No. 165.
Report of Lieut. Col. Jed Lake, Twenty-seventh Iowa Infantry,
of operations December 15-16, 1864.
HEADQUARTERS
TWENTY-SEVENTH IOWA INFANTRY,
Spring Hill, Tenn.,
December 20, 1864.
LIEUTENANT: I have the honor to report the part taken by the
Twenty-seventh Iowa Infantry in the battle near Nashville, Tenn., on the 15th
instant, and the charge on mountain heights, south of Nashville, on the 16th
instant, and the list of casualties.
On the 15th instant, at 7 a.m., I received orders from
Colonel Gilbert, commanding Second Brigade, Second Division, Detachment Army of
the Tennessee, to send out one company to report to the commanding officer of
the Tenth Kansas as skirmishers. I ordered Capt. S. W. Hemenway, commanding
Company B, to comply with the order. At 8 a.m. I received orders to move the
regiment outside of the intrenchments and form in column by division on the
First Division, right in front. About 9 a.m. I was ordered to deploy column and
move forward. My regiment was on the left of the brigade, our left resting on
the right of the Fourth Army Corps. The skirmishing commenced in our front and
was pretty sharp for about two hours, our men gradually driving the enemy's
skirmishers and the regiment following them in line of battle. From 2 to 4 p.m.
the cannonading was very severe on our right and left, but my regiment was
shielded by the woods and hills so that the enemy's artillery was not directed
at it. At about 4 p.m. Company B joined us, having been relieved as
skirmishers. I received orders from Colonel Gilbert, commanding brigade, to
wheel my regiment to the right and in the rear of the right of the Fourth
Corps. At the same time the charge commenced on the enemy's works. We followed
close in the rear of the Fourth Corps till the works were carried, then moved
by the flank to the right and encamped for the night. No casualties.
On the 16th instant, at daylight, we formed in line of
battle. My position was the left center of the brigade. About sunrise, by
orders from Colonel Gilbert, we made a half wheel to the right and moved
forward across an open field into the Granny White pike, and thence across
another field, under fire of the enemy's guns, in all about a mile. We were
then moved by the right flank about half a mile into a ravine, in a corn-field,
where we were ordered to lie down. Here the fire of the artillery was very
heavy, the missiles from the enemy's battery and our own passing directly over
my regiment. One man of Company I was hit on the hip by a spent musket-ball
while in this position. About 4 p.m. I received orders from Colonel Gilbert to
prepare for the charge. At the command “Forward, double-quick, march!” every
man went forward with a will. In passing between a house in our front and the
outbuildings, both flanks were thrown back and crowded on the center, but, on
reaching the open field about 200 yards in front of the enemy's works,
immediately deployed and went over the parapet in good style. The enemy were
doing their best to escape, and we followed them through the woods and across
an open field and to the foot and up the side of the mountain, until men from
the top hung out the white flag in token of surrender.
Every man and officer behaved with great gallantry, and it
would be unjust to the others to particularize.
List of casualties.*
JED LAKE,
Lieutenant-Colonel,
Commanding.
Lieut. W. G. DONNAN,
Acting Assistant
Adjutant-General.
_______________
* Nominal list (omitted) shows 12 men wounded.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
45, Part 1 (Serial No. 93), p. 485-6
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