COLONEL JOHN WALKER RANKIN

FIRST COLONEL, SEVENTEENTH INFANTRY.

John W. Rankin was born on the 11th day of June, 1823. He is of Scotch Irish descent, his mother being a relation of Burns, the poet. He was educated at Washington College, Pennsylvania, where, graduating at the age of sixteen, he was complimented with the Latin Oration. After leaving college, he taught school for a few years, and then studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1844. Before coming West, he practiced his profession in Wooster, and in Ashland county, being, at the latter place, a partner of Judge Sloan. He settled in Keokuk, Iowa, in 1848. Since living in Iowa, he has been district judge, State senator, United States assistant quartermaster, and colonel. He was appointed Assistant Quarter-Master of United States Volunteers in the summer of 1861, and discharged the duties of the office with credit. In the winter of 1861-2, he was granted authority by the Secretary of War to raise a regiment of volunteers. He entered with energy upon the business of recruiting, and, in a little more than thirty days from the time he began active operations, the 17th Iowa Infantry was mustered into the United States service. Colonel Rankin received his commission on the 17th of April, 1862, and two days later, under orders from Halleck, left Keokuk with his regiment for St. Louis.

In what I have to say of the 17th Iowa, I desire to be impartial. That it was composed of as fine a body of men as ever went out from the State, is true, in proof of which I may state that, at the time it was enlisted, it was supposed, by both the State Executive and the Secretary of War, that it would be the last regiment furnished by the State for the war. Lieutenant C. J. Ball, mustering officer, and Surgeon S. B. Thrall, examining officer, both able and efficient in their respective departments, will bear me witness that no man was passed if he had the slightest physical blemish, and no man mustered unless, in size, he more than filled the letter of the regulations.

It was supposed at the time the 17th Iowa entered the service that the war was near its close. This was the opinion of the chief military men of the day; though nearly all of these men are fossils now. The resplendent victory at Fort Donelson threw the North into ecstasies of joy. That one was soon followed by the bloody triumph at Shiloh; and then it was declared that no more troops were wanted. It might have been so, had first reports been true; for the news of the battle of Shiloh, which was read to the 17th Iowa on dress-parade, declared that twenty thousand Union troops had been placed hors du combat, and that the enemy had lost more than double that number.

The regiment stared in amazement, and thought there were none left to kill. It was well for the enemy that the news was false; for, had it been true, he would have marched back to Corinth with hardly a corporal's guard. The war would have been near its close. "I can crush the rebellion in the South West with what men I have," a certain general in the West declared to the Secretary of War; and an order was even issued for disbanding the 17th Iowa, and was only recalled, after the utmost exertion on the part of Colonel Rankin. Many honestly believed that the 17th would never fire a gun: nevertheless, the regiment has fired more guns, and slain more rebels, than almost any other equal number of men in the field.

The first march of the 17th Iowa was from the St. Louis wharf to Benton Barracks: the debarkation and march was made in the mud and rain; and the regiment experienced a foretaste of soldier-life. Embarking on the steamer Continental, Colonel Rankin left St. Louis with his command for the front, on Sunday morning, the 4th day of May, 1862, and arrived at Hamburg Landing, on the evening of the 6th instant. Under orders from General Halleck, he reported to General Pope, and was assigned a position at the extreme left and front of the besieging army at Corinth. Here began the brilliant record of the 17th Iowa; for, though it was once disgraced on paper, and over the signature of a major-general, it was never disgraced in the eyes of its sister regiments. The regiment arrived at the front, on the evening of the 9th of May, the day of the battle near Farmington, where the 2d Iowa cavalry, and the troops of Colonel Loomis' Brigade deported themselves so handsomely. On the afternoon of that day, the 17th beheld for the first time terror-stricken cowards fleeing from the scene of action. Never present in battle, they are always the first to herald disaster. "Turn back! turn back!!" they said; "the whole army is killed and captured!" but on arriving at the front all was found quiet.

On the 28th of May, 1862, Colonel Rankin received orders to advance his regiment as skirmishers, and, having ascertained the character and strength of the enemy's works, to fall back. Accompanying the order were the compliments of General S. Hamilton in the following language: — "For gentlemanly and soldier-like conduct, your regiment has been assigned this post of honor." The reconnoissance was made in connection with the 10th Missouri, and resulted in a sharp fight. More than one hundred rebels were killed and wounded; and that same night Corinth was evacuated. Next followed the march to Boonville, Mississippi, in pursuit of General Beauregard, and on which General Pope captured thirty thousand stand of arms, and ten thousand prisoners. (?) These were splendid successes; but, though the 17th Iowa had marched near the van, it first learned the glad news while encamped in the woods near Boonville. Beauregard made good his escape, and Pope returned to Corinth. To new troops, this march was one of great hardships. It was made in the early days of Summer, when, in that climate, the days are hot and the nights cool. Uninured to the hardships, and ignorant of the customs of soldier-life, the 17th Iowa suffered severely; for they parted with nothing, and struggled along with burdens that would have broken down even veterans. They would not throw away even a cartridge.

Ordered into camp at Clear Springs, Mississippi, the 17th remained there until the latter part of June, and then joined the forces which marched out beyond Ripley. One incident on this march will be remembered by every member of the regiment who joined in it. It happened on the evening of the second day of the return to Camp Clear Springs. In the evening of that day, which had been cold and rainy, camp was made in a low bottom, and soon after the camp-fires were lighted, a dense fog arose, which was almost blinding. This proved the cause of the fright which followed. At about eight o'clock, sudden cries of alarm were given from the hill above— "For God's sake get out of there, or you will be all dead in half an hour." The regiment was filled with fright, and in ten-minutes' time every camp-fire was deserted. That night the poor fellows slept between corn-rows on the hill-side. Dr. McG– was a wag as well as a good surgeon, and, whether he perpetrated the above in sport or in earnest, I never learned. After returning from the Ripley march, the 17th Iowa remained at Camp Clear Springs until the middle of the following August, and then marched with its division to Jacinto, about twenty-five miles south of Corinth, where it remained till just before the battle of Iuka.

In August, 1862, Hon. Samuel F. Miller, Colonel Rankin's law-partner, was appointed to a judgeship of the United States Supreme Court. The business of the firm was large and complicated, embracing many cases of great importance, which required the personal attention of one of the original members of the firm. Indeed, I am informed that it was the understanding, when Colonel Rankin entered the service, that, in case Judge Miller should leave the firm, the colonel was to resign his commission. At all events, he tendered his resignation, which was accepted on the 3d of September, 1862. On the 19th of September, 1862, was fought the rough-and-tumble battle of Iuka; and Colonel Rankin had not yet left for his home.

Iuka was the 17th Iowa's first engagement, and by the fortunes of war the regiment was temporarily put in disgrace. It was gross injustice, and the fact that the commanding general who issued the order of censure was afterwards retired in shame from an important command affords us no satisfaction. And now I regret for the first time that I was a member of the 17th Iowa, for in stating the truth some may think me partial. How the battle of Iuka was brought on is explained in the sketch of General Matthies. Rosecrans either blundered or disobeyed orders, and it matters not which; for, in either case, he is equally censurable. The battle was fought on the afternoon of the 19th of September, and that morning the 17th Iowa, with its brigade, marched from Jacinto some twenty-five miles southwest of Iuka. Immediately after arriving at the front the regiment was hurried into the action. Its position was at the cross-roads and along an open ridge; and just across a narrow ravine, filled with dense brush, were the enemy. Hardly had the regiment come into line, when it was met with a terrible volley of grape, canister and musketry, and General Sullivan ordered it to a less exposed position. While Colonel Rankin was giving the proper command for the movement, that happened which was the cause of the regiment being censured. A portion of Rosecrans' body-guard, in reconnoitering at the front, came on the enemy's line. Surprised and alarmed by the terrible fire which met them, they rode hurriedly back, and finding the 17th Iowa drawn up across the road dashed through its ranks, knocking down and injuring several men. At about the same time, Colonel Rankin's horse was shot, and, becoming unmanageable, ran and threw him, his head striking the roots of a tree, which rendered him insensible. Captain Anderson of the 80th Ohio, supposing him dead, laid him by the side of a tree, where he remained till late that night. For months afterward, I am told, the colonel did not recover from the effects of this stroke.

Standing for the first time under a galling fire; overrun and its ranks broken by stampeding cavalry; its commanding officer disabled, and all happening in the same instant, is it matter of wonder that the 17th Iowa was thrown into temporary confusion, and partially disorganized? A portion of the left wing got separated from the right; but the greater part of the regiment was present throughout the engagement. Indeed, it may be said that, in all its hard-fought battles, the 17th Iowa never did better, all things considered, than it did in its luckless fight at Iuka. Go read the inscriptions on its battle-flags! go count its gallant dead, whose bleaching bones give additional sacredness to a dozen battle-fields! or, what you may more easily do, go ask those who know its history, if the regiment has not a gallant record. And it was not ingloriously begun at Iuka.

The losses of the 17th Iowa at Iuka, numbered about forty. Among the killed was Lieutenant Oliver H. P. Smith, a good man and a brave officer. He was shot in the midst of confusion, and doubtless by our own men; for the ball entered the back of his head, and he never turned his back to the enemy. Captain, now Lieutenant-Colonel S. M. Archer was among the severely wounded. He had just before assumed command of the regiment.

It was reported that Colonel Rankin was under the influence of liquor in the action at Iuka. If he was, and if the injury he received was attributable to that fact, I do not know it. I have been told by officers of the regiment (for I was not present in the engagement) that all the liquor was destroyed before the troops were marched out from their camps. In addition to this, I was told by Assistant Surgeon McGorrisk, afterward surgeon of the 9th Iowa Infantry, and still later, surgeon-in-chief of the 1st Division, 15th Army Corps, that, while the command of Rosecrans was en route for Iuka, General Stanly rode up to Colonel Rankin and asked him for a drink. The colonel, pulling his flask from his pocket, replied, "I am sorry, general; but you see I hav’nt [sic] got any." Lieutenant Delahoyd, brigade adjutant-general, was present, and confirms the above statement. I am no particular friend of Colonel Rankin, for he is the only officer who ever threatened to put me in arrest, and, as I think, unjustly. But then, it is my duty to give facts as they are. The truth is, the conduct of the 17th Iowa would never have been censured, had it not been for the malice of a certain brigadier, and the disappointment of a certain aspiring captain, who dared in no other way to strike at the reputation of Colonel Rankin.

Colonel Rankin is a small man, with light complexion, and a nervous-sanguine temperament. Before entering the service, he was unused to hardship and exposure, and, for many weeks after entering the field, suffered much from sickness. He is warm-hearted, generous and unassuming; and no man of his influence and standing, in the State, has fewer enemies than he. In politics, he is an ultra-Republican, though with both parties in his county he has always been popular. With an average democratic majority of five hundred, he was, in 1858, elected to the State Senate from Lee county. All were surprised, but only a few disappointed. The colonel is quick to invent, quick to execute, and has one of the best legal minds in Iowa,

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 313-20

COLONEL ALEXANDER CHAMBERS

SIXTEENTH INFANTRY.

Alexander Chambers is thirty-two years of age, and a native of the State of New York. I know little more of his history prior to his entering the volunteer service except that he was a lieutenant of the 18th Regular Infantry, and a resident of Owatonna, Minnesota. After the war broke out, and before he was made colonel, he served as a mustering officer of Iowa troops. He was the United States mustering officer of the following Iowa regiments: the 1st, 2d and 4th Cavalry; and the 1st, 2d, 3d, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 13th and 14th Infantry. Though not an Iowa man, his military services certainly go to the credit of the State. He was commissioned Colonel of the I6th Iowa, in February, 1862, and served with this rank till the winter of 1863-4, when he left the volunteer service and returned to his former position as captain in the 18th Regular Infantry; for he had been promoted to a captaincy, in the summer of 1861.

Colonel Chambers' first engagement, which was also the first of his regiment, was Shiloh. In that action he was slightly wounded. The position of his regiment in the first day's battle was on the right of the l5th Iowa, and the part it sustained sufficiently appears in the sketch of General H. T. Reid. In the closing paragraph of an official statement concerning this engagement, Colonel Chambers says:

"The field officers were particularly cool under a destructive fire, and rendered great assistance. The horses of all the field and staff officers were killed or wounded, evidently showing an intention on the part of the enemy to pick off the most prominent officers. Captains Ruehl and Zettler, both gallant men, were killed or mortally wounded, and 1st Lieutenant Frank N. Doyle, a brave and efficient officer, was also killed. The loss during Sunday's fight was two officers and sixteen non-commissioned officers and privates killed, and nine officers and twenty-four non-commissioned officers and privates wounded, and fifteen non-commissioned officers and privates missing."

Among the wounded officers, were Captains A. Palmer, E. S. Fraser, and E. M. Newcomb; and Lieutenants Lewis Bunde, J. H. Lucas, G. H. Holcomb, and Henry Meyer. It was reported that the regiment did not conduct itself with credit, but its losses tell a different story. The conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel A. H. Sanders was especially gallant, as it ever after was, in the face of the enemy.

It is elsewhere stated that immediately after the battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, the Iowa Brigade was organized, and that the organization was preserved till the close of General Sherman's campaign through the Carolinas, in the spring of 1865. The 16th Iowa was the junior regiment of this brigade, and much relating to its history will be found in the sketches of Generals Crocker, Reid, Belknap and Hedrick, and Colonels Hall and Shane. But the 16th has a chapter in its history, not to be found in those of the other regiments of its brigade. It fought Price at Iuka; was conspicuous upon the field, and suffered terribly in killed and wounded. Next to the 5th Iowa Infantry, it lost more heavily than any other regiment on that bloody field.

"For some ten days or more before the final move of the rebel army under General Price, eastward from the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, it was evident that an attack upon Corinth was contemplated, or some change to be made in the location of that army. This caused great vigilance to be necessary, on the part of our cavalry, especially that to the southern front, under Colonel Mizner. The labor of watching and occasional skirmishing was most satisfactorily performed, and almost every move of the enemy was known as soon as commenced. About the 11th of September, Price left the railroad — the infantry and artillery probably moving from Baldwin, and the cavalry from the roads north of Baldwin, toward Bay Springs. At the latter place, a halt of a few days seemed to have been made; likely, for the purpose of collecting stores and reconnoitering our eastern flank. On the 13th of September, the enemy's cavalry made their appearance near Iuka, and were repulsed by the small garrison under Colonel Murphy of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry, still left there to cover the removal of stores, not yet brought into Corinth. The enemy appeared again in increased force on the same day, and, having cut the railroad between there and Burnsville, Colonel Murphy thought it prudent to retire to save his force."

How the 16th Iowa became separated from its brigade and fought with Rosecrans at Iuka happened thus: When Colonel Murphy was attacked by the enemy, he sent back for reinforcements: Colonel Crocker was directed to send a regiment to his support. The 16th Iowa was ordered forward, and thus formed a junction with General Rosecrans. In speaking of the part the 16th and other regiments of his command bore at Iuka, General Rosecrans says:

"The 16th Iowa, amid the roar of battle, the rush of wounded artillery-horses, the charges of a rebel brigade, and a storm of grape, canister and musketry, stood like a rock, holding the centre, while the glorious 5th Iowa, under the brave and distinguished Matthies, sustained by Boomer, with his noble little 26th Missouri, bore the thrice-repeated charges and cross-fires of the rebel left and centre, with a valor and determination, seldom equaled, and never excelled by the most veteran soldiery."

So far as I can learn, the killed and wounded of the 16th Iowa at Iuka numbered about sixty-five. Colonel Chambers was wounded and obliged to turn his command over to Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders. Lieutenant and Adjutant George Lawrence, a gallant young officer, was killed. Captain A. Palmer and Lieutenant J. H. Lucas of Company C, were both wounded, as they had also been at Shiloh. Lieutenants Alcorn and Williams were also wounded, both severely. Iuka was the 16th Iowa's second engagement, and their courage and intrepidity, on that field, was a triumphant answer to all insinuations of former ungallant conduct. They were the heroes of their brigade, and when they marched back to re-join it they were looked on with admiration, and received the eager gratulations of their sister regiments.

Next in the history of the regiment is the battle of Corinth, a full account of which Has been given elsewhere; It lost its commanding officer at Iuka, and suffered the same misfortune at Corinth. Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders was severely wounded in the thigh, in the afternoon of the first day's fight. Of this gallant officer's conduct, Colonel, afterward General Crocker says:

"Lieutenant-Colonel Add. H. Sanders, who commanded the 16th, is entitled to great praise. He rode along the line of his regiment, amid the storm of bullets, encouraging his brave boys, who had so lately suffered at Iuka, to remember their duty, and, although severely wounded, remained with his regiment until it marched off the field."

Major William Purcell succeeded Colonel Sanders in the command of the regiment. Its loss in the engagement I have been unable to learn, but, next to the 15th Iowa, it suffered more severely than any other regiment of its brigade. Major Purcell was slightly wounded, but not so severely as to compel him to leave the field. Captain C. W. Williams was taken prisoner. Color-Sergeant Samuel Duffin, and Color-Corporals McElhaney, Eighmey and Karn are mentioned for their gallant conduct on the field.

The pursuit of the defeated and dispirited rebel army to the Hatchie, and the return to Corinth; the march to the Yockona late that same Fall; the trip down the Mississippi to Young's Point, and the operations around Vicksburg; the march to Mechanicsville, up the Yazoo; the expedition to Jackson, and the escape of Johnson; the raid to Monroe, Louisiana, and, later, that to Meridian, Mississippi; the long and tedious march from Clifton on the Tennessee, to North-western Georgia, In the Spring of 1864, and the operations of the Iowa Brigade on the memorable Atlanta Campaign, will be found in the sketches of those officers and regiments, whose histories they help to make up. The 16th Iowa Infantry took part in all these operations.

It has already been stated that Colonel Chambers resigned his commission in the winter of 1863-4. Subsequently to that date, the 16th Iowa has been commanded by that excellent officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders. Indeed, for many months prior to the resignation of the former officer, Colonel Sanders commanded his regiment; for, on the departure of General Crocker to assume command of the 7th Division, of his corps, Colonel Chambers succeeded him in the command of the Iowa Brigade.

I pass now to the most interesting and exciting chapter in the history of the 16th Iowa — a chapter which, could I write it as it was made, would equal any passage in war-literature. Certainly no regiment in all Sherman's grand army of "ninety-eight thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven men" can furnish an instance of greater and more distinguishing valor, than that of which I write.

How Sherman, having crossed the Chattahoochie, threw his army by a grand right-wheel around Atlanta, with the Army of the Tennessee — Blair, Logan and Dodge — on the left, I have written elsewhere. In the sketch of General Belknap, I have also given an account of the enemy's opening attack, which, for suddenness and desperation, would have done credit to the best marshals of France. The 22d of July, and the assault on Sherman's left, are the day and the battle of which I speak. The 16th Iowa "was posted upon the left of the 11th Iowa, and in the immediate front of the 13th Iowa, the 15th Iowa being upon the left and upon a prolongation of the line of the 13th, the brigade being the left of the 4th Division, which held the left wing of the Army of the Tennessee." The 16th Iowa, therefore, held the extreme left and front of Sherman's victorious legions — a post of honor deserving double honor, on account of its gallant defense. "Companies B and G, under the respective commands of Captain Henry Lefeldt and Lieutenant Timm, were deployed as skirmishers in front, connecting on the right with the skirmishers of the 11th Iowa, and on the left with those of the l5th." This position had been taken up, and these dispositions had been made, (earthworks in front of each regiment having been in the meantime constructed) on the previous afternoon. And it is proper to state in this connection that the left of the Army of the Tennessee had not joined in the general advance made by Sherman's army on the morning of the 22d.

As elsewhere stated, the ground occupied by the Iowa Brigade was open, with the exception of being covered with under-brush; but, immediately after taking up the position, the 11th, 15th, and 16th Iowa had "policed" in their front, from thirty to fifty yards. No enemy could pass that line under cover, and to come within it was almost certain death. The skirmish line was posted in the thicket beyond.

Just before noon of the day in question, General Giles A. Smith, in person, had directed Colonel Sanders to have his regiment ready to fall in at a minute's notice, adding, "you must hold your works to the last, as the safety of the division may depend on the delay occasioned the enemy at this point." This was the last order received by Colonel Sanders from his superior that day. Already the reign of ominous silence, which commonly precedes great battles, portended the approaching conflict, and, hardly had General Smith rode back to his head-quarters, when the roar of musketry along the skirmish line signaled the advance of the enemy. It was sharp and spiteful, and told the brave boys, who sprung for their guns and the trenches, that a desperate struggle was at hand. Instantly the skirmishers, with anxious faces, made their appearance, and came running back to the works. They were sent back by Colonel Sanders, but had scarcely entered the thicket, when they were fired on and again driven back. The enemy were coming in heavy line of battle, and closely on the heels of their own skirmishers, while the 16th Iowa, crouched in their trenches and, with their muskets pointed toward the threatened point, awaited their approach. "When you fire, fire low, but don't fire a gun till you receive my command, no matter how near they come," were the orders of Colonel Sanders, and they were strictly obeyed. Then followed a moment of anxious, protracted suspense and then the opening battle.

The enemy advanced their line boldly into the clearing in front of the Sixteenth's works, and, with bayonets fixed and their pieces at a charge, began raising their accustomed shout, when Colonel Sanders gave the order to fire — first to the rear rank, and then to the front. " The response was a terrific and deadly volley from one rank, followed immediately by another, and then a continuous, rapid firing, as fast as eager, experienced soldiers could load and discharge their guns. The result of our fire was terrible. The enemy's line seemed to crumble to the earth; for even those not killed or wounded fell to the ground for protection. Another heavy line of the enemy advanced, and was repulsed in the same terrible manner. Officers and men worked enthusiastically, and guns became so heated that they could not be handled, the powder flashing from them as the cartridges were dropped in. The officers prepared the cartridges for the men, and helped them load their guns. More splendid firing, or more effectual in its results, was never before witnessed in the army." I have taken the above from Colonel Sander's report; for, should I make the same statement myself, it would pass for fiction.

Simultaneously with the attack on the 16th, the 11th and 15th Iowa were charged in their works. The left of the 15th had no protection, and, as the enemy came swinging round to its rear, it had no alternative but to draw out of its works and retire. The 11th Iowa was dislodged in like manner. But just before this occurred, the enemy in front of the 16th (the 2d and 8th Arkansas and two companies of Texan troops) put up the white flag and surrendered as prisoners of war. When they arrived in Colonel Sanders' rear, he found that he had two prisoners for every man in his ranks. But there were other prisoners to the left, or men whom Captain Smith claimed as prisoners, but who refused to throw down their arms. Learning this, Colonel Sanders hurried down to the left, and began disarming them himself, but he had taken the guns of only two, when he was surrounded by a rebel squad, who demanded: "Surrender, Sir, and we won't hurt you." Startled by such a demand, he turned and looked about him. For the first time he now saw that the works of the 13th and 15th Iowa in his rear were in the possession of the enemy. Believing that he had held his works "to the last," and hoping that he might break away and escape with his regiment to the rear of the 11th Iowa, he sprung away, and, with the exclamation — "I am not talking of surrender now," hurried back to his command. The rebels stared in wonder and none fired at him except a rebel captain, who instantly after was shot dead by Captain Lucas of the 16th Iowa.

On reaching the right of his regiment, the last hope fled; for the works of the 11th Iowa were already in possession of the enemy. The regiment was thus surrounded, and had no choice but to surrender or be butchered. The 16th Iowa was the sixth Iowa regiment to be captured nearly entire. "The regiment numbered, on the morning of the twenty-second, four hundred and twenty-five effective men: of these, a fatigue detail of three officers and eighty men was made in the morning, most of whom were captured afterward, while fighting in front of field-works near by."

During the Atlanta Campaign, or rather up to the 23d of July, the 16th Iowa lost in killed, wounded and captured, three hundred and sixty-eight men. Of these, twenty were killed, and one hundred and six wounded. Private Charles M. Stark was the first man of the regiment killed. He was shot through the head on the 14th of June, and while on picket near Big Shanty, Georgia. From the 14th of June to the 22d of July following, hardly a day passed without adding one or more to the regiment's list of casualties; and to show the character of warfare in which the regiment engaged, it may be stated that, of the twenty killed, nine at least were shot through the neck or head. Quarter-master-Sergeant John W. Drury was the only man killed by a shell, and Corporal James Huntington, the only one killed by a solid shot. Lieutenant George H. Holcomb was one of the killed, and among the wounded were Captains Hugh Skillings and Peter Miller, and Lieutenants Thomas A. Burke and Samuel Duffin: the latter afterward died of his wounds.

The greater part of the enlisted men of the 16th Iowa, who were captured on the 22d of July, were exchanged in September, 1864; but the officers were held until the following Winter and Spring. The regiment has closed the interesting portion of its history in the siege of Atlanta, and in the Savannah and Carolina Campaigns, all of which operations have been fully detailed.

I am told Colonel Chambers is a trim, black-haired, black eyed gentleman, with the airs and deportment of a regular army officer. He was a severe disciplinarian, and, by reputation, ranked well with the Iowa Colonels. After the fall of Vicksburg, he was appointed by the President a brigadier-general; but the appointment failed confirmation in the Senate. His status defeated him; he was neither an Iowa nor a Minnesota man. Iowa would indorse his appointment, provided he was credited to Minnesota, and Minnesota, vice versa. He is the only Iowa officer who was killed by having too many friends.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 303-12

COLONEL NICHOLAS PERCZEL

FIRST COLONEL, TENTH INFANTRY.

Nicholas Perczel is a native of Hungary, where he was born in the year 1813. He has a military education, and passed a number of years in active service, before coming to this country. For several years, he has been a resident of Davenport, Iowa, where he has been engaged in the business of merchant and trader. He was made colonel of the 10th Iowa Infantry, on the 1st day of September, 1861, and held that position till the 1st of November, 1862, when he resigned his commission.

Authority to recruit the 10th Iowa Infantry was granted by the War Department to J. C. Bennett, in July, 1861. Mr. Bennett was afterward major of the regiment. He, aided by F. M. Mills, Esq., of Des Moines, a brother of the late Colonel Mills of the 2d Iowa, had nearly completed the regiment's enlistment, when it was ordered to rendezvous at Iowa City. The manner in which the regiment was officered created considerable dissatisfaction; but this will not be matter of interest, either to the old members of the regiment, or to the public.

Colonel Perczel first served with the 10th Iowa in Missouri. He was engaged in the skirmish near Charleston, on the morning of the 6th of January, 1862, his loss being eight killed, and sixteen wounded. These were the first men the 10th Iowa lost in battle. The colonel was also present at the capture of New Madrid, and Island No. 10; and with his regiment formed a part of the force which, at Tiptonville, captured five thousand of the enemy. After operations were completed in this direction, the 10th Iowa sailed with the command of General Pope to Hamburg Landing, on the Tennessee, and served with that general during the siege of Corinth, on the left of the besieging army.

Colonel Perczel commanded a brigade before Corinth, two regiments of which were his own and the 17th Iowa; and during the siege of that city was engaged in two important reconnoissances and skirmishes. The first of these was made on the afternoon of the 26th of May, with a force consisting of the 10th Iowa, and four pieces of artillery. With the enemy, this skirmish assumed the importance of an engagement; for, saying nothing of his wounded, he admitted a loss of one hundred and twenty-five in killed. The 10th Iowa, the only troops on our side that suffered loss, had only eight men wounded. The losses were so disproportionate as to give the above statement an air of improbability; but its truth is well vouched for.

On the morning of the 28th of May, two days later, the 17th Iowa and the 10th Missouri of the same brigade had a skirmish with the enemy, in which the losses were nearly as disproportionate. These troops were sent out under the immediate command of Colonel Holmes of the 10th Missouri; and moving against the enemy's extreme right, which was held by the commands of Price and Van Dorn, came within musket-range of the two strong forts on the hills to the south of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. The enemy supposed they were being attacked in force, and came swarming out of their works and down the steep hills to oppose the advance; while their pickets, skirmishers and reserves, hurried with greater haste in the opposite direction. Corinth was evacuated that night, and, on passing over the ground the next morning, where the skirmish took place, ninety-three new graves were counted. The Union loss in this encounter was about thirty in killed and wounded.

On the fall of Corinth and the hasty retreat of the enemy, the division of General Schuyler Hamilton, to which Colonel Perczel's Brigade was attached, followed in pursuit, and marched as far south as Boonville, on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The route from Corinth lay through the heavily timbered swamps, which form the head-waters of the Tombigbee River, and which would be, at any season of the year, difficult of passage to a large army with baggage-trains and artillery. There was but little fighting; but, one day of the march it rained incessantly, which rendered the corduroy roads almost impassable. Add to this the fact that the army had for a long time been lying before Corinth inactive, and the hardships and fatigue of the march can be imagined. One scene on the road, at a point some six miles north of Boonville, will never be forgotten by those troops who, on the night of the 2d of June, ascended from the swamps to the up-lands, near mid-night. On an open, even, but gradually-sloping field, containing not less than two thousand acres, and facing the Corinth road to the north-east, just in front of where it rises from the bottom-lands and turns to the left, were encamped nearly two entire divisions. The previous afternoon had been rainy, and the soldiers, cold and wet, had built large and brilliant camp-fires throughout their entire encampment. The sky was still hung with dark, heavy clouds, which, as viewed from the point in the road above mentioned, formed the background of this magnificent scenery — the grandest I ever witnessed. It was literally a city of fire, and was ample compensation for the slippery, hazardous, mid-night-march over the never-to-be-forgotten one-mile-of corduroy.

Pursuit was made to a few miles south of Boonville; but the enemy, with the exception of some hundreds of stragglers and deserters, had made good his escape with his shattered legions. To pursue further would so extend the line of communications as to imperil a safe return; and a "right about" was therefore ordered to Corinth. Returning to the vicinity of Corinth, the 10th Iowa went into camp at Clear Springs, a place three and a half miles south of Corinth, and so called from the beautiful, translucent springs which gush out from the foot of the hills, on which the camp was made. The regiment remained here and at Jacinto, the county-seat of Tishamingo county, and some twenty miles south of Corinth, till the 18th of the following September; when, with the balance of General Rosecrans' command, it was ordered out to engage the forces of General Price, then supposed to be intrenching [sic] themselves near Iuka. In this heedless, blundering fight, the 10th Iowa held the left of its brigade, and, like the other regiments of its brigade, suffered severely.

The pursuit of the enemy in his hasty retreat on the morning of the 20th, and the bloody battle at Corinth on the 3d and 4th of the following October, and subsequent pursuit of the rebel forces to and beyond the Hatchie, form the next chapter in the history of this regiment. With the close of these operations also closed the colonelcy of Nicholas Perczel; for, as has already been stated, he resigned his commission on the first of the following November.

He had in the meantime been recommended for promotion to brigadier-general, but for some reason was not appointed by the President.

Among the officers of the 10th Iowa with whom I became acquainted early in the regiment's history, were Major, afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel Nathaniel McCalla, Captain Albert Stoddard and Lieutenant and Adjutant John Delahoyd; and I hope that, in giving their names special mention, I shall do no injustice to other officers of the regiment equally deserving. I never met Major McCalla without thinking of an old Roman lieutenant. He is rough in exterior and in manners, and as gallant and generous as rough. Captain Stoddard is a handsome and most genial fellow, and was, in the spring and summer of 1863, Judge-Advocate of the old 7th Division. In the hour of battle, and at the convivial board, he always took his place in the front. Lieutenant John Delahoyd was one of the most reckless aids and adjutant-generals that ever carried a dispatch in the face of the enemy. He distinguished himself at Corinth. Having ridden out with the 17th Iowa to assign it a position, he put the regiment under a terrific fire of grape and canister, and then, directing it to lie down, sat and watched the enemy from his horse. Whenever the enemy were about to fire, he would say: "Lay low, Seventeenth." It is a wonder how he escaped being killed. He was General Sullivan's adjutant-general, and was one of the most popular officers of the brigade.

During the siege of Corinth, (I believe it was on the 22d of May) and while his brigade was encamped near Farmington, an incident occurred which the colonel will never forget. That morning a company of the 3d Michigan Cavalry, which, like all the troops before Corinth, had seen but little service, was stationed beyond the picket-line, as vedettes on the extreme left. And I should add further that, an attack from this direction was being anticipated, and the extreme left wing, by reliefs, was engaged in digging rifle-pits, and in cutting the timber which would form a cover for the approach of the enemy, and obstruct the range of the artillery. All was quiet, and the work was steadily progressing, until about two o'clock in the afternoon, when, instantly, a cry of alarm was heard in the direction of the enemy, and, turning the eye down the road, a cavalry-man was seen coming at the top of his speed, standing upright in his saddle, and whirling his drawn sword about his head in the wildest manner. In an instant he had passed, shouting in a frantic, broken voice, "The enemy are coming against the left in force! The enemy are coming against the left in force!" All were instantly under arms, and, with breathless determination, stood waiting the approach of the enemy. The guns of the 6th Wisconsin Battery, hurriedly charged with canister, were turned in the direction of the threatened attack, when Colonel Perczel, riding down the road and out through a large, open field to the right, suddenly saw — that he was sold. The captain of the 3d Michigan Cavalry had been frightened at the approach of one of our own scouting parties. Colonel Perczel was chief in command, and felt the sell most keenly; but he only said: "Whare es dat cap'n ob de Third (?) Mee-che-gan Cabalry, wat run widout firing one gun?"

Colonel Perczel is about six feet in hight [sic], and both slender and erect. He has a lively, gray eye, and, in the service, wore a long, heavy, gray beard. Naturally he is excitable, but in danger was cool and brave, and was greatly loved by his command. He knew his merit as a military man, and was chagrined at being placed under the command of officers who were not only his inferiors in military knowledge, but who would get beastly drunk on duty. To escape this unpleasant situation, I am advised, was the chief cause of his leaving the service. The general, whom he most despised, died late in 1862, at Corinth, of mania apotu.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 215-20

BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB G. LAUMAN

FIRST COLONEL, SEVENTH INFANTRY.

Jacob Gartner Lauman was the fourth volunteer officer from Iowa, promoted to a brigadier. He was born in Tarrytown, Maryland, on the 20th day of January, 1813; but removed with his family, when young, to York, Pennsylvania. In 1844, he came West, and settled in Burlington, Iowa, Where, engaging in mercantile pursuits, he has since made his home. At the outbreak of the war, he took an active part in enlisting and mustering our volunteer troops, and, on the 11th of July, 1861, was commissioned colonel of the 7th Iowa Infantry — later, the heroes of Belmont.

While under the command of Colonel Lauman, the 7th Iowa was stationed and served at the following points: — Jefferson Barracks, Pilot Knob, Ironton, Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Missouri; Cairo, Illinois; Fort Holt, Mayfield Creek, Camp Crittenden and Fort Jefferson, Kentucky; and Norfolk and Bird's Point, Missouri. The regiment was stationed at the latter place, on the 6th of November, 1861, when it sailed on the Belmont expedition, the object of which was, "to prevent the enemy from sending out re-inforcements to Price's army in Missouri, and also from cutting off columns that I [Grant] had been directed to send out from Cairo and Cape Girardeau, in pursuit of Jeff Thompson."

On this expedition, the battle of Belmont was fought; and the conduct of Colonel Lauman in the engagement, together with that of his regiment, gave him his early popularity as a military leader. At Belmont, the 7th Iowa greatly distinguished itself, and received from General Grant, in his official report, the following mention: — "Nearly all the missing were from the Iowa regiment, (the 7th) who behaved with great gallantry, and suffered more severely than any other of the troops."

Just when the enemy had been driven from their camp, and down the steep bank of the Mississippi, Colonel Lauman, while giving Captain Parrott instructions with reference to the captured artillery, was disabled from a musket-shot wound in the thigh. He was taken back to the transports on one of the guns of Captain Taylor's Battery, just in advance of his regiment, and was only in time to escape that terrible enfilading fire that well nigh annihilated the rear of Grant's forces.

A remarkable incident occurred while the troops were re-embarking after the battle. It is well vouched for, and worthy of record. The last transport had just cut its hawser, and was dropping out into the stream, when the enemy suddenly appeared on the bank with artillery. One piece was hastily put in battery, and leveled on the crowded decks of the transport. The rebel gunner was just about pulling the lanyard, when a shell, from one of the Union gun-boats, burst directly under the carriage of the gun, throwing gun, carriage and all high in the air. The carriage was demolished, and, while still in the air, the gun exploded. The rebel gunner and several others were killed; and the lives of at least a score of Union soldiers were saved by this remarkable shot.

"It was after the retreat had commenced that Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz was killed. He died on the field of battle, like a true soldier; he was a truly brave man, and did his duty well and nobly. Lieutenant Dodge of Company B was killed, and Lieutenant Gardner, who commanded Company I, and Lieutenant Ream of Company C, mortally wounded. Among my officers, more or less severely wounded, you will find the names of Major Rice, Captains Harper, Parrott, Kittredge and Gardner, and 1st Lieutenant De Heus, (who commanded company A) of whose bravery I desire to speak in the most emphatic manner. I desire also to direct your attention to Captain Crabb, who was taken prisoner, and who behaved in the bravest manner. But I might go on in this way and name nearly all my command, for they all behaved like heroes; but there are one or two more I feel it my duty to name as deserving special mention. Lieutenant Bowler, adjutant of the regiment, and Lieutenant Estle, whose conduct was worthy of all praise, and private Lawrence A. Gregg, whose thigh was broken and he left on the field; he was taken prisoner and his leg amputated, but he died the same day, telling his captors with his dying breath, that, if he ever recovered so as to be able to move, he would shoulder his musket again in his country's cause."

"My entire loss in killed, wounded, prisoners and missing, out of an aggregate of somewhat over four hundred, is as follows: Killed, fifty-one; died of wounds, three; missing, ten; prisoners, thirty-nine; wounded, one hundred and twenty-four. Total, two hundred and twenty-seven."

Having recovered from his wound, Colonel Lauman re-joined his regiment; and at the battle of Fort Donelson was placed in command of a brigade, composed of the 2d, 7th and 14th Iowa, and the 25th Indiana. At Fort Donelson, the gallantry of his brigade — more especially that of the 2d Iowa — made him a brigadier-general. From what occurred just before the successful assault was made, it seems that the success of his troops was unlooked for by Colonel Lauman; for to Colonel Tuttle, who desired to lead the charge, he said: "Why, sir, you can't go up there; didn't I try it yesterday?'' And to the reply of Colonel Tuttle, that he would, if he lost the last man of his regiment, he said, "Oh, sir! you'll soon get that taken out of you." After the assault of the 2d Iowa at Fort Donelson, Colonel Lauman believed there was nothing that brave men could not accomplish.

After being promoted to the rank of a brigadier, General Lauman was assigned to the command of a brigade in General Hurlbut's Division, with which he fought in the left wing of Grant's army at Shiloh. Colonel Williams of the 3d Iowa having been disabled in that engagement, General Lauman succeeded him in the command of his brigade; which command he retained until the following October. He marched with Sherman and Hurlbut from Corinth to Memphis, after the fall of the former place; and, in the following Fall, when the enemy began to show activity in the neighborhood of Corinth, returned with Hurlbut to the vicinity of Bolivar, Tennessee; near which place he was encamped just before the battle of Iuka. To mislead the enemy under Price at Iuka, or, as General Grant expresses it, "to cover our movement from Corinth, and to attract the attention of the enemy in another direction, I ordered a movement from Bolivar to Holly Springs. This was conducted by Brigadier-General Lauman." On the 5th of October, General Lauman commanded his brigade in the battle on the Hatchie.

General Hurlbut's march from Bolivar to the Big Muddy, about two miles west of the Hatchie, has already been given in the sketch of Colonel Aaron Brown. The battle of the Hatchie, or Matamora, opened between the Federal and Confederate artillery, the former stationed on the bluffs, and the latter in the Hatchie Bottom. After a brief artillery duel, the 2d Brigade, General Veatch commanding, charged the enemy's infantry that had crossed the bridge to the west side of the stream, and routed them. Falling back across the bridge, they, with the balance of the rebel forces, took up a position on the opposite bluffs. General Ord, now coming to the front, determined to attack the enemy in their strong position, and accordingly ordered General Veatch to push his brigade across the bridge.

The topography of the battle-ground on the east side of the Hatchie, is thus well given by Lieutenant Thompson, of the 3d Iowa Infantry:

"Beyond the river there was about, twelve rods of bottom, and then there arose a very high and steep bluff. Along the brow of this, the enemy, rallying and reinforced, had formed new lines of battle, and planted artillery, which, from different points, enfiladed the road and bridge, and swept the field on both sides of the stream. Following up the river just above the bridge, it makes an abrupt elbow, and comes down from the east, running parallel to the road on the opposite side [of the bridge]. In this elbow, and on not more than half an acre of ground, a part of General Veatch's Brigade, according to the orders of General Ord, would have to deploy."

Crossing the bridge and filing to the left, it was possible to gain the enemy's right flank; for on that side of the road the north point of the bluffs could be passed; and what seems strange is that, a man of General Ord's ability should not have discovered this strategical point. The balance of General Lauman's Brigade, which was of the reserve forces, was now ordered across the bridge, and directed to file to the right, into the inevitable pocket. General Lauman, accompanied by his orderlies, led the advance. To cross the open field, and then the bridge, was a most perilous undertaking; for, on the bluffs on the opposite side, as has already been stated, the enemy's artillery was so planted as to give them a converging fire on both the field and bridge. General Lauman reached the opposite side in safety, followed by the other two regiments of his brigade, one of which was the 3d Iowa Infantry.

The battle was now raging with great fury, the enemy from their elevated position pouring a deadly, continuous fire on their helpless victims below, whose returning fire was almost wholly ineffectual. Confusion must soon have followed; but just then General Ord was wounded, and General Hurlbut assumed command. He at once crossed the bridge, and, in person, directed a flank movement around the bluffs to the left. The troops employed were the 46th Illinois, the 68th Ohio, and the 12th Michigan. The enemy's right flank was soon gained and turned, which compelled them to abandon the bluffs; — and thus the day was saved from disaster.

This pocket-blunder of General Ord, and the subsequent indiscretion of General Lauman, have been considered by some as connected with the latter's ill-fortune at Jackson, Mississippi, in the summer of 1863. The story is as follows: — In the winter of 1862-3, a supper was given in Memphis, where Generals Ord, Veatch, Lauman and others, were present. When the wine was passing, and all were merry, the affair on the Hatchie occurred to General Lauman, and he remarked to General Ord: —"General, that was a bit of a blunder, in putting us into that pocket, wasn't it?" (I may not give the language, but I give the idea.) General Ord, it is said, made no reply; but gave his eyes a wicked leer, which, even then, some thought meant mischief.

Soon after the battle of Matamora, General Hurlbut was made a major-general, and assigned to the command of the District of Jackson, Tennessee. General Lauman succeeded him in the command of his division.

If we except the march of General Grant into Central Mississippi, in which General Lauman joined with his division, his military history, for the six months following the battle of Matamora, is void of great interest. During this time, he had his head-quarters, first at Bolivar, then at Moscow, and then at Memphis. When Vicksburg was beleagured, he left Memphis to report to General Grant in rear of that city; and, on the fall of Vicksburg, marched with his division on the, to him, unfortunate campaign to Jackson. His position before Jackson, and what happened on the 12th of July, appear in the sketch of Colonel Aaron Brown, of the 3d Iowa Infantry. With reference to a further history of this affair, I shall only add an extract from the official report of General Sherman.

"On the 12th [July], whilst General Lauman's Division was moving up into position, dressing to his left on General Hovey, the right of his line came within easy range of the enemy's field artillery and musketry, from behind his works, whereby this division sustained a serious loss, amounting in killed, wounded and missing to near five hundred men. This was the only serious loss which befell my command during the campaign, and resulted from misunderstanding or misinterpretation of General Ord's minute instructions, on the part of General Lauman.

At the time of the occurrence of this misfortune, General Ord's head-quarters were to the right of the Clinton and Jackson road, and near where the left of his command rested. Near that of General Ord's, was the tent of Surgeon Wm. L. Orr of the 21st Iowa. When the heavy firing opened in front of General Lauman's command, Ord, in a tone of much surprise and alarm, called hurriedly to one of his aids: "What does that mean? what does that mean? Ride out there quickly and see." General Lauman was at once relieved of his command, and ordered to report to General Grant at Vicksburg. Upon his departure he issued the following order:


"Head-quarters Fourth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps,
In The Field, Near Jackson, Miss., July 12th, 1863.

"Fellow-soldiers :

Having been relieved from the command of the 4th Division by Major-General Ord, the command is turned over to Brigadier-General Hovey. To say that I part with my old comrades with sorrow and regret, is simply giving expression to my heart-felt feelings. I shall ever remember the toils and hardships we have endured together, and the glory which the Old Fourth has won on hard-fought fields, and the glory which clusters around their names like a halo — with pride and satisfaction.

"And now, in parting with you, I ask a last request, that, in consideration of your past fame, you do nothing, in word or deed, to mar it; but that you give to your present or future commander that prompt obedience to orders which has always characterized the division, and which has given to it the proud position which it now enjoys.

"Officers and soldiers, I bid you now an affectionate farewell.

"J. G. Lauman,
Brigadier-General."


But for his ill-fated blunder at Jackson, General Lauman would doubtless ere this have been made a major-general.

Reporting to General Grant, he was sent, I think, to an Eastern Department, and assigned a command somewhere in Northern Virginia; but before his arrival, the command had been given to another. He was then ordered to report to his home in Burlington to await further orders from Washington, which, thus far, he has failed to receive. The general, I am informed, has made frequent efforts to secure an investigation of the causes, whereby he was thrown under opprobrium, but without success. Rumor says that both Grant and Sherman have put him off with, "we have no time to convene courts-martial.''

The war is now closing, and he will, probably, go out of the service, without being restored to a command. Indeed, his health is broken down, and he is now totally unfit for service.

Like the majority of the Iowa general officers, General Lauman is of only middle size. His person is slender, and his weight about one hundred and forty pounds. He has a nervous, excitable temperament, and a mild, intelligent countenance.

As a military leader, he is brave to a fault, but he lacks judgment. He would accomplish much more by intrepidity, than by strategy; and, if his intrepidity failed him, he might lose every thing.

He has been a successful merchant, and stands among the wealthy men of Burlington. As a citizen, he has always been held in the highest esteem, and is noted for his kind-heartedness and liberality.

Source: A. A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 163–170

BRIGADIER-GENERAL C. L. MATTHIES

SECOND COLONEL, FIFTH INFANTRY.

Charles Leopold Matthies was the first man in the State of Iowa, and in the United States, to tender a military company to the Government, to aid in crushing the rebellion. The tender was made by letter through Governor Kirkwood, on the 9th day of January, 1861. The general can not be prouder of the distinction which this act has secured him, than is the State of Iowa.

General Matthies is a Prussian by birth, and was born in Bromberg, on the 31st day of May, 1824. When sixteen years of age, his father, an affluent fanner, sent him to the University at Halle, where he received a thorough military education. On leaving that University, he returned home; and, from that time till he reached his twentieth year, he labored on his father's farm. At the age of twenty, he entered the Prussian army; and, in 1847, served in the campaign against the Insurrectionists, (the Poles) under General Miroslawski. In 1848, he resigned the commission which he had won by his good conduct, and a few months later emigrated to America, arriving in New York in the spring of 1849. In the latter part of the same year, he came to Iowa, and settled in Burlington, where, engaging in mercantile pursuits, he has made his home ever since.

General Matthies entered the volunteer service, as captain of Company D, 1st Iowa Infantry — that noble regiment which, by its heroism at Wilson's Creek, established the military prowess of the State. He was not present in that engagement; for, in the latter part of July, he received notice of his promotion to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 5th Iowa, and at once left to report to that regiment. After the death of Colonel Worthington, he was promoted to the colonelcy. He shared with his regiment the fatigues and hardships of the Missouri campaigns; was with it at Island No. 10, and during the siege of Corinth; and yet, prior to the battle of Iuka, his name was hardly known outside of his own brigade. It was his courage and gallantry in that sanguinary battle that made him distinguished in his army corps, and earned for him the commission of a brigadier-general.

After the evacuation of Corinth, the 5th Iowa, under Colonel Matthies, joined in the pursuit of Beauregard to Boonville, and returned thence to Clear Springs, near Corinth. Late in June, it marched to Ripley with its division; returned immediately to Rienzi, and, on the 10th of July, marched back to Clear Springs. From Clear Springs it changed camp to Jacinto, and, from that point, marched against Price at Iuka, in the evening of the 18th of September, 1862. With the exception of the last, the regiment met the enemy in none of these movements.

General Rosecrans, by incautiously pushing his advance too far, precipitated the battle of Iuka on the afternoon of the 19th of September, when, in accordance with pre-arranged plans, it should have been fought on the morning of the 20th. General Grant first arranged to fight the battle as early as the morning of the 19th instant; and, with that understanding, the forces of Ord moved out from Corinth in the afternoon of the 17th, and the evening of the next day came up with, and drove in the enemy's pickets. But at that hour the chief part of Rosecrans' command was still at Jacinto, and the time for making the attack was changed. General Price, divining Grant's plan of concentration, hurried out from Iuka in the afternoon of the 19th, and threw his entire army against Rosecrans, hoping to overwhelm him before Ord could come up; and thus it happened that Rosecrans fought alone the heedless battle of Iuka. There is another version of this affair, which, judging by the authority from which I receive it, is doubtless the correct one: that Rosecrans, ambitious, and desirous of superseding General Grant, moved up against Price for the express purpose of bringing on a battle and winning glory, well knowing at the time that he was disobeying orders. Any other general, except the magnanimous Grant, would have at once relieved him and put him in arrest.

The 5th Iowa under Matthies, together with the 10th, 16th and 17th Iowa, the 10th Missouri and 80th Ohio, were among the troops in the van of Rosecrans' forces, and were the first to encounter the enemy. The struggle which ensued was protracted and desperate in the extreme; indeed, for courage and endurance it has few parallels. No pen can do more than credit to the 5th Iowa Infantry for its heroism in this terrible engagement. During the fore part of the day, while en route from Jacinto to Iuka, this regiment led the advance of the 3d Division, and, for more than six miles, continued to drive back the enemy, who, in small force, made repeated stands. When the enemy were finally met in force some three miles southwest of Iuka, the 5th Iowa was one of the first regiments in line of battle; and, from that time until it fired its last cartridge, it maintained its position. Its list of casualties is proof of its gallantry. It lost in killed, wounded and missing, from an aggregate of four hundred and eighty-two that went into the fight, two hundred and seventeen men. Fifteen commissioned officers were killed and wounded; and, of the enlisted men, thirty-four were killed, and one hundred and sixty-eight wounded. Lieutenants Lafayette Shawl and E. M. Holcomb were killed, and Captains John Albaugh and Joel Brown, and Lieutenants R. F. Patterson, J. W. Casad, A. L. Mateer, A. Ellis, J. E. Page, Benjamin Jarvis, A. B. Lewis, S. S. Sample, J. E. Pangborn, W. C. Huber and W. H. Colton were wounded. Lieutenant Mateer died of his wounds soon after the battle. Among those mentioned for special gallantry were Lieutenant-Colonel Sampson, and Lieutenant and Acting-Major Patterson, and Lieutenant Marshall. Nearly all were equally deserving of mention.

The 5th was General S. Hamilton's pet regiment; and, after the battle, Colonel Matthies enclosed to him his official report, to which he received the following reply:

"NEW York, October 27th, 1862. " Colonel, C. L. Matthies, 5th Iowa Infantry:

"My Dear Colonel: In sending to me the report of the brilliant conduct of the 5th Iowa at Iuka, September 19th, 1862, you have given me a very great pleasure, as well as paid me a great compliment. When I read the newspaper accounts of battles in the vicinity of Corinth, though still sick, my heart thrilled with pride and satisfaction at the splendid conduct of the regiments composing my old division, especially that of the 5th Iowa and 26th Missouri.

"To show you how well understood it is, the 5th Iowa has become a household word with us, and my youngest boy, a prattler of four years of age, when asked what company he belongs to, says, (and he breakfasts in his knapsack) 'Company A, Fifth Iowa—papa's pet regiment.'

"I am under orders from Washington, and though I may not again have the honor to number the 5th Iowa among those under my command, I shall always point to its conduct, as an evidence of the character of the troops from that State, and how kindly they respond to, and confer honor upon those who have diligently endeavored to look after their welfare, discipline, and instruction, which I honestly think I may claim a share in having done. Feeling, Colonel, that their honor is my honor, I shall watch their future career with the same interest I watched over them when a part of my command. Write my compliments and kind remembrances to all. Believe me, very truly your friend,

"SCHUYLER HAMILTON, "Major-General Volunteers, U. S. A"

The 5th Iowa Infantry next engaged the enemy at Corinth- October 3d and 4th, 1862; and, from that date until the 24th of April, 1863, the time of Colonel Matthies' promotion to brigadier-general, its history is the same as that of the 10th and, I might add, that of the 17th Iowa; for these three regiments served in the same division.

After receiving, in April, 1863, a brigadier's commission, General Matthies was ordered to report to General McPherson, who assigned him to the command of the 7th Division, 17th Army Corps; but this order being soon after recalled, he was given command of the 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 15th Army Corps, which he commanded, under General Sherman, from Grand Gulf to Jackson and thence to the rear of Vicksburg. He continued in command of this brigade until the death of Colonel Boomer, of the 26th Missouri, when he was sent back to his old army corps, and given command of the 3d Brigade, of the 7th Division. On leaving the command of General Sherman, that officer honored him with an autograph letter, in which he complimented him highly for his efficient services. His new command was composed of the following troops: the 5th and 10th Iowa, the 26th Missouri and 93d Illinois—four as gallant regiments as ever met the enemy in battle. In the latter part of January, 1864, he was given command of a temporary division, made up of different regiments of the 15th Army Corps, with which he marched to East Tennessee, to aid in driving back Longstreet, who was then threatening Knoxville. Returning from this expedition, he was assigned to an important command, with head-quarters at Decatur, Alabama. He had charge of the Nashville and Decatur Railroad as far north as Linnville, and of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad as far east as Huntsville. He removed his head-quarters to Decatur, on the 1st of May, 1864, and at once began fortifying that place. The works which he erected were of the most imposing character;—so formidable that General Hood, in his flanking tour north, did not essay their capture. In the latter part of May, 1864, the general tendered his resignation, which was reluctantly accepted.

I should not close this sketch without stating briefly the distinguished part General Matthies sustained in the operations around Chattanooga, in November, 1863. General Bragg was defeated in the evening of the 24th, and his only hope, on the morning of the 25th, was to save his baggage, stores and artillery. The point on Mission Ridge that commanded the road over which these must pass was on Grant's extreme left, and, during the entire day of the 25th, the divisions of Ewing, John E. Smith, Morgan L. Smith and Jefferson C. Davis had sharp and sanguinary fighting for its possession; but it had been so strongly fortified, and Bragg had massed his troops there to such an extent that, all efforts on the part of General Sherman were fruitless. There was no harder fighting done on any portion of Mission Ridge or Lookout Mountain, than was done on this point; and acts of individual gallantry, on the part of the Union troops, were numerous. Colonel Holden Putnam of the 93d Illinois, although not an Iowa man, deserves special mention; and nothing can give the Iowa troops, who fought with him on Mission Ridge and at Champion's Hill, more pleasure than to meet his name on these pages. His was the first regiment of General Matthies' Brigade to scale the hill from the White House and assault the enemy in their strong works. His command was instantly repulsed; but, undaunted, he rallied his men, and, seizing the colors, dashed on to the top of the hill in spite of all remonstrances. He was shot dead instantly, through the head. The 26th Missouri soon followed the 93d Illinois, and then the 5th and 10th Iowa, with General Matthies in person; and still the enemy, rejoicing in the strength of their numbers and position, maintained their ground. The 2d Brigade of the same division now came up; but in a few moments after the enemy, emerging in strong force from the railroad tunnel near by, and with their movements concealed by dense brush, suddenly made their appearance in rear of the right flank, when a retreat was ordered. The command was, "For God's sake, get out of this!" It was on that hill-top that General Matthies was wounded; and it was that wound, together with the exposures and hardships of the previous campaign, that broke down his health, in consequence of which he tendered his resignation. He was an excellent officer, and had a reputation for promptness and trustworthiness that but few enjoyed in his division.

General Matthies is a little above the medium in size, with a full breast and heavy shoulders. He has mild, gray eyes, and a round, full, good-natured face. To look at him, you would not take him for a foreigner; but he no sooner speaks than he betrays his nativity. He has never been able to master the accent of our language. He is one of those men whom to know is to like. His sanguine temperament, and earnest, open-hearted disposition enables him, in his happy moods, to talk and laugh with extreme good nature, and, in his less happy ones, to hate and berate his enemies most intensely. He was always on kind and familiar terms with every soldier of his command, and his familiarity in no way interfered with his discipline. The soldiers loved "old Dutchie," he was so good and brave.

I can not take leave of General Matthies without relating the following: When the division of John E. Smith was in camp back of Memphis, late in February, 1863, the general chanced one day to be general officer of the day. At about seven o'clock in the morning of the day in question, a captain, whose 2d lieutenant had deserted to the enemy the night before, and whose 1st lieutenant was enjoying himself in the city, arrived on the picket-line to relieve the old picket-guard. The captain left his reserve in charge of a sergeant, while he went to distribute the first relief at the different posts, and give proper instructions. In his absence, the officer of the day made his appearance. Having at some point stole his way through the lines, he came riding down the road at full speed, and was on the reserve before the sergeant could get his men in line to receive him. The general, who was dressed in a common soldier's overcoat, and without any scarf or other insignia of his office, began administering a rebuke for negligence; but was quickly cut short by the sergeant, who replied, "How did I know who you was? you haven't got any scarf on; I thought it was a soldier just coming in from foraging." "Well, well," said the general, "I know; but — you must be on the watch for guerrillas."

SOURCE: Stuart, A. A., Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 131-8

COLONEL AARON BROWN

SECOND COLONEL, THIRD INFANTRY.

Aaron Brown was born in Mississippi, about the year 1822, and is the only native from that State who has held a colonel's commission from Iowa. He entered the service from the county of Fayette, Iowa, and was the first lieutenant of Captain Carman A. Newcomb's company. He was made captain, April 8th, 1862, and promoted to the majority of his regiment, after the resignation of Major William M. Stone. I am unacquainted with Colonel Brown's history, prior to his entering the service.

In resuming the history of the 3d Iowa, I shall go back to its encampment at Shiloh, where it rested immediately after the battle. It was the same whence it had marched on the previous Sunday morning to the bloody field. Its dead comrades it had gathered and buried; and now it rested and contemplated the scenes of the past conflict. It had won military glory; but was this an equivalent for its dead comrades just buried? All were sad, and yet all hearts swelled with secret and inexpressible joy at their miraculous escape from harm. Shiloh had taught the regiment a new lesson—to respect the valor of the enemy, and, needlessly, not to seek a new encounter; and such has been the experience of every regiment that has once met the enemy in a desperate engagement. No one will a second time leave his cot in the hospital to be present in battle, and yet there are hundreds of instances where this thing has been done by novices. Good soldiers soon learn to do their whole duty, and no more.

During the siege of Corinth, and for several months after, the 1st Brigade of the 4th Division was commanded by General Lauman; but neither the 3d Iowa, nor any other regiment of the brigade, met the enemy during the environment of that place. I of course, except the affairs on the skirmish line. Before the fall of the city, there was but one affair in front of the 3d Iowa, which approached to any thing like an engagement : this was the charge of the 8th Missouri, of General Sherman's command, to capture a block house, known as Russel's House. The charge was successful, and gave the regiment an enviable reputation; and it sustained its name well, for it was this same regiment that so distinguished itself nearly a year after, at Raymond, Mississippi. The position of the 4th Division before Corinth was to the left of General Sherman, that general holding the extreme right of the besieging army. While the 3d Iowa was lying in the trenches before Corinth, it was joined by Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, who had but just recovered from his sickness. "All welcomed him joyfully."

Much was expected of General Halleck at Corinth. He had command of the finest army that had ever been marshaled in the South West. The enemy, in his disasters at Shiloh, had lost his best general; his troops were dispirited; and it was expected, nay demanded, that Beauregard and his army be either routed or captured. But, if General Grant had been lazy in pressing the enemy after his defeat at Shiloh, so was Halleck cautious not to push him to a new engagement. He thought he would capture the whole thing, never dreaming, I suppose, but what Beauregard was fool enough to sit still and be surrounded.

But, presto change! At a quarter before six, on the morning of the 30th of May, a deafening explosion was heard in the direction of Corinth, and, instantly, dense clouds of smoke were seen rising over the city. But few wondered at the cause. Pope had told Halleck several days before that Beauregard was evacuating; and that time Pope told the truth. Many privates, even, could have told as much. Pope had begged eagerly for permission to swing the left wing against the enemy's works; but, No! The severe jar that all had just felt was caused by the explosion of the enemy's magazines. And so the enemy escaped, and the government gained — a little, sickly, strategical point. The whole army was at once put under arms, and marched, a part into Corinth and a part in pursuit of the enemy. With the divisions of Sherman and Hurlbut, there was a strife to see who would be first in the city: who was the winning party, I never learned. I only know that we, of Pope's command, were put in pursuit.

Corinth fell on the 30th of May, 1862, and, seven days later, Memphis was surrendered to Captain, now Rear-Admiral Charles H. Davis. On the 2d of June, and before the fall of Memphis, the 4th and 5th Divisions, under General Sherman, left Corinth, and marched west in the direction of the last named city. The object of this movement was, I believe, to co-operate with the fleet of Ellett and Davis in the capture of Memphis, and ultimately to open up the railroad between that place and Corinth. The news of the fall of Memphis reached these troops while they were camped on the high bluffs that overlook the Big Hatchie—that stream which, four months later, General Hurlbut's Division was to render historic. Before them, where they were then encamped, lay the future battlefield of Matamora.

After considerable delay at La Grange and Moscow, General Sherman resumed the march to Memphis, where he arrived with his command on the 21st of July. The 3d Iowa led the van of its division into the city. On the 6th of September following, General Hurlbut was ordered back in the direction of Corinth; and, on the departure of his division from Memphis, the 3d Iowa was again in the van.

On the 13th of September this command was encamped at a point on Spring Creek, where it remained till the 19th instant, when a detachment of it, consisting of the 1st Brigade and two battalions of the 2d Illinois cavalry, under General Lauman, marched south to create a diversion in favor of General Grant. It will be remembered that this was the date of the battle of Iuka; and the reason of this movement on the part of General Lauman will be found elsewhere. General Lauman's scouts came on the enemy in the vicinity of La Grange. They were moving north in force; the column, on the march, was a mile and a half in length. The force of Lauman being unequal to engage them, that general beat a hasty retreat, and marched till he came within supporting distance of General Hurlbut; but the enemy, although they pursued, declined to give battle. Northern Mississippi was at this time full of scouting parties of the enemy: they were actively developing their plans for the re-capture of Corinth and the destruction of General Grant's army. Price was disheartened by his defeat at Iuka; but Van Dorn resolved to strike again at Corinth.

While General Hurlbut was encamped near Bolivar, Tennessee, on the 3d of October, 1862, he received orders to march promptly in the direction of Corinth; and the next morning reveille beat at one o'clock. Soon after the column was in motion. He had his own division, and, in addition to these troops, the 68th Ohio and 12th Michigan, two regiments of Ross' command that had come down from Jackson. The march was to be made in light trim — only two wagons to the regiment. The ambulances were to go along, and the men knew that all this meant fighting. The march was pushed rapidly, and, just beyond Pocahontas, the cavalry van-guard came on the enemy's pickets. That night the column reached the Big Muddy, about two miles west of the Hatchie, and that same forenoon Van Dorn and Price had been repulsed and utterly routed at Corinth. All that afternoon, the enemy had been in rapid retreat in the direction of the Hatchie; but of all this General Hurlbut was ignorant.

The 1st Brigade had just stacked their arms, and were preparing supper, when it was reported that the cavalry in front were engaging the enemy. Instantly orderlies began flying to and fro, and for a time there was much apprehension; but the firing soon ceased and all remained quiet till morning. That night General Ord arrived from Jackson via Bolivar, and reported the defeat of the enemy and his subsequent retreat in the direction of the Hatchie. He would probably be met on the morrow, and all nerved themselves for the conflict. General Ord, who was the ranking officer, now assumed command of the forces. In the early part of the engagement which followed he was wounded, and retired from the field, leaving Hurlbut in command of the Federal forces. To Hurlbut, therefore, belongs the credit of that brilliant victory.

The battle of the Hatchie, or Matamora, was fought on the 5th of October, 1862, and was an unequal and most desperate engagement. It was good fortune for the 4th Division that the enemy had been previously routed and demoralized; and also that he was being hard pressed by Rosecrans: had this not been so, General Hurlbut and his command must have been certainly crushed. Even after the demonstration of the Federal cavalry of the previous evening, on the west bank of the Hatchie, the enemy never dreamed that there was any considerable force to resist his advance. He supposed it was a small cavalry command, sent forward to harrass him on his retreat. Therefore, on the morning of the 5th, he began pushing his infantry across the Hatchie with all confidence; his surprise can be imagined, when he met the division of Hurlbut. Beating a hasty retreat back across the bridge, he took up a strong position on the bluffs opposite; but the particulars of this engagement appear in the sketch of General Lauman. The 3d Iowa was one of the regiments that was filed to the right, into the pocket, and, with the other troops there stationed, was subjected to a murderous fire, without being able to protect itself, or return it. But for the movement round the bluffs to the left, General Hurlbut must have been defeated before Rosecrans came up.

The disproportion in killed and wounded of the 3d Iowa was unprecedented: two only were killed, while nearly sixty were wounded. One of the former was Lieutenant Dodd. He was struck by a shell just before reaching the bridge, and killed instantly. Captains Weiser and Kostman were wounded, as also were Lieutenants Hamill, Foote and C. E. Anderson. The latter was wounded just at the close of the battle, after having done his duty nobly. In their conduct in the battle, the men of the regiment vied with the officers; and their names should all be recorded, to go down in honor to posterity.

After the fighting had closed and the result of all three battles learned, there was both sadness and rejoicing. The 3d Iowa, with its division, marched back to Bolivar, and there tendered and received congratulations. General Hurlbut was lavish of his praises to all his troops: — "Comrades in battle, partakers of the weary march and long watches! the title of the Fighting Fourth, earned at Shiloh, has been burnished with additional splendor." He was now Mr. Hurlbut, and no longer General. His heart was as warm and tender as a woman's. But he had covered himself with glory, had been made a major-general, and was now taking leave of his division.

After the battle of the Hatchie, the seven subsequent months were not eventful to the 3d Iowa Infantry. General Lauman succeeded General Hurlbut in the command of the 4th Division, and under him the regiment remained, and, in the following spring, followed him to Vicksburg. It had in the meantime made many fatiguing marches, the most important of which was that under General Grant, through Central Mississippi to the Yockona. For many weeks it was stationed on guard-duty at Moscow, on the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. During these seven months, there had been many changes in the regiment, the chief one of which was the resignation of Colonel Williams, and the promotion of Major Brown to that rank.

On the 18th of May, 1864, the 3d Iowa left Memphis for Vicksburg. Its days of rest and quiet camp life had passed, and now, for many months to come, it was to endure the hardships and breast the dangers of active field service. With its brigade it sailed up the Yazoo River, at day-light of the 21st of May. The object was to open up communication with Sherman, then just forcing the enemy back into his inner-works at Vicksburg. It is claimed that companies G and K, of the 3d Iowa, were the first to occupy the enemy's strong works at Haine's Bluff; but about this there must be some mistake.

One incident in the passage of the 3d Iowa from Memphis to Vicksburg, I must not omit to mention. The Crescent City, on which the regiment was embarked, had arrived, in the afternoon of the 19th instant, at the bend of the river near Island No. 65, and was sailing on unsuspectingly, when it was suddenly opened on with two howitzers from the eastern bank. Thirteen men of the regiment were wounded at the first discharge, one of them mortally; but, before the guerillas had time to re-load, a gunboat came up and drove the wretches from their cover. This circumstance will be remembered, when I state that the 41st and 53d Illinois, having landed and pursued the guerillas without being able to overtake them, returned and burned to the ground the village of Greenville, some two miles below the scene of murder. If reports were true, its fate was merited, and for other reasons; for it was said that, early in the war, a father and his son, Union residents of Greenville, were headed up in barrels by the fiendish citizens, and rolled down the steep bank into the Mississippi.

Before Vicksburg, the services of the 3d Iowa were the same as those of the other troops, buried in the heated trenches around that beleaguered city.

I now hasten to the most eventful chapter in the history of the 3d Iowa Infantry — its charge on the enemy's works at Jackson, Mississippi, on the 12th of July, 1863. Vicksburg had fallen, and the 3d Iowa had marched with the forces of General Sherman against Johnson [sic], who, for several weeks, had been raising the siege—with official dispatches. On the advance of Sherman, Johnson had fallen back and planted himself behind his works at Jackson; and there he was on the 12th of July, in a state of siege, confronted and watched by three corps—the 9th, under Parke, on his right; the 15th, under Steele, in his front; and the 13th, under Ord, on his left. General Lauman was in Ord's command, and his division held the right of Sherman's army. And thus matters stood on the morning of the 12th of July.

At the date above mentioned, it was thought by General Ord that the position of Lauman's Division was too much retired. He therefore ordered it forward, so that its left should dress on the right of General Hovey, whose division, from right to left, came next in order. Its right was to be thrown forward so as to correspond with the advance on the left. The object was to shorten and strengthen the line, and not to bring on an engagement; nor would one have followed, but for the aspirations of an ambitious general, who was charged by his own men with hunting for promotion among the slaughtered and mangled soldiers of his command.

The scene of this merciless butchery is south of the city of Jackson, and between the New Orleans and Jackson Railroad and Pearl River. "At about 9 o'clock in the morning," (I quote from Major Crosley's official report) "the 3d Iowa, 41st and 53d Illinois Infantry, and the 5th Ohio Battery of six guns crossed the New Orleans and Jackson Railroad, at a point about two miles south of Jackson, and one mile from the enemy's works. After crossing, line of battle was formed, skirmishers thrown out, and the line ordered forward. After advancing about one-fourth of a mile, the line was halted; and the battery, placed in position one hundred yards in our rear, opened fire with shell, and continued to fire rapidly for about twenty minutes. The enemy replied promptly with two guns, getting our range the first shot. As soon as the battery ceased firing, the line again moved forward. We advanced half a mile through timber and a dense under-growth, our skirmishers meeting with no opposition, when, coming to the edge of an open field, the line was again halted. Here we were joined by the 28th Illinois, which took position on our right." There the line should have rested; but General Lauman now coming up, ordered it forward.

This was now the position: In front were open, undulating fields, cleared of every thing that could afford protection or cover, even down to corn-stalks; about four hundred yards in advance were the enemy's skirmishers, backed by reserves, and, a little further on, a strong line of works, so constructed as to give the enemy a concentrated fire on a charging column. Behind these works, in addition to two brigades of infantry, were fourteen cannon—more than two full batteries, whose dark mouths spoke almost certain death to assailants. There was in addition, a formidable abattis, constructed with occasional gaps, to pass which, it would be necessary for the charging party to break its line and assemble in groups. This formidable strong-hold was to be carried by less than one thousand men, and that, too, without any diversion in their favor.

The brigade advanced in compliance with orders, until it had reached, forced back and occupied the position of the enemy's skirmishers. The order had been to move forward; but Colonel Pugh, the brigade commander, believing there must be some mistake, again reported to General Lauman — this time in person. He explained to the general the point his command had reached, the position of the enemy, and the character of his works, and then waited for further orders; but they were still the same — to move forward. There could be no mistaking the general's purpose. All, from field-officers to privates, saw the situation; but, although the movement filled them with amazement, there was no faltering. Literally, they were to enter the jaws of death; but they would not sully their good name by disobeying orders.

The order to advance was given, and the whole line moved forward at double-quick and in perfect order, when — but what need of further recital? They were, of course, repulsed. Many, passing the abattis, advanced to within pistol-shot range of the enemy's works; they could go no further, and, after struggling a few moments, retreated precipitately. As soon as the exhausted, bleeding troops reached the edge of the timber, whence they had advanced before encountering the enemy's skirmishers, they rallied promptly, and, soon after, were marched back to the point on the railroad at which they had crossed in the morning. All the dead, and nearly all the wounded, were left upon the field; nor would the enemy allow them to be reached and rescued by flag of truce; and there they lay, mangled and bleeding, beneath the rays of the scorching sun, comrades in agony, as they had long been comrades in battle.

The escape of any from death was almost miraculous; and yet, in the 3d Iowa, the loss was only about fifty per cent. The regiment went into the engagement with an aggregate of two hundred and forty-one officers and men, and lost, in killed, wounded and missing, one hundred and fourteen. Company B lost all three of her officers, killed — the two Ruckmans and Lieutenant Hall. Colonel Brown was severely wounded. The loss of the 53d Illinois was greater than that of any other regiment. Among others, it lost its gallant colonel. He was struck by a charge of canister, and fell from his horse, literally torn in pieces. It is said that General Lauman wept when he looked on the remnant of his old brigade.

After the lamentable affair at Jackson, the 3d Iowa returned with its division to Vicksburg, and sailed thence to Natchez. In the following Winter it again returned to Vicksburg, and accompanied General Sherman on his march to Meridian. The regiment re-enlisted as veterans, and came North in the early spring of 1864. Returning to the front, it was ordered to join General Sherman, already on the march against Atlanta. Before the fall of that city, Colonel Brown, and a majority of the field- and line-officers resigned their commissions. In re-officering the regiment, a lieutenant was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy: it was entitled to no colonel, on account of the fewness of its numbers. On the memorable 22d of July, 1864, before Atlanta, the regiment was again put in the thickest of the fight, and lost heavily. Among the killed was its lieutenant-colonel, who had only the day before received his commission. The regiment was soon after consolidated with the 2d Iowa Infantry, and lost its organization as a regiment.

In closing this sketch of Colonel Brown and his regiment, I will add an extract from a letter of Captain J. H. Reid, of the 15th Iowa:

"Our men, captured on the 22d of July, were taken through Atlanta that day, and their names reported to the provost marshal-general, when they were marched to East Point the same night. In passing through the city, whenever a shell fell in the streets from our batteries, they cheered and sang, 'Rally Round the Flag.' Rebel officers told them to dry up, they were prisoners of war; but they answered, 'We will always cheer a Yankee shell.' A squad of rebel cavalry was passing through the streets with the flag of the 3d Iowa Infantry, captured after the color-sergeant fell, literally pierced through and through with bullets. Some of that regiment among the prisoners saw their old flag in the hands of the enemy. They made a rush for it, wrested it from its captors, and, amid torrents of threats and curses from the guards, tore it into a thousand shreds."

I never saw Colonel Brown; but, from what I can learn of him, he must be a large man, with phlegmatic temperament, and an easy-going disposition. He may not be a brilliant man, but he was certainly a brave and faithful officer.

SOURCE: Stuart, A. A., Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p 97-108

Company K, 47th Ill.

We have lately been placed under obligations to the brave boys of Co. K, 47th Ill., Capt. J. M. Brown, for a splendid silver Tuba, the instrument we used while with the regiment in the service of the U. S. It is a magnificent present, and we shall always feel proud of the gift and thankful to the donors. We do not believe there is a more generous and patriotic company of men in the whole army, and they have proved to us by their brave conduct in the recent battles of Iuka and Corinth that they are mad of the right kind of fighting material.

– Published in the Stark County News, January 1, 1863