Colonel Daniel Anderson

THIRD COLONEL, FIRST CAVALRY.

Daniel Anderson was born in the year 1821, in the State of Indiana. His history, prior to coming to Iowa, I am unacquainted with. He settled in Albia, Monroe county, of this State, in about the year 1843, and established himself in the practice of the law, which he continued to follow till the time of entering the service. In July and August, 1861, he enlisted Company H, 1st Iowa Cavalry, was elected its captain, and held this rank till the 10th of July, 1862, when he was promoted to the majority of the 3d Battalion of his regiment. In the following August, he was made lieutenant-colonel, which rank he held till the 21st of August, 1863, when he was promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment. On the expiration of his three-years' term, of service he resigned his commission, and returned to his home in Albia.

During the colonelcy of Mr. Anderson the 1st Iowa Cavalry, as a regiment, met the enemy for the first time in a regular engagement. On the 11th day of June, 1863, nearly a month after the regiment had returned from its scout in South Eastern Missouri, the 1st Iowa Cavalry in company with the 8th Missouri Cavalry left Lake Springs for Pilot Knob, where it reported to Colonel J. M. Glover commanding the 2d Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division. Plans for the Arkansas Expedition and the capture of Little Rock which were matured after the fall of Vicksburg had been conceived in the month of June preceding; and in anticipation of this movement the 1st Cavalry Division was ordered south from Missouri. On the 1st of July the 1st Iowa Cavalry with its brigade and division left its camp at Arcadia, Missouri, and passing through Fredericktown and Bloomfield, crossed the St. Francis River in the vicinity of Chalk Bluff, Arkansas. From this point the command moved due south through Gainsville, and Jonesboro, Arkansas, and on the 28th instant arrived within some three miles of Wittsburg, where it went into camp. Here the division remained several days, and until dispatches could be forwarded to Helena, which was one hundred miles distant. The party which carried these dispatches, and which consisted of only fifty men, was under the command of Captain Jenks and Lieutenant Hursh of the 1st Iowa Cavalry; and the success which attended the movement did these officers great credit; for the rout which was unknown to them, and which lay all the way through the enemy's country, was passed without accident or the loss of a single man.

With the return of this party, the division broke camp and continued the march to White River, which it struck on the evening of the 8th of July, near Clarendon. The organization of General Steele's command being now completed, he marched out from Helena to form a junction with the cavalry of General Davidson, at Clarendon. White River was crossed successfully, and now the expedition to Little Rock was well under way. By order of General Steele, General Davidson, on the morning of the 22d of July, led the advance in the direction of Deadman's Lake and Brownsville; while the infantry, under General Steele, moved up the river to Duvall's Bluff, and proceeded from that direction. No opposition was made to General Davidson's advance until the 25th, when General Marmaduke made his appearance with his rebel cavalry. All that day skirmishing was carried on with the enemy, who, driven back to and through Brownsville, were on the following day forced into their works on Bayou Metoe; and at Bayou Metoe, the 1st Iowa Cavalry, as a regiment, first met the enemy in battle. Bayou Metoe, a miry, sluggish stream, is crossed by the Brownsville and Little Rock road, at a point about fourteen miles east of the last named place. At the time in question, it was spanned by a wooden bridge; and the object of the charge of the 1st Iowa Cavalry was to save this bridge from burning; for the enemy, after falling back to the west side of the stream, had fired it, to prevent pursuit. On the east side of Bayou Metoe, and nearly three-quarters of a mile distant from it, is a sharp, narrow ridge of land, which is covered with brush, and runs nearly parallel with the stream. Along this the enemy had constructed earth-works, which, after being driven from Brownsville, they had occupied.

On the afternoon of the 26th of August, General Davidson's van-guard, which consisted of a detachment of the 3d Missouri Cavalry, was moving along the road and had come within about a mile of the above named rebel works, when they were greeted with a six-pound solid shot. It struck the ground in their front, and ricochetting killed one man and two horses. Word was sent back to General Davidson, who was at Brownsville, and the next morning he came to the front. The expedient which he adopted to dislodge the enemy was a novel one. He directed a bass drum to be beaten that the enemy might infer the approach of infantry; and the ruse succeeded admirably, for they left without offering further resistance. Retiring to the west side of the bayou, they fired the bridge, seeing which, General Davidson called for the 1st Iowa Cavalry to charge and save it. Colonel Anderson led his regiment and had arrived within some three hundred yards of the bridge when the enemy, secreted in thick brush to the right, delivered a deadly volley of musketry. The colonel's horse was wounded and frightened, and took the colonel to the rear. The regiment dashed on with Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell at its head; but on reaching the bayou the enemy were found in strong works just beyond the opposite bank. It was impossible to save the bridge, and after exchanging shots with the enemy for upward of an hour the regiment retired.

Further pursuit of the enemy in this direction was therefore rendered impossible, since at this point the bayou was deep and miry; and, stationing pickets near the crossing, General Davidson returned to Brownsville. From this time till the 8th of August the 1st Iowa Cavalry remained in Camp at Brownsville, and during this time the character of the country and the position of the enemy were thoroughly reconnoitered. General Steele in the meantime having determined to move against Little Rock by way of the river-road the cavalry, on the morning of the last named date, led the advance in that direction; and in the evening of that same day General Davidson bivouacked only one mile north of the Arkansas River, and ten miles east of the doomed city.

The next day the 1st Iowa, having crossed the Arkansas, took a distinguished part in leading Steele's army into Little Rock.

On the 26th of November, Lieutenant-Colonel Caldwell, with two hundred and fifty men of his regiment, left camp at Little Rock, and moved down the Arkansas River to Pine Bluff. The enemy were reported advancing on that place, and he was sent forward to reinforce the garrison. Lieutenant-Colonel H. C. Caldwell, of the 3d Iowa Cavalry, in command of a brigade, also joined in this movement; but before the arrival of any of these troops, Colonel Clayton, of the 5th Kansas Cavalry, with his gallant little garrison numbering not over four hundred men, had engaged and beaten off the rebel force. For the number of troops engaged, this is one of the most brilliant battles ever fought in Arkansas; and, for his success in defending Pine Bluff, Colonel Clayton received the highest commendations of General Steele. Immediately after arriving at Pine Bluff, the commands of both Lieutenant-Colonels H. C. and J. W. Caldwell started in pursuit of the enemy, and proceeded as far west as Arkadelphia; but in all that distance no enemy was encountered. The detachment from the 1st Iowa Cavalry returned to Little Rock on the 1st of December, and during the scout had traveled not less than two hundred and fifty miles. From the 1st to the 31st of December, 1863, the 1st Iowa Cavalry, in detachments, was constantly on the scout. In November, I have mentioned only that expedition in which LieutenantColonel J. W. Caldwell took part; for that was the most important; but other detachments of the regiment were also on the scout; and to show the amount of labor performed by the entire regiment, it need only be stated that the aggregate number of miles marched by the different companies and detachments in the month of November was three thousand and seventy-nine miles. In December, the aggregate of miles marched was two thousand eight hundred and eighty-two. It has been supposed the cavalry was a lazy arm of the service; but these figures should correct this idea.

The most important of the expeditions joined in by the 1st Iowa Cavalry in the month of December, was that which, leaving Little Rock on the 15th instant, marched south through Arkadelphia, and to within fifteen miles of Camden on the Washita River. The detachment from the 1st Iowa, which consisted of some two hundred and sixty men, under Captain Jenks, engaged the enemy, dismounted, a few miles south of Princeton, and drove them from the works, killing and wounding some, and capturing several prisoners. The history of this affair seems incredible. The enemy were eight hundred, and holding a strong position; but they were routed by less than three hundred men, losing many of their arms, their wagons and camp-equipage.

After the occupation of Little Rock, Colonel Glover was taken sick and was succeeded in the command of his brigade by Colonel Anderson of the 1st Iowa Cavalry, who retained the command for several weeks. And it was during this time that he was placed under arrest for writing a sharp letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Chandler, General Steele's Provost-Marshal General. He was, however, after the lapse of several weeks, released without trial, and returned to the command of his brigade. On account of sickness, which prostrated him just before the expedition started, Colonel Anderson did not accompany General Steele on his Camden march; but soon recovering, he assumed command of the Post of Little Rock, which he held till the expedition returned. During the absence of his regiment on veteran furlough, he was placed in command of the non-veterans; but before the regiment returned, he resigned his commission and returned to his home in Albia. In person, Colonel Anderson is tall and erect. He can not be less than six feet and three inches in hight. He has regular features, brown hair, and grey eyes. He is dignified in his manners; he has large self-esteem, and an arbitrary disposition. It was this, with his quick temper, which gave him trouble in the service. He is a man of good judgment; and though he never met with great success in the practice of his profession, he is regarded as a sound lawyer. He is a fair public speaker; but too prolix to be entertaining.

SOURCE: Addison A Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 553-8

MAJOR-GENERAL FREDERICK STEELE

FIRST COLONEL, EIGHTH INFANTRY.

Frederick Steele is a native of Delhi, Delaware county, New York, where he was born in the year 1819. He was the second regular army officer appointed to a field office from Iowa. Entering the West Point Military Academy in the year 1839, he was regularly graduated in 1843, and appointed a brevet 2d lieutenant in the 2d Infantry. He served with General Scott in the Mexican War, and greatly distinguished himself in the battles of Contreras and Chapultepec. He commanded his company at the capture of the City of Mexico, having been brevetted 1st lieutenant and captain, on account of gallant conduct in the two previous engagements.

On the declaration of peace, he reported, under orders, to General Riley, in California, and was made his assistant adjutant-general, which position he retained for several years. At the outbreak of the war, he was serving in Missouri, and, with the 1st Iowa Infantry, fought under General Lyon at the battle of Wilson's Creek. Captain Steele was commissioned colonel of the 8th Iowa Infantry, on the 23d of September, 1861; but his connection with this regiment was brief; for, his good conduct at Wilson's Creek coming to the ears of the War Department, he was, on the 29th of January, 1862, made a brigadier-general. If we except the time he served with Sherman around Vicksburg, in the spring and summer of 1863, and the time he served under General Canby, at Pensacola and around Mobile, in the spring of 1865, General Steele has, at all other times, held commands in Missouri and Arkansas. He was in command at Helena, Arkansas, in December, 1862, just before joining the expedition under General Sherman, which left that point in the latter part of that month for Chickasaw Bayou. On this expedition he commanded the 4th Division, 13th Army Corps; and, with two brigades of it, led the attack against the bluffs, over the long and narrow causeway that leads to the Walnut Hills from above the mouth of Chickasaw Bayou.

Immediately after this unfortunate affair, General Steele sailed with his command up the Arkansas River; and on the night of the 10th of January, 1863, marched to the rear of Arkansas Post, through the brushy swamps that were well-nigh impassable for infantry, and quite so for the ambulances and baggage-wagons. It is to the patience and valor of General Steele's troops that the country is chiefly indebted for the capture of these formidable works. We next find General Steele with Sherman, in command of his division on the final march against Vicksburg; and, after the fell of that city, on the second march against Jackson, in command of the 15th Corps. General Sherman approached Jackson in three columns, General Steele's command holding the centre, General Ord's the right, and General Parke's the left. On this march, "nothing worth recording occurred till the head of Steele's column was within six hundred yards of the enemy's line, on the Clinton road, when [July 9th, 8 A. M.] a six-inch rifle-shot warned us to prepare for serious work." Indeed, if we except the heedless affair of General Lauman, who commanded a division of General Ord's Corps, and the reconnaissance of Colonel, now General Corse, in command of the 6th Iowa and other troops, nothing of special interest occurred, during the eight day's siege of the city.

On the evacuation of Jackson by General Johnson, and after the destruction of the railroads and the rebel government property in and around the city, General Steele returned to Vicksburg; and, immediately after was appointed to the command of the Department and Army of Arkansas. He arrived at Helena on the 31st of July, 1863.

This was his first distinct and important command; and, for the manner in which he managed some matters of detail, he has been severely criticised. As a fighting-general, he proved himself all the loyal North could ask. It was the policy he adopted in governing the people of a subjugated district — nearly all of them bitter rebels—which lost him much of his early popularity; but, without questioning the wisdom of his plans, it is but just to say that, he was doubtless honest in his motives. He believed that the speedier way to bring a disaffected people back to a love of the Union was to treat them with kindness. He was right in principle: he only forgot that he was dealing with those who were rotten with treason, and totally destitute of principle.

General Steele left Helena for Little Rock, Arkansas, on the 10th of August, 1863, with an expeditionary army, numbering, of all arms, not quite twelve thousand men. On the 10th of September following, after forcing the enemy back step by step from Clarendon and across the Arkansas, he had compelled Generals Price and Marmaduke to evacuate Little Rock; and, on the evening of the same day, he received the city by formal surrender of the municipal authorities.

His successes were brilliant and, by General Grant, unlocked for; for, on the 12th of September, that general dispatched a seventeenth corps' division, (General John E. Smith's) from Vicksburg to reinforce him. News of the fall of Little Rock reached this division at Helena, and it marched to Chattanooga.

By this brief campaign, General Steele had restored to the Government nearly the entire State of Arkansas; for the enemy now disputed the possession of only a few counties in the south-western part of the State.

General Steele's next important move, which was made in conjunction with a similar one under Major-General N. P. Banks, was a failure, though history, I believe, will attribute it to no fault of the general. The object of this grand campaign was the capture of Shreveport, and the dispersion of the enemy in the Red River country, and, had General Banks escaped the serious disasters which overwhelmed his command at Sabine Cross Roads and Pleasant Hill, the object would doubtless have been attained.

General Steele left Little Rock on the 23d of March, 1864, and marching via Benton, Rockport and Arkadelphia, entered Camden at sun-down on the 15th of April. On this march he met and defeated the enemy under Price, Marmaduke, Shelby, Cabell and a score or more of others, of the ragged, epauletted chivalry, at Terre Noir Creek, Elkin's Ford, Prairie de Anne and north-west of Camden. When leaving Little Rock, it was doubtless General Steele's intention to march directly on Shreveport; for he crossed the Washita at Arkadelphia, and was directing his line of march nearly mid-way between Washington and Camden. Why did he enter Camden? On the 10th, 11th and 12th of April, he engaged the enemy at Prairie de Anne, and, from prisoners captured there, or from other sources, learned that the advance of Banks had not only been checked, but his whole command overwhelmed with disaster. The enemy, who at this point were in strong force in Steele's front, soon disappeared; and the general was not long in discovering that they were marching by a circuitous route to occupy Camden, and gain his rear. A race followed between himself and the enemy for Camden, which resulted, in the battle bearing that name. The battle was fought at the cross-roads, some seven miles west-north-west of the city.

Before reaching Camden, General Steele remained incredulous of the reports of General Bank's defeat; but after his arrival there he was convinced of their truth, and contemplated an immediate return to Little Rock. But, a large train of supplies reaching him in safety, he persuaded himself that he could maintain his position, and accordingly ordered the train to return to Pine Bluff for additional supplies. This is the train which was captured just north of the Moro Bottom; and this circumstance, some think, saved the balance of his army.

Having learned of the capture of his train, (and he had just before lost one sent out on a foraging expedition to Poisoned Springs) General Steele prepared for a rapid march back to Little Rock, where he arrived on the 2d of May. To show that fortune favored him, I give the following: After the capture of the train above referred to and the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Drake of the 36th Iowa, the rebel General Fagan was ordered to cross the Saline River, and intrench himself fronting Jenkin's Ferry, at which point Steele was to cross his army. For some reason, Fagan failed to comply with these orders, and, in consequence thereof, was relieved of his command and put in arrest. Had he complied with these orders, Steele must have surrendered to the rebel forces; for, without any enemy in his front, and after having burned the most of his own train, it was with the utmost difficulty he effected a crossing.

After General Steele's return to Little Rock, and during the entire time he was retained in command in Arkansas, he did little worthy of record. In January, 1865, he was relieved of his command, and ordered to report to Major-General Canby, at New Orleans. His last services were performed in the vicinity of Mobile. He was given a command, stationed at Pensacola, Florida, with which he marched against Mobile.

He took a prominent part in the capture of Fort Blakely; but a history of this affair will appear elsewhere.

General Steele is the smallest of the Iowa major-generals, or the smallest of the major-generals who have held colonel's commissions from the State; for he can hardly be called an Iowa man. He has a light complexion, lively, gray eyes, and hair, though originally brown, now heavily sprinkled with gray. He has a slender, wiry form, and a sharp, shrill voice. Nearly all army officers are occasionally profane: I know of but few exceptions, and General Steele is not one of them. He swears with precision, and with great velocity.

The general is passionately fond of a fine horse, and, in civil life, would be called a horse-jockey. It is reported that his horses have more than once appeared on the old race-course at Little Rock, where, competing with the steeds of the cavalry privates of his command, they have always borne off the stakes. The general, in his flannel shirt, would stand by a spectator of the sport, but nothing more.

General Steele is kind-hearted and humane, and easily approached, even by an humble private. It is this same kindness of heart, as I am informed, that tempered his rule while in command in Arkansas, and made him popular with the citizens and camp-followers, and unpopular with many in his army. In the field, he is really a fine officer; but he lacks firmness, and is unfit for a military governor. That which injured him not a little at Little Rock was his lack of judgment in selecting his staff officers. In this respect he was very unfortunate.

But he stands high in the confidence of General Grant, which is no common recommendation. The general is neat and tidy in his dress, and, when on duty, always appears in full uniform.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 179-84