Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Official Reports of the Campaign in North Alabama and Middle Tennessee, November 14, 1864 — January 23, 1865: No. 165. Report of Lieut. Col. Jed Lake, Twenty-seventh Iowa Infantry, of operations December 15-16, 1864.

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

No comments: