Incidents, Etc., of the Battle

A correspondent of the Chicago Tribune gives the following incidents, etc., as occurring at the battle of Fort Donelson:

One of the boys of the 11^th Illinois stood behind a tree, and fired forty rounds, each time taking a bite of hard-bread and a sip of coffee between firing.  One man in the 2d Iowa had two balls through one leg, splintering the bone in each place, yet begged of a comrade to place him against a tree, saying he was good for forty rounds more, and did sit and fire his whole ammunition at the rebels.

The Second Iowa Regiment charged on the enemy on his extreme right, and forced him from his breastworks at the point of the bayonet, the rebels giving way and cheering lustily, shouting, “Bully for the Iowa boys.”  This regiment has fourteen balls through its flag, its flag-staff twice shot off, and had three color bearers killed successively.

Among the wounded on that glorious field day was Capt. L. M. Rose, Company G, Eleventh Illinois, whose name has not before been reported.  He was formerly the editor of the Effingham (Ill.) Gazette.  He received four wounds by bullets; one in each hip, in the left shoulder, and left hand.  The wounds on the left hip and shoulder were occasioned by spent balls.  Capt. Rose and Major Chipman, of the 2^nd Iowa, who was wounded in the thigh, laid two days in the woods before they were discovered, and the first night upon the ground in a drenching rain storm, suffering inconceivable pain.

It is astonishing what a quantity of artillery they had, from the small 6-pounder to the large 128-pounder, the whole amounting to over one hundred and sixty pieces, and their ammunition was of the best kind, consisting of the most improved shells, chain and grape shot, solid shot and elongated shells and balls.  They had ammunition enough to have stood a two months’ siege.

They also had all the tents that our army required to use after the victory, and of the most approved style, many of them being of the Sibley pattern.  They had built over three hundred log houses, they are very comfortable, having good board floors, chimneys and fire-places made of sticks and mudded up inside.  The houses are about twelve feet square, built in rows, chinked, and them bottomed with long split oak shingles.  Their roofs are of the same material and altogether the houses are as comfortable as one could wish.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, March 4, 1862, p. 2