Diary of Private Alexander G. Downing: Monday, January 4, 1864

An order was issued by the War Department cancelling the previous order giving the large bounties to soldiers for re-enlisting, but it is not to go into effect until midnight of the 5th inst. Re-enlisting is going on at a lively rate. Company E today secured the necessary number entitling it to be a veteran company — the first one in the regiment, Company K being the second. General McPherson delivered a speech before the Iowa Brigade, expressing his desire that the entire Seventeenth Army Corps might become a corps of veterans, and I think there is no doubt but that it will.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 160

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Monday, June 15, 1863

Our brigade is all broken up, most of it being on picket duty facing Johnston's army and acting as a reserve, and doing police duty between the two lines of battle. Johnston is reported to be out on the Big Black river with about ten thousand men, in an attempt to get into Vicksburg, but he's afraid to come for fear of getting whipped. The boys are having fine times picking blackberries and plums. I quit cooking for the captain, and was recommended as a first-class cook. John Lett took my place as cook for the officers.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 122

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, June 12, 1863

Our brigade receiving orders, moved out about a mile and again went into camp in a large hollow; we fixed up bunks and made a nice camp. I was out last night again with a large detail from our brigade digging rifle pits, working all night with rifle in one hand and pick in the other, digging trenches to protect ourselves in the daytime. There was skirmishing and heavy cannonading all day, and after night by their lighted fuses we sometimes could see the shells from our mortar boats coming over the city and down to the ground before they exploded.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 121

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, June 5, 1863

We remained in line of battle all night. Our brigade lay in bivouac all day. The Governor of the State of Iowa made a speech to the Iowa Brigade. Adjutant General Baker and Congressman Wilson of Iowa spoke also. The Sixteenth Iowa went out on picket. Skirmishing has been going on all day, and our men are digging rifle-pits.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 120

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, May 27, 1863

Our brigade, with four others, all under the command of General Blair, left this morning for Benton's Crossroads. The expedition is to keep General Johnston from coming in to reinforce the rebels at Vicksburg. Cannonading and picket firing opened up early this morning. Our army, by sapping and mining after night, is gradually working its way closer to the fortifications. Our men are well protected during the day by earthworks.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 118

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, April 23, 1863

Brig. Gen. M. M. Crocker took command of our brigade today. I got a pass to go down to the landing to buy bread for the officers’ mess in my charge. Our troops are encamped by the thousands all along the Mississippi river, for thirty miles up from Vicksburg. There is much sickness among the new troops in camp here, caused by using the river water and by camping on the low ground. Many of them have already died and their bodies have been buried upon the levee instead of in the low ground. It is reported that five of our transports loaded with supplies for the army below ran the blockade last night. One of the transports when almost past was hit by a solid shot and sunk.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 111

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, February 28, 1863

Our regiment was mustered for pay at 9 o'clock this morning, and at 10 o'clock we had general inspection with all accouterments on, by the inspector general of the Seventeenth Army Corps, General William E. Strong.¹ I got an order today from the captain on the sutler for $1.50.

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¹ Iowa may well be proud of the Third Brigade of the Sixth Division, Col. M. M. Crocker commanding. It is composed of the following troops, viz.: The Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa Infantry. It turned out for inspection 1,935 rank and file. * * * Since I have been a soldier, it has so happened that I have seen many brigades of many different army corps, both in the Eastern and Western armies, but never have I seen a brigade that could compete with this Iowa brigade. I am not prejudiced in the slightest degree. I never saw any of the officers or soldiers of the command until the day when I saw them in line of battle prepared for inspection. * * * I cannot say that any one regiment of the brigade appeared better than another — they all appeared so well. The Eleventh was the strongest. It had 528 enlisted men and 20 officers present for duty, the Thirteenth 470 enlisted men and 22 officers, the Fifteenth 428 men and 29 officers, the Sixteenth 405 men and 33 officers. In the entire brigade there was not to exceed a dozen men unable to be present for inspection. — Roster of Iowa Soldiers, Infantry, Vol. II, p. 279.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 102

16th Iowa Infantry Correspondence

CAMP NEAR PITTSBURG, Tenn.,

May 4, 1862.

EDITOR GAZETTE. – I have been intending to write to you for some time, but our frequent moving, sickness, &c., have prevented.  Even now there is no certainty that a letter commenced will be finished at one writing or in the same camp, even if it take[s] only an hour to write it.  Our marching orders are sudden, and the brief interval is a busy time of preparation.  At all times we have to be prepared for a battle, and generally with rations cooked ahead.  The battle will be daily or hourly expected until it happens, unless we should get news of Beauregard’s retreat, something we do not expect.

A little over a week ago we were in camp thirteen miles from our present location.  An order to move received after dinner, a dismally rainy afternoon, took us four miles away through mud and mire to supper.  We left a beautiful camp, but located in one even more lovely, we occupy the left, the 15th next, 13th next and the 11th on the right, Col. Crocker of the 13th commanding the brigade – (these are the regular positions of the regiments of the brigade in camp.)  Had a brigade inspection, by Inspector Gen. Judah, and our regiment was probably more complimented than any other.

On the 29th our brigade was ordered to march with all the ammunition we could carry, and two day’s rations.  We started in the afternoon, with the prospect of a fight ahead, Lieut. Col. Sanders in command of the 16th, Col. Chambers being absent for some days, with the intention of staying perhaps a month, on business connected with his old government duties.  We marched eight or nine miles and after dark we halted in the woods, where we slept on the ground without covering, in the old style.  In the morning we marched about a mile farther, halted, and soon about faced and marched back to our own camp.  Gen. Wallace’s cavalry attacked Purdy, and we were sent out to support him, and make a reconnoissance.  But he took the place without our aid, and destroyed a long railroad bridge and another property used by the rebels – a serious disaster to our butternut breeched friends.

April 30th, we had our regular inspection and muster for May.  The “pay” has not yet turned up, however.

May 1st, We again struck our tents, and made another move of four miles towards the advance, and in such a lovely place we felt an inward conviction it could not long be enjoyed by us.  Here we received notice that our Division (6th) had a new commander, Gen. McKean being transferred to the first division, and Gen. T. W. Sherman (Port Royal and “Sherman’s Battery” Sherman) commanding our division.  He is reported a splendid officer.

My 3d, yesterday we again moved our camp, taking a five mile step in the advance.  This time the 16th landed with its tents in the middle of a wheat field, far different from the rare forest beauties of our other camps.  The wheat is about a foot high and moderately thick.  The planter is doubtless with the rebel army.  At all events as there are tents scattered all over the immense field, the crop will be effectually blasted.  This country is sparsely settled, and but little cultivated.  It is a beautiful region, but soil generally poor – yet good enough to produce will under free culture.  Whether our camp is in Tennessee or Mississippi, I do not know.  It is certainly very near the line, and about seven miles from Corinth.

Yesterday afternoon there was heavy artillery firing several miles off, and for an hour or two we expected to be called to march and mingle in the strife.  The roar of guns finally died away, and the cause remains yet unexplained to us.  At night we were ordered to provide four days rations, and may any hour be ordered to march leaving our tents behind.

Yesterday, our regimental commander commenced “stripping” us for a fight or quicker marching.  Each company left behind two or three of its five Sibley tents, one of the two officers’ tents, and all the “property” that could be spared, the hospital and extra commissary stores, bed ticks, extra blankets and sick.  Although we have not so large a sick list as a week ago (about one hundred off duty now) yet the sick have been a great incumbrance, and their frequent removals over these very rough roads have been anything but beneficial.  Every regiment has a train of convalescents straggling in its rear when changing camps, with the bed confined to follow in ambulances and wagons.  Yesterday our sick were sent to the river hospital, excepting those likely to be ready for duty in a few days.  This will greatly relieve us, and be better for them.  Several of our officers are sick, and this morning Capt. Smith, of Co. A, will be sent to the hospital, where he out to have been days ago.  He is the “noblest Roman of all,” did his whole duty in the battle, and has been the most eager for another fight.  The prevailing sickness is diarrhea, and it seems uncommonly difficult to control.  Mere astringent medicines will not do it in most cases, but the cause has to be struck at.  The 15th has about two hundred on its sick list, and ever regiment has a pretty large list.  There are however, but few deaths.  Several have died in our regiment, and among them is the old drummer, Mr. Russell, of Boone county.  He was 78 years old, and was a drummer in the war of 1812.  He had not been well since we left Camp McClellan, and here he got the diarrhea which in a few days carried him off.

A letter in the Lyons Mirror has created great indignation among our men and officers, from Clinton Co. especially.  Speaking of the battle the writer (suspected to be an officer most ridiculously bepuffed in the letter) says the 15th did not leave the field until the 77th Ohio and the 16th Iowa had retired.  Now the fact is, the 16th did not leave till that identical 15th flag sent home to the State Historical Society with several holes in it, had gone from the field, and the most of the 15th with it.  This flag had been stuck up on a stump in the battle, and was a pretty mark to shoot at, and without endangering the color sergeant or guard.  I was in another part of the field, but these are told me as facts by a number of reliable officers and men who witnessed what they state.  Our color sergeant was killed while gallantly bearing his banner, and six of the eight color guard wounded.  The 15th did not occupy the position at all stated by this Lyons Mirror correspondent, who was either not in the battle or too badly scared to notice the position of things.  Both regiments did well, and neither should, in doing justice to itself, do injustice to the other.  Both have been outrageously slandered, without cause, and both are eager for another fight to properly annihilate these slanders by deeds instead of words.

Our old friend Wilkie, the war correspondent of the N. Y. Times, is in our camp nearly every day, and is actively at work getting items in this great field of military operations.

J. B.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, May 15, 1862, p. 2

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, October 4, 1862

During the night all was quiet and our brigade fell back to the last line of fortifications which, extending almost around the town, had been built in the last few days. Here we lay in line of battle all night. The rebels commenced to throw shells into town this morning at daylight. I was still on guard with the teams and we had to get out of that place in double quick. The rebels threw some ten or twelve shells before our battery in Fort Robinet could get the range of them, but when they did, they opened on them some sixty-four-pounders and soon put the rebel's battery out of commission. I was relieved and went to join the regiment, which had been advanced to support a battery. About 10 o'clock the rebels made a charge upon Fort Robinet, to our right, and tried to break our lines at that point but failed. This charge was made by a Texas cavalry, dismounted; they came clear over into the fort, driving some of our artillerymen from their guns, but they were soon overpowered, some being killed and some taken prisoner. The colonel of the regiment planted their flag on our fort, but he was almost immediately killed. The rebels' dead just outside of the fort lay three or four deep and the blood ran in streams down the trenches. The rebels finally withdrew about 4 p. m., leaving their dead and wounded. The Iowa Brigade was placed to the left of Fort Robinet, in support of a battery, but did not become engaged during the day. Some of our forces started after the fleeing rebels. We received orders to be ready to march in the morning, and have to lie in line of battle all night.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 73

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, October 3, 1862

I was on camp guard all last night, on the second relief. Troops were coming in all night. This morning about daylight the Sixth Division was ordered out, and marching out about two miles to the northwest, we met the rebels in force and formed a line of battle. Our pickets having been attacked about sunrise, the battle now commenced in earnest and lasted all day. There was some hard fighting in the afternoon, particularly off on the right, and our men soon fell back to the first line of breastworks. About 3 p. m. the Iowa Brigade was flanked and had to fall back to the second line of breastworks, but the brigade, with the exception of the Fifteenth Regiment, did not get into the thick of the fight.¹ The fighting continued till dark, and after that there was some very heavy cannonading.

__________

¹ The record of the losses of our brigade is as follows: The Fifteenth, eleven killed, sixteen wounded; the Thirteenth, one killed, fourteen wounded; the Sixteenth, one killed, twenty-one wounded; the Eleventh, three killed, eight wounded. — A. G. D.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 72-3

Edward Francis Winslow

BRAVE SOLDIER AND SUCCESSFUL RAILROAD PRESIDENT

Almost alone among the Iowa soldiers who bore distinguished honors and responsibilities during the War for the Union, General Winslow lived on until the 22d of October, 1914, when his death occurred, at Canandaigua, N. Y., aged seventy-seven years.

Edward Francis Winslow was born in Augusta, Me., September 28, 1837. In 1856, at the age of nineteen, he entered upon a business career in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. When the war called the young men of Iowa, he gave quick response, recruiting a company for the Fourth Iowa Cavalry. In January, 1863, he was made major, and, ten months later, was commissioned colonel of his regiment. He commanded a brigade under Sherman, Grant, Sturgis and Wilson respectively, and wherever he was ordered, whether to victory or, as under Sturgis, to inevitable defeat, he served with equal fidelity and courage. In December 1864, after having earned his star over and over again, he was brevetted a brigadier-general. He was mustered out at Atlanta, August 10, 1865.

Reference has been made to Sturgis’s ill-starred campaign against Forrest. It is a matter of history that but for the defense put up by Winslow’s brigade, without orders other than those originating with himself, the retreating army of Sturgis would never have reached Memphis. Other witnesses of the retreat corrected certain misrepresentations of Sturgis, and Winslow received the high praise he had so bravely won but which his chief had withheld. The chagrin of this retreat was in part obliterated by the after-victory at Tupelo in which Winslow was led by A. J. Smith.

To tell with any detail the story of General Winslow's activities during the war — from the winter of 1861-62, with Curtis in Missouri, until the victory at Columbus in 1865, to which he contributed both the plan and a brigade of splendid veterans — would be to write many chapters of war history. It must suffice here to quote the deliberate judgment of Iowa’s war-historian, Maj. S. H. M. Byers, who says: “He was loved by his soldiers, and shared with them the hard march, the fierce encounter, or the last cracker. His brigade, was a fighting brigade and was as well known among the cavalry of the West as was Crocker's Iowa Brigade among the infantry.” He “came out of the war a brevet brigadier-general, with the reputation of a good patriot, a brave soldier and a splendid cavalry commander.”

The veteran general was only twenty-eight when he was mustered out. Gen. James H Wilson, in his interesting work, “Under the Old Flag,” refers to General Winslow's achievement at Columbus as “one of the most remarkable not only of the war but of modern times.”

After the war, General Winslow was offered a captain’s, and later a major’s, and still later a colonel’s commission in the regular army, but he had seen enough of war.

In the siege of Vicksburg he received a wound which caused him no end of pain and inconvenience. Before setting out on his long marches, his wounded leg was wrapped in stiff bandages, and much of the time his suffering was acute. Again, one day, while leading his brigade in the fall of 1863, in the vicinity of Vicksburg, a shell burst near him as he sat on his horse, and the concussion ruptured an ear-drum, causing total deafness in one ear.

The purpose of the war attained, the general gladly turned his attention to business. His executive ability led him to engage in railroad building and managing. For years he resided in Cedar Rapids, serving as manager of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway, years afterward absorbed by the Rock Island system.

In 1879, as vice president and general manager of the Manhattan Elevated Railway, he unified the system of control and management of its lines. In 1880 he was elected president of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company, and vice president of the Atlantic & Pacific Railway Company. He was also for several years president of the New York, Ontario & Western Railway Company, and formed an association for the purpose of building the West Shore Railway, which he completed in about three years. His last active work was in the organization of the “Frisco” system.

For several years after his retirement, General and Mrs. Winslow resided in Paris and spent much time in travel. A few years ago the general visited his old comrade, General Bussey, in Des Moines, and a reception given the two worthies by ex-Mayor and Mrs. Isaac L. Hillis, was a notable assemblage of prominent Iowa soldiers and civilians. The general was in full possession of his faculties, including that most elusive of all the faculties, the memory.

During the last three years of his life, General Winslow had busied himself writing a book of reminiscences of his part in the Civil War. The book had been completed and waited only the final revision when, on the 22d of October, 1914, illness closed it forever to the author. The manuscript left in possession of his widow cannot fail to be a valuable addition to Iowa history, as it is a transcript from the memory of one of Iowa’s best-known and most highly esteemed soldiers.

SOURCE: Johnson Brigham, Iowa: Its History and Its Foremost Citizens, Volume 1, 397-9

From The 11th Iowa Regiment

2 MILES WEST OF BATTLE GROUND,

PITTSBURG, TENN., April 28.

EDITOR GAZETTE:– On Friday last the Iowa 11th and 13th struck tents and marched out about 3 miles to a new camping ground, to the front and in line of battle with the army here.  Shortly afterwards the Iowa 15th and 16th arrived, and moved to our left.  These four regiments constitute the third brigade of the 6th division of the army of the West.  The division is under Gen. McKean, and this brigade is commanded by Col. Crocker of the 13th Iowa, and is the first and only brigade made up wholly of Iowa troops.

The Colonel commanding the brigade has the entire confidence of all who know him.  Col. Crocker is a good officer; at the head of his troops and in the thickest of the fray on Sunday, he gallantly lead the regiment, until Col. Hare’s injuries compelled him to leave the field, and the command of the brigade devolved on Col. Crocker, and no one who witnessed the heroic endurance with which his command still held the foe at bay, until night closed the scene can fail to appreciate the skill and honor his heroism and that of his men.

Our New Iowa brigade will do no discredit to our gallant State.  The best feeling prevails between the different regiments, and we all feel happy to be brigaded with a regiment that has so nobly vindicated the courage of our State, as the 13th, and under so noble a commander as Col. Crocker.  I might give thrilling incidents of the conduct of both officers and men of the 13th in the late engagement, as narrated to me, but prefer to leave this to others, who say and partook of the action with them.

We all concluded on Monday that among the most beautiful and moving things in history of poetry, were “Buell’s lines on Beauregard.”

On Saturday our regiment had scarcely settled down in our new quarters, and dried off the rain of the day before, from clothing and accoutrements, when we were visited, on half hour notice, by. Gen. Inspection, (who is at no time a very welcome visitor to the soldiers) by Gen. Halleck, Inspector General.

Gen. Pope’s army has arrived, bringing up the Iowa 2d Cavalry and the 4th and 10th regiments of Infantry.  Your readers may think it a vastly pleasant time here to visit friends and enjoy this warm spring weather – birds singing overhead, and the pleasant breezes blowing through your evening tent, as you sit around the supper table, narrating thrilling incidents and “hair-breadth escapes.”  In reality it is almost as difficult to visit one’s friend outside the division to which we belong, as though States intervened.  Gen. Halleck has issued orders, forbidding company officers or men leaving their own division (except on duty) under any pretext, without leave from headquarters.

Mr. Editor, as one who had some little part in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, I am vexed to see those who took no part in Sunday’s fight, saying we were whipped that day.  I desire to deny the assertion.  Borne back by numbers, but with unconquered will, 20,000 brave men of the morning army fought through this day and lay on their arms at night to renew the fight next morning, and with Lew. Wallace’s division we would have won the battle on Monday.  No army is beaten while it can raise such a force and with such feelings as animated out brave men.

The sun shines once more warm and drying.  Skirmishers are out ahead and little encounters of pickets and skirmishers are of daily occurrence.  Look out for large events ere long.  Our army has all confidence in Gen. Halleck.  The health of our men is improving and we were ready to act at any time.

We have already buried over 3,000 of the rebel dead, from the late battle, and we are still finding them were their wounded were abandoned in their flight of Monday night.  Our present camp is near where Gens. Johnston and Beauregard lay the night before the battle.

Yours truly,

Co. B, 11TH IOWA.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, May 5, 1862, p. 2

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, September 20, 1862

We remained in line of battle all night and early this morning advanced in a line about two miles, when we received orders to march on into Iuka. The rebels retreated during the night, and General Rosecrans' forces are after them. We learned this morning that a battle had been fought yesterday here by Rosecrans' forces alone. When we were waiting for the sound of Rosecrans' cannon, we could not hear them on account of an unfavorable wind. The rebels attacked him and made the fight come off a day before the time set for our capture of them. The Sixteenth Iowa of Crocker's Brigade had been detached from us and sent forward, being the only regiment of our brigade engaged in the fight. Their loss was fourteen killed. The Fifth Iowa in Rosecrans' army was trapped in an ambush which was made with a battery masked in green leaves, and lost forty-one killed. The rebels were driven out and left their dead and wounded on the field. Quite a number of our wounded are now being brought into town from the battlefield. Iuka is a nice place with some good buildings. It is well supplied with good water from splendid springs. There is poor farming land around here, it being quite rolling in this part of Tennessee. The timber, mostly pine, is rather scrubby.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 70

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, September 11, 1862

The brigade received marching orders to leave in the morning at daylight and we packed our knapsacks today. The talk is that we are to go to Corinth. A small force is to be left here to hold the fort, and it will require a large number to take it. Bolivar has some loyal citizens who will be protected in this way, but we are sorry to bid these people good-bye, perhaps for all time to come. We have been in camp here forty-two days and all the time engaged in hard service — on picket, fatigue and patrol duty, besides often in line of battle.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 67

We make the following extract from a letter . . .

. . . to the Washington Press, written by its editor, then at Pittsburg:

PITTSBURG, Tenn., April 20, 1862.

Gen. McKean, of Iowa, arrived here from Missouri on the 12th, and was immediately assigned a division in the advance.  He found his troops in a very disorganized condition, and almost entirely destitute of field officers.  The 18th Wisconsin and 25th Missouri had only two captains in each regiment – all the rest having been killed, wounded or taken prisoner.  The 15th and 16th Iowa were the only troops from our State in the division, and they with all the rest, suffered severely in the battle.  Gen. McKean immediately set about reorganizing and strengthening his command – his first effort being to get the 11th and 13th Iowa transferred from McClernand’s to his division, and, with the 15th and 16th, constitute a brigade of troops which could be depended upon in all emergencies.  This has finally been effected, or is about to be, and the brigade will be commanded by Col. Crocker of the 13th, one of Iowa’s best officers.  Gen. McKean’s division will now consist of the four Iowa regiments first named; the 16th, 17th and 18th Wisconsin, the 15th Michigan, and the 21st, 53d [sic] and 25th Missouri.  This division will be the advance of Gen. Grant’s command, and when the troops move, will advance by the left, throwing the third brigade, Col. Crocker in its front.

Gen. McKean is a very fine appearing, courteous and affable officer, rather below the medium stature, but compactly and solidly built, his hair and thick growth of whiskers well sprinkled with silver gray.  It is not difficult to perceive that he has been a regular army officer, from the decision to precision with which he manages the details and movements of the troops under his command; the confidence reposed in him by Gen. Halleck may be inferred by his being placed in command of the division of a Major General in the advance.

The Incessant rains that have fallen here for several days have interfered somewhat with the movement of the troops, but the cheerfulness of our men is unflagging.  They feel that Buell and Halleck here, competent men are in command, and that there will be no more surprises.

The telegraph connects the camps of our various division is front with General Halleck’s head quarters, and ever movement is controlled and directed by him.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 2, 1862, p. 1

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, August 1, 1862

All hands are at work cleaning up our camp. We have a very pretty camping ground right on the bank of the river. The entire Crocker Brigade is in this camp and is in command of General Crocker.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 61

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, May 18, 1862

Our brigade threw up four miles of fortifications, earthworks, and also forts for the artillery. We were expecting to be attacked by the rebels' making an effort to turn our right flank, so we were in line of battle all day. The pickets have been fighting all day, for the only action taken by the rebels was trying to drive in our pickets.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 49

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, May 11, 1862

The Iowa Brigade moved two miles to the right, nearer to Corinth, and some of our boys came in upon the rebel pickets. We established another camp — camp number 6. The Eleventh Iowa was relieved from picket duty this evening.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 48

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, Saturday, April 26, 1862

Our regiment is now brigaded with Iowa soldiers, the brigade being completed today. Our brigade is composed of the Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa Infantries, with Colonel Crocker in command.¹  We were inspected today by the general inspector of the army, and had all our accouterments on.

__________

¹ The brigade dating from April 27, 1862, became known as "Crocker's Iowa Brigade." It remained together throughout the war and maintains an organization to this day. — A. G. D.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 46