one. When the 10th came under the withering fire of the enemy, it recoiled slightly; but the 4th dashed on through its line, wheeling partially to the right, and followed closely by the 3d. The 4th Iowa was the first to strike and break the enemy's line. In an instant, the whole rebel line was shattered and fleeing in confusion. The charge was so sudden and impetuous that Marmaduke was left without a command, and a straggler; and thus he was captured. Cabell was captured in like manner. Private Dunlavy, the captor of Marmaduke, was a new recruit, and I am told is a bit of a boy. His home is in Davis county. Sergeant Young is twenty-four years of age, and a native of Ohio.

Immediately after this brilliant charge General Pleasanton issued the following complimentary order:


"General Orders No. 6.

"Head-quarters Cavalry Division,
Fort Scott, Kansas, Oct. 26th, 1864.

"The major-general commanding this division, composed of troops from the Department of Missouri and Winslow's Brigade of cavalry, congratulates the officers and men upon the brilliant success which has crowned their untiring efforts, in this decisive campaign. The battles of Independence, Big Blue and Osage river, have resulted in the capture of Major-General Marmaduke, Brigadier-General Cabell, four colonels and nearly one thousand prisoners, (including a large number of field officers) ten pieces of artillery, seven thousand stand of arms, the destruction of a large portion of the enemy's train, and the routing of their army. The gallant action of Phillip's Brigade of Missouri Cavalry, and Winslow's Brigade, in capturing eight of the enemy's guns on the Osage, was so distinguished as to draw praise from the enemy. ***** The regiments of the 4th Brigade [Winslow's ] are authorized to place upon their colors 'Big Blue and Osage.'

"By command of Major-General Pleasanton, etc."


Resting one day at Fort Scott, Winslow's Brigade continued the pursuit, following Price through Arkansas and the Indian Territory, to a point on the Arkansas River about forty miles above Fort Smith. They failed to overtake the enemy, and soon after turned about, and marched to St. Louis, via Fayetteville and Springfield.

During the Missouri Campaign, the 3d Iowa Cavalry suffered the following loss: six men were killed, and two officers and forty-one men wounded. Lieutenant and Adjutant James H. Watts was shot near Independence, on the 22d of October, and died soon after of his wounds. First Sergeant Lewis G. Baldwin was mortally wounded in the same skirmish. In the battle on Big Blue, Captain J. D. Brown, of Company L, and twelve enlisted men of the regiment were wounded; and, in that known as the Osage, four enlisted men were killed and twenty-four wounded.

In December, Winslow's Brigade left St. Louis and returned to Memphis, where it remained till the 21st instant, and then joined General Grierson in his raid through Mississippi. The route which Grierson followed was as follows: Marching east till he struck the Mobile and Ohio Railroad at Shannon Station, he then turned south and moved down the road until reaching Okalona. From Okalona, he marched south-west, passing through Bellefontaine and Lexington, and arriving at Vicksburg on the 5th of January, 1865. Hood, it should be borne in mind, had already been frozen out at Nashville, (for he is reported to have said that the cold contributed more to his defeat than General Thomas) and was hunting head-quarters in Northern Mississippi and Alabama. The object of Grierson's raid was to destroy Hood's supplies, and his lines of communication, and this was most effectually done. Immense stores and railroad property were destroyed.

Only a portion of the 3d Iowa Cavalry accompanied General Grierson on this expedition. Colonel Noble commanded the detachment, which consisted of eleven commissioned officers and three hundred and nine enlisted men. From Vicksburg, the 3d Iowa returned by boat with its brigade to Memphis, and soon after sailed for Louisville, Kentucky, where the regiment was again united. The regiment's next and last campaign was that made under Brevet Major-General Wilson from Chickasaw on the Tennessee River, to Macon, Georgia, A history of this brilliant march will be found in the sketch of Colonel Winslow, of the 4th Iowa Cavalry.

The enemy were first met on this march at Six-Mile Creek, twenty miles from Montevallo. Here the 3d Iowa charged and broke the enemy's line, and captured one hundred prisoners. The subsequent engagements were those at Ebenezer Church, Selma and Columbus; and in all of them the regiment was conspicuous. Its loss, from the time it left Chickasaw till its arrival at Macon, was about forty, or nearly twenty per cent larger than the loss of either of the other regiments of the brigade. Captain Thomas J. Miller of Company D, who fell at Columbus, was the only commissioned officer of the regiment killed. He was a young man of steady habits, and of much promise. Entering the service as a private of Company D, from Davis county, he was first orderly to Colonel Bussey, then sergeant, and then lieutenant and captain. It will be remembered that he was severely wounded on Sturgis' disastrous expedition against Forest. I am told that he said, when his regiment returned to the front from its veteran furlough, that he should never return alive. He was killed by the concussion of a shell, which grazed his breast as it passed him, and while he was standing in front of his company, just before the charge was ordered. Captain B. F. Crail was severely wounded in the first engagement at Six-Mile Creek, and Lieutenant J. J. Veatch slightly, at Ebenezer Church. These were all the casualties among the commissioned officers. Sergeant John W. Delay of Company I, was killed at Columbus.

And thus the 3d Iowa Cavalry closes its brilliant history in the War of the Rebellion; for Lee has surrendered, and Johnson; and Davis, the head of the Confederacy, is captured.

Colonel Noble is a small, black-haired, black-eyed man, with good education, good ability, and of remarkable energy and .courage. All declare him to be a perfect gentleman, and a model soldier.

I am told that, as soon as news came of the firing on Fort Sumpter, Colonel Noble began studying military law and tactics. From that time forward, he devoted his entire energies to military matters; and, to-day, he is the best versed in military law of any officer from Iowa. He has, in addition to his many other excellent traits, a kind heart, and is watchful of the interests of his men. He has no superior among the Iowa colonels.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 597-606

Gen. McDowell advances from Warrenton to Fredericksburg

WASHINGTON, April 19.

General McDowell’s division yesterday marched from near Warrenton Junction upon Fredericksburg. The road was disputed by a regiment of rebel infantry, one of cavalry, and a battery of artillery. These made two distinct stands but were driven across the Rappahannock. We lost 5 killed and 16 wounded, all cavalry. The rebels burned the bridge over the river at Fredericksburg.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p.1

From Yorktown

FORT MONROE, April 19.

Thirty-nine wounded from Yorktown arrived to-day, making 90 wounded in the fight on the left flank on Wednesday. The whole number was 32 killed and 90 wounded.

In Norfolk papers, Magruder’s account gives 25 rebels killed, including Col. McKinney, and 75 wounded.

Cannonading is heard towards Yorktown, but it is an attempt of the enemy to disturb our working parties. With the exception of the affair at the rifle pits Thursday, they get the worst of the skirmishing. – Work progresses rapidly, and when the siege begins, it will be terrific.

The steamer Hoge has arrived from Newbern on the 18th. Ft. Macon is thoroughly cut off. It has been ascertained that the supply of provisions is short; that no attempt will be made on the fort, but starve them out.

Slight expectations still prevailed that the rebels might attack Newbern, and fortifications were being built for its protection.

Smoke and flames from the Norfolk fire are still visible.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p.1

Special to the Chicago Tribune

CAIRO, April 19.

When Gen. Mitchell reached Decatur, in his late bridge-burning expedition, he took possession of the telegraph office and cut the wires, leaving Decatur and Corinth only in telegraphic communication. Beauregard sent a message to President Davis, urgently demanding reinforcements for Corinth, and saying that otherwise he could not hold the position. Of course General Mitchell promised to send the reinforcements.

The river is still on the rampage, having risen five inches during the night. It is now within a foot of the levee. Intelligence from the Tennessee and Wabash rivers says that a greater volume of water may be expected. Mound City is entirely submerged, the water running into the lower stories of the hospital and private dwellings. The Illinois Central Railroad has discontinued its trips to Cairo, the track being washed away. Passengers for Chicago were compelled to take steamer for Mound City, whence they were carried in scows to the high ground in the rear.

There is nothing of great importance from Pittsburg. The two armies were nearing each other slowly, and each waiting breathlessly for the period when the long roll should announce the renewal of battle. Late arrivals from below bring intelligence of the continued bombardment of Ft. Pillow, participated in by both the gunboats and mortar fleet. The enemy reply vigorously, but doing as yet no damage. Their guns are evidently well manned and excellently well served. There is no expectation of the reduction of Fort Pillow at present. The high stage of water will prevent any cooperation on the part of the land forces for some days.

Every house in Columbus is surrounded by water. The telegraph line between Cairo and Pittsburg is down, carried away by high water.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 22, 1862, p.1