The State of Iowa had sent into the field eighteen full regiments of infantry at the time President Lincoln issued his proclamation calling for 300,000 more volunteers, early in July, 1862. In prompt response to that call, and as the first contribution from Iowa under it, the Nineteenth Regiment was organized. The ten companies selected to compose the regiment were ordered into quarters by Governor Kirkwood between the dates Aug. 1 and Aug. 19, 1862, and were assembled at the designated rendezvous, Keokuk, Iowa, and there mustered into the service of the United States by Lieutenant Charles J. Ball, United States Army, on the 17th, 18th, 20th, 21st and 23d days of August, 1862. The aggregate strength of the regiment at muster in was 983 [see note 1].
The name "Lincoln" was chosen for its first camp, in honor of the President. In that camp, in the short interval that elapsed before the regiment took the field, the officers and men eagerly applied themselves to the study of their duties as soldiers, and learned something of the rudiments of the art of war, in which they were afterwards to become proficient, learning their hard lessons by actual experience in the severe training they received in active campaigns against the enemy.
The regiment was fully equipped for service in the field before leaving the State. On the evening of Sept. 3, 1862, Colonel Crabb received orders to embark his regiment and proceed to St. Louis, Mo., and, upon his arrival there, to report to the commanding officer at Benton Barracks. When the regiment reached the latter place it was at once assigned to quarters and was placed in the Brigade commanded by Brigadier General F. J. Herron, of Iowa. Oh the morning of September 11th, the regiment left Benton Barracks and proceeded by rail to Rolla, Mo. Upon its arrival at Rolla the regiment marched five miles from that place on the road leading to Springfield, and established its first camp in the State of Missouri. An active and aggressive campaign against the enemy was then about to begin, in which the men of the Nineteenth Iowa were to have their fortitude, courage and endurance put to the severest test. September 16th, the regiment took up the line of march toward Springfield, where it arrived after a toilsome march of 125 miles. There it remained until October 11th, engaged in constructing fortifications and guarding rebel prisoners. It then marched to Cassville, Mo., where the Army of the Frontier was organized and the Nineteenth Iowa was assigned to the division commanded by Brigadier General Herron of Iowa. The details of the operations of the regiment, in this and subsequent campaigns, can not be fully given in this sketch, on account of limitation of space to which the compiler is subjected, but he hopes to include all the main features of its service [see note 2].
October 17th, the regiment again marched southward and, from that date until December 7th, performed a wonderful series of marches and countermarches, in pursuit of a vigilant and elusive enemy. Major Bruce thus tersely describes those remarkable marches, which led up to and culminated in the battle of Prairie Grove:
October 17th, broke camp at Cassville, Mo.; marched southward four miles and camped for the night. October 18th marched southeward [sic] 31 miles and camped on Sugar Creek, Benton County, Arkansas; lay on our arms all night. General Blunt's division was camped near by. At 5 o'clock p. m. of the 20th broke up camp; made a night march over the Pea Ridge battle ground, and on to White River; crossed the river; water three feet deep, clear and cold. Oh the 22d marched 15 miles; halted and prepared supper. We were then within a distance of six miles from Huntsville, Ark.; fell in again at 6 p. m„ and made a night march of 14. miles to White River at a point below where we had first crossed, arriving at 2 a. m. on the morning of the 23d of October; bivouacked until 7 a. m. when, without waiting for breakfast, crossed White River, marched forward, much of the time on double quick, reaching the telegraph road at Bloomington at 12 m.; formed at once in line of battle, expecting an attack; remained in that position three hours and were then ordered forward on the main road to Cross Hollow, Ark., where we arrived at 5 p. m., and went into camp, having made a forced march of 100 miles in three days and three nights over a very rough and mountainous country, and having compelled the enemy to retreat across the Boston Mountains. Left Cross Hollow November 4, 1862, marched 15 miles and camped on Pea Ridge battle ground; November 5th, marched 20 miles and camped three miles south of Cassville. November 6th marched 32 miles and camped on Cane Creek. November 10th left camp on Cane Creek and marched 17 miles to Wilson's Creek. From there marched 12 miles and camped at Ozark, Mo. On the 14th Nov., marched 14 miles and camped on Sawyer's Creek. November 17th, again marched towards Ozark; reaching that place at 9 p. m. we marched four miles farther and bivouacked for the night. November 18th, marched 15 miles and camped on James River. It rained continually on this march and the roads were in a very bad condition. November 22d left camp on James River, marched 5 miles to Twin Springs and went into camp there. This camp was afterwards called Camp Curtis, and is 12 miles south of Springfield, Mo. On the 3d of December, at 2 p. m., broke up camp and started to reinforce the First Division under General Blunt, who was holding the enemy in check at Cane Hill, Ark.; marched 18 miles to Cane Creek and bivouacked for the night. On the 4th of December, marched 28 miles to Cassville and bivouacked for the night. December 5th, marched 24 miles to Pea Ridge, Ark. December 6th, marched 34 miles to Fayetteville, and rested a few hours. Left Fayetteville at 5 a. m. December 7th, marched 12 miles to Illinois Creek. Here we met the enemy, under General Hindman, and fought the battle of Prairie Grove [see note 3].
At the commencement of the battle, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel McFarland was in command of the regiment, and was killed early in the engagement. The command then devolved upon Major D. Kent, who continued in command until the close of the battle, and from whose official report the following extracts are made:
. . . The Nineteenth Regiment was ordered into line of battle at 12 o'clock m., Lieutenant Colonel Samuel McFarland commanding. By order of Colonel Orme, three companies were detached and deployed as skirmishers. The companies were A, B, and C, and owing to circumstances, Lieutenant Root, the acting Adjutant of the regiment, was ordered to take command. The skirmishers advanced under a heavy fire to a cornfield on the right of Company E, First Missouri Light Artillery, and were ordered to hold it at all hazards, which was done, until ordered to fall back and form in line of battle. The regiment was then ordered to the left of the white house on the hill to support the Twentieth Wisconsin, which was hotly engaged. The Nineteenth, led by Lieutenant Colonel McFarland, advanced steadily up the hill and across the orchard back of the house, when the Twentieth Wisconsin gave way. The Nineteenth still advanced to the fence adjoining the woods, when the enemy, who lay concealed, arose to their feet, three regiments deep, and poured a destructive fire upon us from three sides, which caused the regiment to waver and fall back to the battery on the left of the road leading up the hill. Here Lieutenant Colonel McFarland fell, shot through the body. I then took command and rallied what was left of the regiment, which had met with severe loss in the charge. I then left the men I had rallied in charge of Captain Roderick, Company K, and went to rally some scattered troops. While I was absent Colonel Orme rode up and ordered Captain Roderick to fall in and rally with the Ninety-fourth Illinois, and this force, led by Colonel Orme in person, drove back the enemy with great slaughter and held their position until ordered to fall back and reform. In the retreat of the Twentieth Wisconsin the color bearer was shot and let fall the colors, when the enemy made a desperate effort to get them, but a portion of the Nineteenth Iowa rallied and, getting possession of them, carried them off the field with their own.
Officers and men behaved nobly and fought desperately as if the fate of the battle depended on them alone. I will mention especially Captain Roderick of Company K, whom I left in charge of some scattered troops; also Captain Richmond of Company H, and Captain Taylor of Company G, also Lieutenant Brooks of Company D, who brought the colors off the field, and in doing so, was badly wounded. Others are equally meritorious, but they are too numerous to mention at present. . . .
Of the conduct of the three companies while on the skirmish line, Lieutenant Root made a supplementary report, which Major Kent embodied with his own, and which reads in part as follows:
. . . I advanced them to the right of Company E, of the First Missouri Battery, when the right wing, under Captain John Bruce, was attacked by a superior force of the enemy, but a few well directed shots drove them back. I would here notice the bravery of Captain Bruce and the men under him. After advancing up near the woods, the enemy came out of cover, showing a heavy body of infantry and two battalions of cavalry, who met with a warm reception from the right, under Captain Bruce, which made them scatter. At this time I received an order from Colonel Orme to fall back to the cornfield, so as to let the battery shell the woods, which was done in good order and held until I was ordered to rejoin the regiment [see note 4].
Major Kent reports the loss of the regiment in this battle as follows: Killed, commissioned officers 3, enlisted men 42; wounded, commissioned officers 5, enlisted men 140; missing 2. Total loss, 192. The battle of Prairie Grove was one of the most hotly contested of the war. The official report of General Herron states that he took into the engagement 3,500 men and that his total loss was 953. He speaks in the highest terms of the bravery of the Nineteenth Iowa and its gallant commander, Lieutenant Colonel McFarland, who was killed while leading his regiment in a desperate charge [see note 5]. The remarkable record of its exhausting marches in pursuit of the enemy, the fact that this was the first experience of the regiment in battle, and that it fought against greatly superior numbers, would alone have given it an honored place in history, had its service terminated with the battle of Prairie Grove.
The regiment bivouacked for the night on the battlefield and moved forward at daylight, expecting to renew the attack, but it was discovered that the enemy had retreated during the night, thus admitting defeat. The regiment then went into camp on the battlefield and engaged in the duty of burying the dead with the honors of war, and giving the wounded such care and attention as could be rendered in the field hospitals. The officers and men of the Nineteenth Iowa had thus had ample opportunity to become acquainted with the hardships and horrors of war, in but little more than three months from the date of their muster into the service. Death had sadly diminished their numbers at the very beginning of the long term for which they had enlisted, but had not affected their courage or determination to go forward in the faithful discharge of their duty as soldiers.
Soon after the battle, the Army of the Frontier engaged in another arduous expedition, in which the Nineteenth Iowa participated, and which resulted in the capture of Van Buren, Arkansas, together with a number of prisoners, five steamboats and a large amount of commissary stores. Returning from this expedition, the regiment, again went into camp at Prairie Grove, where it remained until January 2, 1863, when it again took up the line of march, moving from point to point and watching the movements of the enemy. February 15, 1863, the regiment, with two companies of the First Iowa Cavalry, was stationed at Forsyth on the Arkansas river, which place they occupied during the remainder of the winter. The regiment left Forsyth April 22d, and after a series of marches reached Salem, Mo., where it was temporarily attached to the First Division under the command of General Ewing. June 3d, the regiment marched to Rolla, from which place it was conveyed by rail to St. Louis, where General Herron's division was being concentrated, and embarked on steamers for Vicksburg, Miss. The regiment was then conveyed down the river, arriving at Young's Point June 10, 1863, and from that place moved to the rear of Vicksburg, where the siege was in progress, and was assigned to a place in the line of investment on the right of General Herron's division, which occupied the extreme left of the line of General Grant's army. During the remainder of the siege the Nineteenth Iowa performed its full share of duty. In his official report Lieutenant Colonel Kent describes in detail the arduous character of the work performed — advancing under cover of the night, digging rifle pits, planting batteries and siege guns to bear upon the enemy's works, skirmishing with the enemy and driving him from his advanced lines to his heavy fortifications and, upon the 4th of July, 1863, when the glad news of the surrender was received, the marching of his regiment inside the formidable works, which, fortunately, were not carried by assault, involving as it would have done, a costly sacrifice of life. The report highly commends the conduct of the officers and men during the siege and makes special mention of the constant and untiring energy of Major Bruce in the performance of his duties.
On the 12th of July, 1863, the regiment with its division participated in an expedition which resulted in the capture of Yazoo City on July 14th, the enemy evacuating the place on the approach of the Union troops, a number of prisoners being taken, together with the armament of the works, commissary stores and a large amount of cotton. The regiment engaged in several other expeditions within a radius of a hundred miles of Vicksburg, involving much hard marching, and the confiscating of horses, mules and cattle for the use of the army. On July 23, 1863, the regiment embarked on steamer at Vicksburg and was conveyed to Port Hudson, La., arriving there on the 26th, and remaining until August 12th. A number of men died from disease while at this camp, and there was a great deal of sickness. The next movement of the regiment was by steamer to Carrollton, La., where the entire Thirteenth Army Corps was encamped.
On the morning of the 5th of September, the regiment with its division started up the river upon an expedition to the mouth of Red River, where the enemy was seriously obstructing navigation, and had.captured a number of Federal transports. The regiment arrived at Morganza, twenty miles below the mouth of Red River, September 7th, disembarked and went into camp. The enemy was in force 12 miles from Morganza. Detachments from General Herron's division were sent out in the direction of the enemy, and frequent skirmishes had occurred, when, on the 12th of September, the Nineteenth Iowa, Twenty-Sixth Indiana and two pieces of artillery, were ordered to the front. This detachment moved out six miles, driving the enemy's pickets before it. It occupied this advanced position, skirmishing daily with the enemy, until September 29th, when the battle of Sterling Farm was fought, in which the regiment suffered heavy loss in killed, wounded and prisoners. Lieutenants Kent of company H, and Roberts of company K, were killed on the field. Captain Taylor, of company G, was mortally wounded. Major John Bruce wrote the official report of this engagement, which was so disastrous to that portion of the regiment which was engaged. As will be seen from the report which follows, there were but 260 of the Nineteenth Iowa engaged in the battle, that being the number present for duty at the time the regiment was sent to the front.
Headquarters Nineteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry,
Brownsville, Texas, Oct. 1.5, 1863.
GENERAL: I have the honor to submit to you a report of the part taken by my regiment in the engagement at Sterling Farm, fought on the 29th of September, 1863, in Point Coupee Parish, Louisiana. On the 5th day of September, the Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps, commanded by Major General Herron, of which command the Nineteenth Iowa formed a part, embarked on board transports, and proceeded up the river to disperse a force under General Taylor, which was then on the west side below the mouth of Red River, seriously threatening the navigation of the Mississippi.
On the 8th of September the division was halted near Morganza, La., landed and proceeded to the interior, met the enemy's pickets about two miles from the river, drove them in, and drove the rebels back ten miles across the Atchafalaya. I was left with my regiment and two pieces of artillery to protect the transports at the river. The division returned to the transports on the 11th. On the 12th, the Nineteenth Iowa, Twenty-sixth Indiana, and two pieces of artillery, the whole under command of Lieutenant Colonel Leake of the Twentieth Iowa, were ordered out to feel the enemy. We met the enemy's pickets one mile from the river, drove them in, and soon found the enemy in considerable force. We skirmished with them and drove them back across the Atchafalaya. We then fell back to Sterling Farm seven miles in the interior from where the transports lay; from this point our advance and pickets skirmished almost daily, with the advance of the enemy. On the 29th, the enemy, having received reinforcements, turned our right and attacked us in the rear, cutting off our retreat. He at the same time attacked us on the front. My regiment was first called into action, met the enemy boldly and at short range, delivered a deadly volley, which compelled him to fall back. They, however, rallied again in overwhelming force, and after a firm and desperate struggle in which we were well supported by the Twenty-sixth Indiana, we were completely overpowered and compelled to surrender, many of our men, however, refusing to give up until their guns were taken from their hands by the rebels. The rebels were commanded by General Green in person and consisted of three brigades, in all a force of 5,000 men; our entire force there was about 500 men. My regiment had only about 260 in the action; many having been left sick in convalescent camps at Carrollton, La., they were not on the expedition. The fight was short, but deadly, considering the numbers engaged, the cane and high weeds concealing the lines until they approached within pistol shot. Many of our men escaped and came straggling into camp for two days afterwards. In the action we had killed two officers and eight enlisted men, wounded one officer (since died) and sixteen enlisted men, and eleven officers and 203 enlisted men taken prisoners. The loss in the Twenty-sixth Indiana was not so much as ours. The enemy's loss was fifty killed in the field and many more wounded. Great credit is due to the officers and men of my regiment, who fought bravely and desperately against fearful odds. The rebel officers acknowledged it was to them a dearly bought victory and were much chagrined at finding so small a capture after so vigorous a resistance. I was not in the engagement, having been ordered to New Orleans a few days prior. The regiment was at the time commanded by senior Captain Wm. Adams, Company B, who was taken prisoner.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOHN BRUCE,
Major Comd'g Nineteenth Iowa Vol., Infantry.
To N. B. Baker, Adjutant General of Iowa [see note 6].
The remainder of the regiment returned with the division to Carrollton, October 11th. Those who had escaped capture, together with those who had recovered from sickness and were again able for duty, now exceeded the number of those who were held by the enemy as prisoners of war.
On October 23d the regiment started upon an expedition, the objective point of which was Brownsville, Texas. The part taken by the Nineteenth Iowa in that important expedition is described in the official report of its commanding officer as follows:
Headquarters Nineteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry,
Brownsville, Texas, Dec. 1, 1863.
GENERAL: I have the honor to submit to you an account of the part taken by my regiment in the expedition against Texas, which was under the command of Major General Banks, and started from New Orleans on the 24th of October, 1863. On the 23d my regiment embarked on the steamer General Banks. The entire fleet consisted of sixteen vessels and three gunboats, all loaded with troops, provisions and munitions of war. On the 27th, the fleet sailed through the southwest pass, and came to anchor outside the bar. Went to sea on the 29th. On the 30th, we encountered a severe storm from the north. Our ship being overloaded, as well as old and frail, labored and strained alarmingly. The sea, striking very heavily under the guards and fantail, threatened to tear off the latter, rendering it necessary, in order to save life, to lighten the ship. This was at once done by heaving overboard eleven mules, one. battery wagon, forage, etc., after which she rode easier, but her leakage constantly increased, requiring the unremitting working of the pumps. On the 31st of October our fuel was nearly exhausted, and we were taken in tow by the Empire City. On the 1st day of November, we came in sight of land, and at 6 p. m. came to anchor off the bar at the Island of Brazos Santiago. On the 2d of November, we were the first of the fleet to cross the bar, and about noon effected a landing. The Nineteenth Regiment was the first command landed and its colors the first that floated on the breeze of that desolate island. I was at once ordered out, moved six miles to the front, and held the advance for three days, until a large part of the force was landed and came up. On the 6th of November our orders were to move forward, and after two days march up the Rio Grande, crossing the battlefields of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, we entered Brownsville, Texas, on the 7th, without opposition. The enemy had a small force, which evacuated the place on our approach. Previously, however, they fired the barracks of Fort Brown, and many private buildings, which were smouldering ruins when we took possession of the town. We captured a large amount of cotton, and stopped a large trade going on between Mexico and the so-called Confederate States. Colonel Wm. McE. Dye, of the Twentieth Iowa, commanding our brigade (Second Brigade, Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps), was made commander of the post, and his brigade went into barracks in the town, where we still remain.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOHN BRUCE,
Major Commanding Nineteenth Iowa Infantry.
To N. B. Baker, Adjutant General of Iowa [see note 7].
On the 1st of January, 1864, the regiment was still quartered in barracks at Brownsville, Texas. At that date, according to the report of Major Bruce, it had the aggregate number of 691 still borne upon its rolls, present for duty and absent, but among the absent were 213 of its officers and men who still languished in rebel prisons; and adding to these the sick and disabled in hospitals, and those upon detached duty, there were less than 400 men then present with the regiment and able for duty. On the 10th of March, 1864, Major John Bruce was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. The regiment remained in Brownsville during the winter. On the 30th of March it left the barracks and encamped on the plain east of the town and near Fort Brown. In addition to the ordinary details for guard and picket duty, heavy details were now made for the purpose of restoring the ruined and dismantled fort. About the time the repairs were completed, guns mounted, and the fort put in good condition for defense, orders were received to prepare for its abandonment. Of the withdrawal of the troops from the Mexican frontier, Major Bruce wrote as follows:
About the 5th of July, we began to prepare for the evacuation of the place. This occupied considerable time. War material which had been collected had to be removed, and many refugees from the State, fleeing from rebel conscription and intolerance, had taken up their residence here. Even Mexican citizens, seeking asylum from the troubles of their own Government, sought the protection of the Stars and Stripes. These persons had to have time for the removal of their families and effects, and had to be provided with transportation to New Orleans and other places. The friends of the Mexican Government saw, with deep regret, the preparations for the evacuation of the line of the Rio Grande by the United States forces. During the occupation the most friendly relations were cultivated and maintained between our army and the Mexican army at Matamoras, then under command of General Cortinas, who adhered to the Mexican Government as represented by President Juarez. The occupation of this line by the United States forces inspired confidence among the friends of Mexican independence and operated as a strong moral power in staying the advance of the French in Northern Mexico. A sentiment of true sympathy, amounting in many cases to regret, pervaded our entire army that our international relations would not permit us at that time to give substantial aid to our sister republic in her struggle against French domination. During the progress of evacuation we were frequently threatened by the enemy. He attacked our pickets and made other demonstrations, but did not venture a general engagement for the possession of the place. On the 28th of July the evacuation of the town and fort took place. The whole command, under General Herron, marched out and camped the first night at San Martino. Afterwards the division halted at White's Ranch, and I was detained with my regiment at that place several days, covering the embarkation of the troops. On the 3d of August, I moved to the Island of Brazos Santiago, and the next day embarked on the steamer Corinthian with orders for New Orleans. Thus the line of the Rio Grande Was abandoned, except that a garrison was left to hold the Island of Santiago. Arrived at New Orleans on the 7th day of August, and was ordered into camp at Carrollton. Here we were much gratified at meeting the officers and men of the regiment who had been captured at the battle of Sterling Farm, on the 29th of September previous, and who had, on the 22d of July, been exchanged and were awaiting our arrival to join, the regiment. Ten officers, and one hundred and seventy enlisted men returned to us at this time. An account of their treatment by the enemy while prisoners, furnished me by S. F. Roderick, senior Captain of the regiment, who was one of their number, Is herewith submitted. . . . [See note 8.]
The report of Captain Roderick describes in detail the hardships endured by himself and the other members of his regiment, while confined in rebel prisons for a period of nearly ten months. They were moved from one place to another, and covered a distance of over 800 miles on foot, during the time they were in the hands of the enemy. The place where they were confined the longest was at Camp Tyler, Texas. This was a stockade, the walls of which were sixteen feet high; there was no shelter or protection of any kind from the weather, except some rude structures of logs and poles, built by the prisoners, and the food furnished was barely sufficient to sustain life. When they were first placed within the stockade they were entirely without shelter, and, for forty-eight hours, without food. They then received ten days' rations of corn meal, but had nothing to put it in, and for over thirty days had no vessels in which to cook the meal furnished them, except what they could borrow from their guards. The weather was cold, only a few of the men had blankets, and all were poorly clad, many of them being without shoes. Of course sickness was the inevitable result of such exposure and lack of food, and medical treatment was entirely inadequate. Near the close of his account Captain Roderick says: "At this time the scenes of human misery and suffering are beyond my power of description, and will only be known when some abler hand than mine shall write the history of the stockade at Tyler, Texas." The capacity for endurance of such hardships among these men of the Nineteenth Iowa was most remarkable, for the account states that, out of the 206 men of the regiment in confinement, there were but two deaths, while one deserted, thirty made their escape and one hundred seventy-three were exchanged [see note 9].
On the 14th of August, the regiment embarked at New Orleans, with orders to proceed to Pensacola, Florida, where it arrived on the 16th, and went into camp. From that place it took part in several expeditions, in one of which it lost one man killed in a skirmish with the enemy. December 6th the regiment again embarked and was conveyed to Fort Gaines, where it remained until the 14th, when it again embarked and, on the 15th, landed at East Pascagoula, Miss., and there joined the troops under command of General Granger, with Whom the regiment co-operated against the enemy. There were frequent skirmishes, but no general engagement, and the regiment sustained no loss. On Dec. 26, 1864, the regiment occupied a fortified position five miles from East Pascagoula, where it remained until the close of the year.
Early in January, 1865, the regiment returned to Pascagoula, where it remained until the close of the month and was then conveyed to Dauphin Island, Ala. Here preparations were begun for the next campaign, the results of which were to prove so important to the cause of the Union. Upon the arrival of the Sixteenth Army Corps from Tennessee, active operations against the enemy began. The regiment was assigned to a brigade composed of the Twentieth Wisconsin, Ninety-fourth Illinois, Twenty-third and Nineteenth Iowa regiments of Infantry and Battery "C" First Missouri Light Artillery. This was the First Brigade of the Second Division of the Thirteenth Army Corps. On the 27th of February the 'troops and camp equipments were conveyed by transports to Navy Cove near Fort Morgan. On the 17th of March the troops moved forward, the Thirteenth Corps taking the advance. The roads and the weather were bad. The men were frequently called upon to assist in getting the artillery over the almost impassable roads. It was hard and toilsome work, but the endurance of the soldiers was equal to the task. On the 22d of March, the advance had reached Fish river when the enemy's cavalry was encountered, but was able to offer only feeble resistance and the column moved on, arriving in front of Spanish Fort on the 26th. On the next day the rest of the army arrived, and by night the fort was completely invested, the First Brigade holding the extreme left of the line. Oh the 27th a general advance was ordered. The Nineteenth Iowa led the advance of its brigade. The enemy made a stubborn resistance, but finally fell back to the fort and its immediate defenses. Then commenced a series of regular siege operations, in which the Nineteenth Iowa performed its full share of duty under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Bruce, whose official report of the part taken by his regiment is here given, as follows [see note 10]:
Headquarters Nineteenth Regiment, Iowa Infantry Volunteers,
Spanish Fort, Ala., April 14, 1865.
LIEUT. A. J. ROCKWELL, A. A. A. General, First Brigade,
Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps.
SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by my regiment in the attack upon and reduction of Spanish Fort and its defenses. On the 27th of March, about noon, I was ordered forward; crossed the creek, deployed in line of battle, advanced Companies A and D in skirmish line through the thick brush, holding my line well out on my left to the bay. After ascending the hill, and in view of the fort, the enemy opened on my line with artillery, wounding a number of my men. Here we hastily threw up a line of works, and in the meantime Faust's Battery came up, opened on the enemy vigorously, and in a short time he ceased to return the fire. I again advanced, under orders, to get a position as near as possible to the enemy's works. The enemy, observing the movement, opened upon me with musketry, from his rifle pits, and from the front. He also opened with his artillery. In the advance I had a number of men killed and wounded. Under cover of the fallen timber, I protected my line as well as I could, while the artillery in my rear was playing with good effect on the rebel works. Darkness came on and I was ordered to throw up a line of defenses where I then was, which I did. After this the operations assumed the nature of a siege. We advanced our lines under cover of the night, by parallels, drove the enemy out of his pits, and occupied them. On the night of the 8th of April, the enemy abandoned his works, and we took possession of them. Annexed to this report, find list of the killed and wounded of my regiment. My casualties were but few after the advance of the first day.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOHN BRUCE,
Lieut. Col. Nineteenth Iowa Inft., Commanding Regt.
With the fall of Spanish Fort ended the battle history of the Nineteenth Iowa. On the 9th of April, Fort Blakely was captured by the troops under General Steele, and on the night of the 10th, Mobile and all its defenses were evacuated by the enemy. During the following month the regiment was employed, with other troops, in dismantling the forts around Mobile. It then moved to Dauphin Island, and remained there until June 14th, when it was ordered to return to Mobile and, soon after its arrival there, the officers and men were rejoiced by receiving the glad news that they would soon be permitted to return to their homes. On the 10th day of July, 1865, the regiment was mustered out of the service of the United States at Mobile, Alabama; on the 17th it embarked on. steamer for New Orleans, and was conveyed from there to Cairo, Ill., by steamboat, thence by rail to Davenport, Iowa, where it was disbanded Aug. 1, 1865, and the officers and men bade each other good-bye and returned to their homes. The day before the regiment disbanded, its commander issued the following address [see note 11]:
Headquarters Nineteenth Iowa Infantry Volunteers,
Davenport, Iowa, July 31, 1865.
FELLOW SOLDIERS; OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE NINETEENTH REGIMENT, IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
On the eve of separation, it is perhaps no more than proper that I should address to you a few parting words. We have been together for three long, eventful years – years of surpassing interest in the history of our country, and of the world. Inspired by a common patriotic impulse, we joined hands on the altar of our country, and common sufferings, sacrifices and dangers have united us in the affectionate memory of the heart. You have borne yourselves well in the great struggle. No commanding officer has ever spoken of you otherwise than in commendation of your gallant services.
You have endured with patience and fortitude the hardships and dangers to which you have been exposed; you have cheerfully performed every duty required of you, whether on the field of battle or in the pauses of the conflict. You return from the victorious fields of the republic, conscious of having done your part in bearing aloft the banner of your country's nationality, and planting it on every hill and valley throughout the land. You will receive the congratulations of your friends, and a grateful country will not forget your services. Go, then, my comrades, put off the panoply of war, and enter the pursuits of peaceful industry; prove yourselves good citizens, as you have good soldiers. Forget not the principles for which you have victoriously contended, and for preserved life, health, and good government, forget not the debt of gratitude due to Almighty God. With the most profound sentiments of respect for the memories of our honored dead, and the liveliest feelings of kindly regard for all who have survived, I bid you, comrades all, farewell. I part from your command without the consciousness of one unkind feeling toward anyone of you. God bless you and grant you long life and health. May home soon gladden your eyes and cheer your hearts, and may demostic [sic] happiness meet you smiling at your gates.
JOHN BRUCE,
Lieut. Col. Nineteenth Iowa Volunteers.
Well and faithfully have the survivors of this splendid regiment observed the parting injunction of their gallant commander. In their various avocations in life they have remained true to the principles for which they fought. Many of them have answered the last roll call since the close of the great struggle for the preservation of their government, and comparatively few remain to peruse this brief sketch of the service performed by the regiment to which they belonged; but the children of the living and the dead, and their posterity to the latest generation, will refer with just pride to the record of personal service of their ancestors, as shown in the brief paragraphs in connection with their names in the roster which follows this history. The commonwealth of Iowa has, performed a high duty in thus preserving, not only the history of this splendid regiment, but the names of the men who marched and fought under its colors, and brought them back to their state to be placed among the clusters of honored flags which adorn the rotunda of its Capitol. With the lapse of time the Republic for which these brave men fought and suffered will grow stronger and more enduring, and with its growth and strength will increase the love and reverence for the memory of those who, in the time of their country's greatest need, rallied to her defense and saved her from destruction at the hands of a portion of her own rebellious children.
SUMMARY OP CASUALTIES.
Total Enrollment. 1132
Killed 58
Wounded 198
Died of wounds 40
Died of disease 93
Discharged for disease, wounds or other causes 209
Buried in National Cemeteries 85
Captured 216
Transferred 43
[Note 1.] Adjutant General's Report, State of Iowa, Vol. 1, 1863, Original Roster of the Regiment, pages 682 to 717.
[Note 2.] The compiler of this sketch has gleaned much of his material from the carefully prepared histories of the operations of the regiment, found in the reports of the Adjutant General of Iowa, for the years 1864, 1866 and 1867, pages 461 to 466, 284 to 286 and 589 to, 592, written by John Bruce, Major, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel, Nineteenth Iowa Infantry, and Brevet Colonel and Brigadier General. The student of the military history of Iowa is referred to these histories for a more extended account of the operations of this regiment.
[Note 3.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa 1864, pages 463-4.
[Note 4.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa 1866, pages 281-2.
[Note 5.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, Vol. 2, 1863, Report, page 832.
[Note 6.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa for year 1864, pages 461-2.
[Note 7.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa for year 1864, page 462 and map No. 43, War of the Rebellion Records.
[Note 8.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa for year 1866, pages 282, 284 and 285.
[Note 9.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, 1866, pages 283-4.
[Note 10.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa for year 1866, page 286.
[Note 11.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa for year 1867, Vol. 2, page 591.
SOURCE: Roster & Record of Iowa Soldiers During the War of the Rebellion, Volume 3, p. 225-34
The name "Lincoln" was chosen for its first camp, in honor of the President. In that camp, in the short interval that elapsed before the regiment took the field, the officers and men eagerly applied themselves to the study of their duties as soldiers, and learned something of the rudiments of the art of war, in which they were afterwards to become proficient, learning their hard lessons by actual experience in the severe training they received in active campaigns against the enemy.
The regiment was fully equipped for service in the field before leaving the State. On the evening of Sept. 3, 1862, Colonel Crabb received orders to embark his regiment and proceed to St. Louis, Mo., and, upon his arrival there, to report to the commanding officer at Benton Barracks. When the regiment reached the latter place it was at once assigned to quarters and was placed in the Brigade commanded by Brigadier General F. J. Herron, of Iowa. Oh the morning of September 11th, the regiment left Benton Barracks and proceeded by rail to Rolla, Mo. Upon its arrival at Rolla the regiment marched five miles from that place on the road leading to Springfield, and established its first camp in the State of Missouri. An active and aggressive campaign against the enemy was then about to begin, in which the men of the Nineteenth Iowa were to have their fortitude, courage and endurance put to the severest test. September 16th, the regiment took up the line of march toward Springfield, where it arrived after a toilsome march of 125 miles. There it remained until October 11th, engaged in constructing fortifications and guarding rebel prisoners. It then marched to Cassville, Mo., where the Army of the Frontier was organized and the Nineteenth Iowa was assigned to the division commanded by Brigadier General Herron of Iowa. The details of the operations of the regiment, in this and subsequent campaigns, can not be fully given in this sketch, on account of limitation of space to which the compiler is subjected, but he hopes to include all the main features of its service [see note 2].
October 17th, the regiment again marched southward and, from that date until December 7th, performed a wonderful series of marches and countermarches, in pursuit of a vigilant and elusive enemy. Major Bruce thus tersely describes those remarkable marches, which led up to and culminated in the battle of Prairie Grove:
October 17th, broke camp at Cassville, Mo.; marched southward four miles and camped for the night. October 18th marched southeward [sic] 31 miles and camped on Sugar Creek, Benton County, Arkansas; lay on our arms all night. General Blunt's division was camped near by. At 5 o'clock p. m. of the 20th broke up camp; made a night march over the Pea Ridge battle ground, and on to White River; crossed the river; water three feet deep, clear and cold. Oh the 22d marched 15 miles; halted and prepared supper. We were then within a distance of six miles from Huntsville, Ark.; fell in again at 6 p. m„ and made a night march of 14. miles to White River at a point below where we had first crossed, arriving at 2 a. m. on the morning of the 23d of October; bivouacked until 7 a. m. when, without waiting for breakfast, crossed White River, marched forward, much of the time on double quick, reaching the telegraph road at Bloomington at 12 m.; formed at once in line of battle, expecting an attack; remained in that position three hours and were then ordered forward on the main road to Cross Hollow, Ark., where we arrived at 5 p. m., and went into camp, having made a forced march of 100 miles in three days and three nights over a very rough and mountainous country, and having compelled the enemy to retreat across the Boston Mountains. Left Cross Hollow November 4, 1862, marched 15 miles and camped on Pea Ridge battle ground; November 5th, marched 20 miles and camped three miles south of Cassville. November 6th marched 32 miles and camped on Cane Creek. November 10th left camp on Cane Creek and marched 17 miles to Wilson's Creek. From there marched 12 miles and camped at Ozark, Mo. On the 14th Nov., marched 14 miles and camped on Sawyer's Creek. November 17th, again marched towards Ozark; reaching that place at 9 p. m. we marched four miles farther and bivouacked for the night. November 18th, marched 15 miles and camped on James River. It rained continually on this march and the roads were in a very bad condition. November 22d left camp on James River, marched 5 miles to Twin Springs and went into camp there. This camp was afterwards called Camp Curtis, and is 12 miles south of Springfield, Mo. On the 3d of December, at 2 p. m., broke up camp and started to reinforce the First Division under General Blunt, who was holding the enemy in check at Cane Hill, Ark.; marched 18 miles to Cane Creek and bivouacked for the night. On the 4th of December, marched 28 miles to Cassville and bivouacked for the night. December 5th, marched 24 miles to Pea Ridge, Ark. December 6th, marched 34 miles to Fayetteville, and rested a few hours. Left Fayetteville at 5 a. m. December 7th, marched 12 miles to Illinois Creek. Here we met the enemy, under General Hindman, and fought the battle of Prairie Grove [see note 3].
At the commencement of the battle, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel McFarland was in command of the regiment, and was killed early in the engagement. The command then devolved upon Major D. Kent, who continued in command until the close of the battle, and from whose official report the following extracts are made:
. . . The Nineteenth Regiment was ordered into line of battle at 12 o'clock m., Lieutenant Colonel Samuel McFarland commanding. By order of Colonel Orme, three companies were detached and deployed as skirmishers. The companies were A, B, and C, and owing to circumstances, Lieutenant Root, the acting Adjutant of the regiment, was ordered to take command. The skirmishers advanced under a heavy fire to a cornfield on the right of Company E, First Missouri Light Artillery, and were ordered to hold it at all hazards, which was done, until ordered to fall back and form in line of battle. The regiment was then ordered to the left of the white house on the hill to support the Twentieth Wisconsin, which was hotly engaged. The Nineteenth, led by Lieutenant Colonel McFarland, advanced steadily up the hill and across the orchard back of the house, when the Twentieth Wisconsin gave way. The Nineteenth still advanced to the fence adjoining the woods, when the enemy, who lay concealed, arose to their feet, three regiments deep, and poured a destructive fire upon us from three sides, which caused the regiment to waver and fall back to the battery on the left of the road leading up the hill. Here Lieutenant Colonel McFarland fell, shot through the body. I then took command and rallied what was left of the regiment, which had met with severe loss in the charge. I then left the men I had rallied in charge of Captain Roderick, Company K, and went to rally some scattered troops. While I was absent Colonel Orme rode up and ordered Captain Roderick to fall in and rally with the Ninety-fourth Illinois, and this force, led by Colonel Orme in person, drove back the enemy with great slaughter and held their position until ordered to fall back and reform. In the retreat of the Twentieth Wisconsin the color bearer was shot and let fall the colors, when the enemy made a desperate effort to get them, but a portion of the Nineteenth Iowa rallied and, getting possession of them, carried them off the field with their own.
Officers and men behaved nobly and fought desperately as if the fate of the battle depended on them alone. I will mention especially Captain Roderick of Company K, whom I left in charge of some scattered troops; also Captain Richmond of Company H, and Captain Taylor of Company G, also Lieutenant Brooks of Company D, who brought the colors off the field, and in doing so, was badly wounded. Others are equally meritorious, but they are too numerous to mention at present. . . .
Of the conduct of the three companies while on the skirmish line, Lieutenant Root made a supplementary report, which Major Kent embodied with his own, and which reads in part as follows:
. . . I advanced them to the right of Company E, of the First Missouri Battery, when the right wing, under Captain John Bruce, was attacked by a superior force of the enemy, but a few well directed shots drove them back. I would here notice the bravery of Captain Bruce and the men under him. After advancing up near the woods, the enemy came out of cover, showing a heavy body of infantry and two battalions of cavalry, who met with a warm reception from the right, under Captain Bruce, which made them scatter. At this time I received an order from Colonel Orme to fall back to the cornfield, so as to let the battery shell the woods, which was done in good order and held until I was ordered to rejoin the regiment [see note 4].
Major Kent reports the loss of the regiment in this battle as follows: Killed, commissioned officers 3, enlisted men 42; wounded, commissioned officers 5, enlisted men 140; missing 2. Total loss, 192. The battle of Prairie Grove was one of the most hotly contested of the war. The official report of General Herron states that he took into the engagement 3,500 men and that his total loss was 953. He speaks in the highest terms of the bravery of the Nineteenth Iowa and its gallant commander, Lieutenant Colonel McFarland, who was killed while leading his regiment in a desperate charge [see note 5]. The remarkable record of its exhausting marches in pursuit of the enemy, the fact that this was the first experience of the regiment in battle, and that it fought against greatly superior numbers, would alone have given it an honored place in history, had its service terminated with the battle of Prairie Grove.
The regiment bivouacked for the night on the battlefield and moved forward at daylight, expecting to renew the attack, but it was discovered that the enemy had retreated during the night, thus admitting defeat. The regiment then went into camp on the battlefield and engaged in the duty of burying the dead with the honors of war, and giving the wounded such care and attention as could be rendered in the field hospitals. The officers and men of the Nineteenth Iowa had thus had ample opportunity to become acquainted with the hardships and horrors of war, in but little more than three months from the date of their muster into the service. Death had sadly diminished their numbers at the very beginning of the long term for which they had enlisted, but had not affected their courage or determination to go forward in the faithful discharge of their duty as soldiers.
Soon after the battle, the Army of the Frontier engaged in another arduous expedition, in which the Nineteenth Iowa participated, and which resulted in the capture of Van Buren, Arkansas, together with a number of prisoners, five steamboats and a large amount of commissary stores. Returning from this expedition, the regiment, again went into camp at Prairie Grove, where it remained until January 2, 1863, when it again took up the line of march, moving from point to point and watching the movements of the enemy. February 15, 1863, the regiment, with two companies of the First Iowa Cavalry, was stationed at Forsyth on the Arkansas river, which place they occupied during the remainder of the winter. The regiment left Forsyth April 22d, and after a series of marches reached Salem, Mo., where it was temporarily attached to the First Division under the command of General Ewing. June 3d, the regiment marched to Rolla, from which place it was conveyed by rail to St. Louis, where General Herron's division was being concentrated, and embarked on steamers for Vicksburg, Miss. The regiment was then conveyed down the river, arriving at Young's Point June 10, 1863, and from that place moved to the rear of Vicksburg, where the siege was in progress, and was assigned to a place in the line of investment on the right of General Herron's division, which occupied the extreme left of the line of General Grant's army. During the remainder of the siege the Nineteenth Iowa performed its full share of duty. In his official report Lieutenant Colonel Kent describes in detail the arduous character of the work performed — advancing under cover of the night, digging rifle pits, planting batteries and siege guns to bear upon the enemy's works, skirmishing with the enemy and driving him from his advanced lines to his heavy fortifications and, upon the 4th of July, 1863, when the glad news of the surrender was received, the marching of his regiment inside the formidable works, which, fortunately, were not carried by assault, involving as it would have done, a costly sacrifice of life. The report highly commends the conduct of the officers and men during the siege and makes special mention of the constant and untiring energy of Major Bruce in the performance of his duties.
On the 12th of July, 1863, the regiment with its division participated in an expedition which resulted in the capture of Yazoo City on July 14th, the enemy evacuating the place on the approach of the Union troops, a number of prisoners being taken, together with the armament of the works, commissary stores and a large amount of cotton. The regiment engaged in several other expeditions within a radius of a hundred miles of Vicksburg, involving much hard marching, and the confiscating of horses, mules and cattle for the use of the army. On July 23, 1863, the regiment embarked on steamer at Vicksburg and was conveyed to Port Hudson, La., arriving there on the 26th, and remaining until August 12th. A number of men died from disease while at this camp, and there was a great deal of sickness. The next movement of the regiment was by steamer to Carrollton, La., where the entire Thirteenth Army Corps was encamped.
On the morning of the 5th of September, the regiment with its division started up the river upon an expedition to the mouth of Red River, where the enemy was seriously obstructing navigation, and had.captured a number of Federal transports. The regiment arrived at Morganza, twenty miles below the mouth of Red River, September 7th, disembarked and went into camp. The enemy was in force 12 miles from Morganza. Detachments from General Herron's division were sent out in the direction of the enemy, and frequent skirmishes had occurred, when, on the 12th of September, the Nineteenth Iowa, Twenty-Sixth Indiana and two pieces of artillery, were ordered to the front. This detachment moved out six miles, driving the enemy's pickets before it. It occupied this advanced position, skirmishing daily with the enemy, until September 29th, when the battle of Sterling Farm was fought, in which the regiment suffered heavy loss in killed, wounded and prisoners. Lieutenants Kent of company H, and Roberts of company K, were killed on the field. Captain Taylor, of company G, was mortally wounded. Major John Bruce wrote the official report of this engagement, which was so disastrous to that portion of the regiment which was engaged. As will be seen from the report which follows, there were but 260 of the Nineteenth Iowa engaged in the battle, that being the number present for duty at the time the regiment was sent to the front.
Headquarters Nineteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry,
Brownsville, Texas, Oct. 1.5, 1863.
GENERAL: I have the honor to submit to you a report of the part taken by my regiment in the engagement at Sterling Farm, fought on the 29th of September, 1863, in Point Coupee Parish, Louisiana. On the 5th day of September, the Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps, commanded by Major General Herron, of which command the Nineteenth Iowa formed a part, embarked on board transports, and proceeded up the river to disperse a force under General Taylor, which was then on the west side below the mouth of Red River, seriously threatening the navigation of the Mississippi.
On the 8th of September the division was halted near Morganza, La., landed and proceeded to the interior, met the enemy's pickets about two miles from the river, drove them in, and drove the rebels back ten miles across the Atchafalaya. I was left with my regiment and two pieces of artillery to protect the transports at the river. The division returned to the transports on the 11th. On the 12th, the Nineteenth Iowa, Twenty-sixth Indiana, and two pieces of artillery, the whole under command of Lieutenant Colonel Leake of the Twentieth Iowa, were ordered out to feel the enemy. We met the enemy's pickets one mile from the river, drove them in, and soon found the enemy in considerable force. We skirmished with them and drove them back across the Atchafalaya. We then fell back to Sterling Farm seven miles in the interior from where the transports lay; from this point our advance and pickets skirmished almost daily, with the advance of the enemy. On the 29th, the enemy, having received reinforcements, turned our right and attacked us in the rear, cutting off our retreat. He at the same time attacked us on the front. My regiment was first called into action, met the enemy boldly and at short range, delivered a deadly volley, which compelled him to fall back. They, however, rallied again in overwhelming force, and after a firm and desperate struggle in which we were well supported by the Twenty-sixth Indiana, we were completely overpowered and compelled to surrender, many of our men, however, refusing to give up until their guns were taken from their hands by the rebels. The rebels were commanded by General Green in person and consisted of three brigades, in all a force of 5,000 men; our entire force there was about 500 men. My regiment had only about 260 in the action; many having been left sick in convalescent camps at Carrollton, La., they were not on the expedition. The fight was short, but deadly, considering the numbers engaged, the cane and high weeds concealing the lines until they approached within pistol shot. Many of our men escaped and came straggling into camp for two days afterwards. In the action we had killed two officers and eight enlisted men, wounded one officer (since died) and sixteen enlisted men, and eleven officers and 203 enlisted men taken prisoners. The loss in the Twenty-sixth Indiana was not so much as ours. The enemy's loss was fifty killed in the field and many more wounded. Great credit is due to the officers and men of my regiment, who fought bravely and desperately against fearful odds. The rebel officers acknowledged it was to them a dearly bought victory and were much chagrined at finding so small a capture after so vigorous a resistance. I was not in the engagement, having been ordered to New Orleans a few days prior. The regiment was at the time commanded by senior Captain Wm. Adams, Company B, who was taken prisoner.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOHN BRUCE,
Major Comd'g Nineteenth Iowa Vol., Infantry.
To N. B. Baker, Adjutant General of Iowa [see note 6].
The remainder of the regiment returned with the division to Carrollton, October 11th. Those who had escaped capture, together with those who had recovered from sickness and were again able for duty, now exceeded the number of those who were held by the enemy as prisoners of war.
On October 23d the regiment started upon an expedition, the objective point of which was Brownsville, Texas. The part taken by the Nineteenth Iowa in that important expedition is described in the official report of its commanding officer as follows:
Headquarters Nineteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry,
Brownsville, Texas, Dec. 1, 1863.
GENERAL: I have the honor to submit to you an account of the part taken by my regiment in the expedition against Texas, which was under the command of Major General Banks, and started from New Orleans on the 24th of October, 1863. On the 23d my regiment embarked on the steamer General Banks. The entire fleet consisted of sixteen vessels and three gunboats, all loaded with troops, provisions and munitions of war. On the 27th, the fleet sailed through the southwest pass, and came to anchor outside the bar. Went to sea on the 29th. On the 30th, we encountered a severe storm from the north. Our ship being overloaded, as well as old and frail, labored and strained alarmingly. The sea, striking very heavily under the guards and fantail, threatened to tear off the latter, rendering it necessary, in order to save life, to lighten the ship. This was at once done by heaving overboard eleven mules, one. battery wagon, forage, etc., after which she rode easier, but her leakage constantly increased, requiring the unremitting working of the pumps. On the 31st of October our fuel was nearly exhausted, and we were taken in tow by the Empire City. On the 1st day of November, we came in sight of land, and at 6 p. m. came to anchor off the bar at the Island of Brazos Santiago. On the 2d of November, we were the first of the fleet to cross the bar, and about noon effected a landing. The Nineteenth Regiment was the first command landed and its colors the first that floated on the breeze of that desolate island. I was at once ordered out, moved six miles to the front, and held the advance for three days, until a large part of the force was landed and came up. On the 6th of November our orders were to move forward, and after two days march up the Rio Grande, crossing the battlefields of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, we entered Brownsville, Texas, on the 7th, without opposition. The enemy had a small force, which evacuated the place on our approach. Previously, however, they fired the barracks of Fort Brown, and many private buildings, which were smouldering ruins when we took possession of the town. We captured a large amount of cotton, and stopped a large trade going on between Mexico and the so-called Confederate States. Colonel Wm. McE. Dye, of the Twentieth Iowa, commanding our brigade (Second Brigade, Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps), was made commander of the post, and his brigade went into barracks in the town, where we still remain.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOHN BRUCE,
Major Commanding Nineteenth Iowa Infantry.
To N. B. Baker, Adjutant General of Iowa [see note 7].
On the 1st of January, 1864, the regiment was still quartered in barracks at Brownsville, Texas. At that date, according to the report of Major Bruce, it had the aggregate number of 691 still borne upon its rolls, present for duty and absent, but among the absent were 213 of its officers and men who still languished in rebel prisons; and adding to these the sick and disabled in hospitals, and those upon detached duty, there were less than 400 men then present with the regiment and able for duty. On the 10th of March, 1864, Major John Bruce was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. The regiment remained in Brownsville during the winter. On the 30th of March it left the barracks and encamped on the plain east of the town and near Fort Brown. In addition to the ordinary details for guard and picket duty, heavy details were now made for the purpose of restoring the ruined and dismantled fort. About the time the repairs were completed, guns mounted, and the fort put in good condition for defense, orders were received to prepare for its abandonment. Of the withdrawal of the troops from the Mexican frontier, Major Bruce wrote as follows:
About the 5th of July, we began to prepare for the evacuation of the place. This occupied considerable time. War material which had been collected had to be removed, and many refugees from the State, fleeing from rebel conscription and intolerance, had taken up their residence here. Even Mexican citizens, seeking asylum from the troubles of their own Government, sought the protection of the Stars and Stripes. These persons had to have time for the removal of their families and effects, and had to be provided with transportation to New Orleans and other places. The friends of the Mexican Government saw, with deep regret, the preparations for the evacuation of the line of the Rio Grande by the United States forces. During the occupation the most friendly relations were cultivated and maintained between our army and the Mexican army at Matamoras, then under command of General Cortinas, who adhered to the Mexican Government as represented by President Juarez. The occupation of this line by the United States forces inspired confidence among the friends of Mexican independence and operated as a strong moral power in staying the advance of the French in Northern Mexico. A sentiment of true sympathy, amounting in many cases to regret, pervaded our entire army that our international relations would not permit us at that time to give substantial aid to our sister republic in her struggle against French domination. During the progress of evacuation we were frequently threatened by the enemy. He attacked our pickets and made other demonstrations, but did not venture a general engagement for the possession of the place. On the 28th of July the evacuation of the town and fort took place. The whole command, under General Herron, marched out and camped the first night at San Martino. Afterwards the division halted at White's Ranch, and I was detained with my regiment at that place several days, covering the embarkation of the troops. On the 3d of August, I moved to the Island of Brazos Santiago, and the next day embarked on the steamer Corinthian with orders for New Orleans. Thus the line of the Rio Grande Was abandoned, except that a garrison was left to hold the Island of Santiago. Arrived at New Orleans on the 7th day of August, and was ordered into camp at Carrollton. Here we were much gratified at meeting the officers and men of the regiment who had been captured at the battle of Sterling Farm, on the 29th of September previous, and who had, on the 22d of July, been exchanged and were awaiting our arrival to join, the regiment. Ten officers, and one hundred and seventy enlisted men returned to us at this time. An account of their treatment by the enemy while prisoners, furnished me by S. F. Roderick, senior Captain of the regiment, who was one of their number, Is herewith submitted. . . . [See note 8.]
The report of Captain Roderick describes in detail the hardships endured by himself and the other members of his regiment, while confined in rebel prisons for a period of nearly ten months. They were moved from one place to another, and covered a distance of over 800 miles on foot, during the time they were in the hands of the enemy. The place where they were confined the longest was at Camp Tyler, Texas. This was a stockade, the walls of which were sixteen feet high; there was no shelter or protection of any kind from the weather, except some rude structures of logs and poles, built by the prisoners, and the food furnished was barely sufficient to sustain life. When they were first placed within the stockade they were entirely without shelter, and, for forty-eight hours, without food. They then received ten days' rations of corn meal, but had nothing to put it in, and for over thirty days had no vessels in which to cook the meal furnished them, except what they could borrow from their guards. The weather was cold, only a few of the men had blankets, and all were poorly clad, many of them being without shoes. Of course sickness was the inevitable result of such exposure and lack of food, and medical treatment was entirely inadequate. Near the close of his account Captain Roderick says: "At this time the scenes of human misery and suffering are beyond my power of description, and will only be known when some abler hand than mine shall write the history of the stockade at Tyler, Texas." The capacity for endurance of such hardships among these men of the Nineteenth Iowa was most remarkable, for the account states that, out of the 206 men of the regiment in confinement, there were but two deaths, while one deserted, thirty made their escape and one hundred seventy-three were exchanged [see note 9].
On the 14th of August, the regiment embarked at New Orleans, with orders to proceed to Pensacola, Florida, where it arrived on the 16th, and went into camp. From that place it took part in several expeditions, in one of which it lost one man killed in a skirmish with the enemy. December 6th the regiment again embarked and was conveyed to Fort Gaines, where it remained until the 14th, when it again embarked and, on the 15th, landed at East Pascagoula, Miss., and there joined the troops under command of General Granger, with Whom the regiment co-operated against the enemy. There were frequent skirmishes, but no general engagement, and the regiment sustained no loss. On Dec. 26, 1864, the regiment occupied a fortified position five miles from East Pascagoula, where it remained until the close of the year.
Early in January, 1865, the regiment returned to Pascagoula, where it remained until the close of the month and was then conveyed to Dauphin Island, Ala. Here preparations were begun for the next campaign, the results of which were to prove so important to the cause of the Union. Upon the arrival of the Sixteenth Army Corps from Tennessee, active operations against the enemy began. The regiment was assigned to a brigade composed of the Twentieth Wisconsin, Ninety-fourth Illinois, Twenty-third and Nineteenth Iowa regiments of Infantry and Battery "C" First Missouri Light Artillery. This was the First Brigade of the Second Division of the Thirteenth Army Corps. On the 27th of February the 'troops and camp equipments were conveyed by transports to Navy Cove near Fort Morgan. On the 17th of March the troops moved forward, the Thirteenth Corps taking the advance. The roads and the weather were bad. The men were frequently called upon to assist in getting the artillery over the almost impassable roads. It was hard and toilsome work, but the endurance of the soldiers was equal to the task. On the 22d of March, the advance had reached Fish river when the enemy's cavalry was encountered, but was able to offer only feeble resistance and the column moved on, arriving in front of Spanish Fort on the 26th. On the next day the rest of the army arrived, and by night the fort was completely invested, the First Brigade holding the extreme left of the line. Oh the 27th a general advance was ordered. The Nineteenth Iowa led the advance of its brigade. The enemy made a stubborn resistance, but finally fell back to the fort and its immediate defenses. Then commenced a series of regular siege operations, in which the Nineteenth Iowa performed its full share of duty under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Bruce, whose official report of the part taken by his regiment is here given, as follows [see note 10]:
Headquarters Nineteenth Regiment, Iowa Infantry Volunteers,
Spanish Fort, Ala., April 14, 1865.
LIEUT. A. J. ROCKWELL, A. A. A. General, First Brigade,
Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps.
SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by my regiment in the attack upon and reduction of Spanish Fort and its defenses. On the 27th of March, about noon, I was ordered forward; crossed the creek, deployed in line of battle, advanced Companies A and D in skirmish line through the thick brush, holding my line well out on my left to the bay. After ascending the hill, and in view of the fort, the enemy opened on my line with artillery, wounding a number of my men. Here we hastily threw up a line of works, and in the meantime Faust's Battery came up, opened on the enemy vigorously, and in a short time he ceased to return the fire. I again advanced, under orders, to get a position as near as possible to the enemy's works. The enemy, observing the movement, opened upon me with musketry, from his rifle pits, and from the front. He also opened with his artillery. In the advance I had a number of men killed and wounded. Under cover of the fallen timber, I protected my line as well as I could, while the artillery in my rear was playing with good effect on the rebel works. Darkness came on and I was ordered to throw up a line of defenses where I then was, which I did. After this the operations assumed the nature of a siege. We advanced our lines under cover of the night, by parallels, drove the enemy out of his pits, and occupied them. On the night of the 8th of April, the enemy abandoned his works, and we took possession of them. Annexed to this report, find list of the killed and wounded of my regiment. My casualties were but few after the advance of the first day.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOHN BRUCE,
Lieut. Col. Nineteenth Iowa Inft., Commanding Regt.
With the fall of Spanish Fort ended the battle history of the Nineteenth Iowa. On the 9th of April, Fort Blakely was captured by the troops under General Steele, and on the night of the 10th, Mobile and all its defenses were evacuated by the enemy. During the following month the regiment was employed, with other troops, in dismantling the forts around Mobile. It then moved to Dauphin Island, and remained there until June 14th, when it was ordered to return to Mobile and, soon after its arrival there, the officers and men were rejoiced by receiving the glad news that they would soon be permitted to return to their homes. On the 10th day of July, 1865, the regiment was mustered out of the service of the United States at Mobile, Alabama; on the 17th it embarked on. steamer for New Orleans, and was conveyed from there to Cairo, Ill., by steamboat, thence by rail to Davenport, Iowa, where it was disbanded Aug. 1, 1865, and the officers and men bade each other good-bye and returned to their homes. The day before the regiment disbanded, its commander issued the following address [see note 11]:
Headquarters Nineteenth Iowa Infantry Volunteers,
Davenport, Iowa, July 31, 1865.
FELLOW SOLDIERS; OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE NINETEENTH REGIMENT, IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
On the eve of separation, it is perhaps no more than proper that I should address to you a few parting words. We have been together for three long, eventful years – years of surpassing interest in the history of our country, and of the world. Inspired by a common patriotic impulse, we joined hands on the altar of our country, and common sufferings, sacrifices and dangers have united us in the affectionate memory of the heart. You have borne yourselves well in the great struggle. No commanding officer has ever spoken of you otherwise than in commendation of your gallant services.
You have endured with patience and fortitude the hardships and dangers to which you have been exposed; you have cheerfully performed every duty required of you, whether on the field of battle or in the pauses of the conflict. You return from the victorious fields of the republic, conscious of having done your part in bearing aloft the banner of your country's nationality, and planting it on every hill and valley throughout the land. You will receive the congratulations of your friends, and a grateful country will not forget your services. Go, then, my comrades, put off the panoply of war, and enter the pursuits of peaceful industry; prove yourselves good citizens, as you have good soldiers. Forget not the principles for which you have victoriously contended, and for preserved life, health, and good government, forget not the debt of gratitude due to Almighty God. With the most profound sentiments of respect for the memories of our honored dead, and the liveliest feelings of kindly regard for all who have survived, I bid you, comrades all, farewell. I part from your command without the consciousness of one unkind feeling toward anyone of you. God bless you and grant you long life and health. May home soon gladden your eyes and cheer your hearts, and may demostic [sic] happiness meet you smiling at your gates.
JOHN BRUCE,
Lieut. Col. Nineteenth Iowa Volunteers.
Well and faithfully have the survivors of this splendid regiment observed the parting injunction of their gallant commander. In their various avocations in life they have remained true to the principles for which they fought. Many of them have answered the last roll call since the close of the great struggle for the preservation of their government, and comparatively few remain to peruse this brief sketch of the service performed by the regiment to which they belonged; but the children of the living and the dead, and their posterity to the latest generation, will refer with just pride to the record of personal service of their ancestors, as shown in the brief paragraphs in connection with their names in the roster which follows this history. The commonwealth of Iowa has, performed a high duty in thus preserving, not only the history of this splendid regiment, but the names of the men who marched and fought under its colors, and brought them back to their state to be placed among the clusters of honored flags which adorn the rotunda of its Capitol. With the lapse of time the Republic for which these brave men fought and suffered will grow stronger and more enduring, and with its growth and strength will increase the love and reverence for the memory of those who, in the time of their country's greatest need, rallied to her defense and saved her from destruction at the hands of a portion of her own rebellious children.
SUMMARY OP CASUALTIES.
Total Enrollment. 1132
Killed 58
Wounded 198
Died of wounds 40
Died of disease 93
Discharged for disease, wounds or other causes 209
Buried in National Cemeteries 85
Captured 216
Transferred 43
[Note 1.] Adjutant General's Report, State of Iowa, Vol. 1, 1863, Original Roster of the Regiment, pages 682 to 717.
[Note 2.] The compiler of this sketch has gleaned much of his material from the carefully prepared histories of the operations of the regiment, found in the reports of the Adjutant General of Iowa, for the years 1864, 1866 and 1867, pages 461 to 466, 284 to 286 and 589 to, 592, written by John Bruce, Major, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel, Nineteenth Iowa Infantry, and Brevet Colonel and Brigadier General. The student of the military history of Iowa is referred to these histories for a more extended account of the operations of this regiment.
[Note 3.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa 1864, pages 463-4.
[Note 4.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa 1866, pages 281-2.
[Note 5.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, Vol. 2, 1863, Report, page 832.
[Note 6.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa for year 1864, pages 461-2.
[Note 7.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa for year 1864, page 462 and map No. 43, War of the Rebellion Records.
[Note 8.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa for year 1866, pages 282, 284 and 285.
[Note 9.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa, 1866, pages 283-4.
[Note 10.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa for year 1866, page 286.
[Note 11.] Report of Adjutant General of Iowa for year 1867, Vol. 2, page 591.
SOURCE: Roster & Record of Iowa Soldiers During the War of the Rebellion, Volume 3, p. 225-34
