Diary of 5th Sergeant Osborn H. Oldroyd: May 16, 1863

Crocker, Hovey and Logan's Divisions driving the enemy

at the point of the bayonet throught Champion Hills.

We rolled out of bed this morning early, and had our breakfast of slapjacks made of flour, salt and water, which lie on a man's stomach like cakes of lead—for we are out of all rations but flour and salt, though we hope soon for some variety. We heard heavy firing about eleven o'clock. Our division reached Champion Hill about two P. M., and filed into a field on the right of the road. We were drawn up in a line facing the woods through which ran the road we had just left. It was by this road the rebels came out of Vicksburg to whip us. We had orders to lie down. The command was obeyed with alacrity, for bullets were already whizzing over our heads. I never hugged Dixie's soil as close as I have to-day. We crowded together as tight as we could, fairly plowing our faces into the ground. Occasionally a ball would pick its man in spite of precaution, and he would have to slip to the rear. Soon we got orders to rise up, and in an instant every man was on his feet. If the former order was well obeyed, the latter was equally so. The enemy charged out of the woods in front of us in a solid line, and as they were climbing the fence between us, which separated the open field from the timber, DeGolier's battery, stationed in our front, opened on them with grape and canister, and completely annihilated men and fence, and forced the enemy to fall back. Such terrible execution by a battery I never saw. It seemed as if every shell burst just as it reached the fence, and rails and rebs flew into the air together. They, finding our center too strong, renewed their charge on our left, and succeeded in driving it a short distance, but their success was only for a moment, for our boys rallied, and with reinforcements drove them in turn. We now charged into the woods and drove them a little ways, and as we charged over the spot so lately occupied by the foe, we saw the destruction caused by our battery, the ground being covered thickly with rebel grey. When we reached the woods we were exposed to a galling fire, and were at one time nearly surrounded, but we fought there hard until our ammunition was exhausted, when we fixed bayonets and prepared to hold our ground.. A fresh supply of ammunition soon came up, when we felt all was well with us again. Meanwhile the right of our line succeeded in getting around to their left, when the enemy retreated towards Vicksburg, lest they should be cut off.

The battle to-day was commenced early in the morning by McClernand's great fighting corps, and was a hot and severe contest, until Logan's division approached the road on the Confederates' left, between them and Vicksburg, when the foe wavered and began to break. This was a hard day's fight, for the rebels, finding that they had been beaten in three battles about Vicksburg, had no doubt resolved to make a desperate stand against our conquering march; but alas! for them, this day's course of events was like the rest. When the fight was over, Generals Grant, McClernand, Sherman, McPherson and Logan rode over the victorious field, greeted with the wildest cheers. I wonder if they love their men as we love them. We received our mail an hour or two after the fight, and the fierce struggle through which we had just passed was forgotten as we read the news from home. Our fingers fresh from the field left powder marks on the white messengers that had come to cheer us.

Our forces captured eleven pieces of artillery and over one thousand prisoners. The retreating army will make another stand, but we shall move right on, undaunted. Several amusing incidents have occurred during the battle to-day. Company A, of the 20th, was sent out to skirmish, and moved forward till they could see the enemy. By this time General Logan made his appearance, when one of the boys who wished to go into the fight without impediments, approached Logan and said, "General, shall we not unsling knapsacks?" "No," was the stern reply, "damn them, you can whip them with your knapsacks on." This same company, in full view of a rebel battery, had taken refuge in a deep ditch, and when afterward the rebel captain cried out, "ready, take aim," Mit. Bryant, feeling secure in his position, interrupted the order with a shout, "shoot away and be damned to you."

We moved up through the woods to the road again after the fight, where we halted an hour. Near the road was a farm house which was immediately taken possession of for a hospital.

SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 22-5

Diary of Private Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, February 16, 1864

After a rain yesterday, it is quite cool today. General Crocker's Division went on to the town of Enterprise, to destroy the railroad there, while the Sixteenth Corps went to the north destroying the railroad. General McPherson has his headquarters in a fine residence in the west part of town and his headquarters' guards, twenty-eight of us, occupy the negro huts close by. We are at present short of rations and all I had for dinner was some tough fresh beef, which the more I fried, the tougher it got.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 168-9

Diary of Private Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, February 4, 1864

We started to move at 8 o'clock and by night reached Bolton Station, where we went into camp. Our brigade being in the rear did not get into camp until 11 p. m. There was some skirmishing by Crocker's Division, which lost three men killed and several wounded. Two men were killed by a ball from the rebels' battery striking the top rail of a rail fence, which broke and struck the two men, knocking off their heads and spilling their brains about. It was a gruesome sight. Their bodies were buried where they fell.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 166

Diary of Private Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, February 3, 1864

We started this morning at 8 o'clock and marched to the Black river, where we bivouacked for the night. Our brigade was train guard for the provision train. Our entire expedition is supposed to have about twenty-five thousand men, composed of infantry, artillery and cavalry, with one engineers' corps in charge of a pontoon bridge. The weather is fine for marching. General Crocker's Division has started ahead.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 166

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Colonel Marcellus M. Crocker, November 19, 1862

Executive Office, Iowa,

Iowa City, Nov. 19, 1862.

Colonel: — It is with no ordinary feelings of pleasure and State pride that I congratulate your brave regiment on its courage and achievements at Corinth. Its devoted loyalty and attachment to the Union and the Constitution have been thus attested on the field of battle, where life was at stake, and the gallant bearing of your men in the face of death has proven them patriots as well as soldiers.

Accept for yourself assurances of my esteem and best wishes.

SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD.

Col. M. M. Crocker,

13th Iowa Infantry, Corinth, Miss.

SOURCE: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 233-4

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Senator James W. Grimes, March 24, 1862

How about our Brigadiers? You know I long ago recommended Crocker, Dodge and Perczel and I yet think them among our best colonels as you will find when they are tried. Dodge has been tried at Pea Ridge and has turned out just as I expected. I think him one of the very best military men in the State. Has Lauman been appointed? He acted manfully at Belmont and deserves it. Tuttles charge at Donelson is one of the most brilliant of this or any other war. I have been on the ground he charged over, and I believe that none but Iowa troops could have done it. Vandever did nobly at Pea Ridge, so far as I have learned, and all our colonels and all our men will do the same as they get the chance.

Can't we get some more Brigadiers? What is the situation about Washington generally? Don't things look more hopeful? Take time to write me a long letter showing just how things stand. I thank you for your speech on the navy and the gallant Foote. He is a man all over.

SOURCE: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 214

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Senator James W. Grimes, February 10, 1862

[February 10, 1862.]

I do not get any reply to my letters to the President in regard to brigading our Iowa regiments and the appointment of additional Brigadiers from this State. I am fully satisfied that this is necessary, that our soldiers may have fair play; and I intend to persist in it till 1 know the thing is done or can't be done. We must look at things as they are. Brigadier-Generals, if not religious men, are yet generally believers in a hereafter to this extent — they think they may hereafter want votes. Now suppose one of our regiments in a brigade, the balance of which are from Illinois under an Illinois Brigadier. He knows our men can not vote for or against him when the war is over, and that the Illinois men can, and we may presume the human nature that exists inside, as well as outside the army and among Brigadiers, as well as others, will lead them to favor those who may hereafter benefit them at the expense of those who can't. And such I am advised is the fact. Our regiments under such circumstances are made the drudges of the brigade, are not properly looked after and cared for, and the credit of what they do is given to others, as at Belmont.

It may be, the President thinks we have not fit men in Iowa. I wish we had better men than we have, but I feel sure Perczel, Dodge and Crocker are better, much better, than men from States who have Brigadiers' commissions now.  *  *  *  It seems to me there might be room made for three Iowa men, and I will guarantee that neither of the men named will believe that his first duty will be to preserve slavery.

There is a man named Brodie, a brigade surgeon, appointed from Detroit, of whom I am continually hearing bad accounts of his brutality and intemperance. Can't you cut his head off?

SOURCES: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 178

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Abraham Lincoln, December 4, 1861

[December 4, 1861.]

His Excellency the President: — The State of Iowa has now in the field and in camp, waiting arms and equipments, fourteen regiments of infantry and four of cavalry. I feel that I can justly say, and am proud to say, that so far as they have been tried either on the battlefield or in the scarcely less arduous duties of camp life in Missouri, they have shown themselves to be at least equal to any other troops in the service. For some reason this State has not been very highly favored in the distribution of Brigadier-Generalships. Brig.-Gen. Curtis was appointed during the summer, and was the only Brigadier-General from this State, until the quite recent appointment of Brig.-Gen. McKean, and these two are all yet appointed from this State. Were this a matter involving the mere proportion of officers, I think I would not be disposed to press it upon your attention. But it involves more. Our regiments are scattered among brigades heretofore in all cases commanded by Brigadiers from other States, and composed mainly of troops from the State whence the Brigadier in command comes. Under these circumstances, it is but natural that our troops should fear their commanding officer would feel partial to the troops from his own State, and perhaps but natural that officers should feel that partiality. I have learned satisfactorily that the opinion prevails extensively among the troops from this State, that they have been unfairly dealt by in having had assigned to them the most laborious and the least desirable duty in Missouri, and that in the report of the battle of Belmont, gross injustice has been done them, and I am sorry to be compelled to say, that in my judgment this opinion is not wholly without foundation. This seems to me to be an unfortunate state of affairs, and one that should not be suffered to continue, if it can be readily avoided. I therefore very respectfully propose that you appoint from this State a number of Brigadier-Generals, sufficient to take command of our troops, and that our troops be brigaded and placed under the command of these officers.

It seems to me that a spirit of State pride will in this way be called into action that will tell well in the service, and at the same time all cause of complaint will be removed. I take great pleasure in submitting to your consideration for the positions indicated, Col. G. M. Dodge of the Fourth Iowa Infantry, Col. Nicholas Perczel of the Tenth Iowa Infantry, Col. M. M. Crocker of the Thirteenth Iowa Infantry, and Col. W. L. Elliott of the Second Iowa Cavalry, from among whom I hope you will be able to select the number to which our State will be entitled, in case our troops shall be brigaded and placed under our own officers.

Trusting this matter may receive your early and favorable attention, I have the honor to be

Very respectfully your obedient servant

SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD.

SOURCES: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 177-8

Diary of Private Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, November 12, 1863

The two brigades of General Crocker's Division were at his request ordered back to Natchez today, because of a threatened attack of the rebels at that place.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 152

Diary of Private Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, November 11, 1863

It is very pleasant after four or five days of quite warm weather. I was on picket again, the first time for a week. Two brigades of General Crocker's Division arrived from Natchez to reinforce the troops here at Vicksburg. Two negroes entering an old vacant Confederate magazine today were blown to pieces. They were smoking and it is supposed that the loose powder on the floor in some way became ignited. The explosion was heard for miles around. So much again for the filthy habit of smoking.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 152

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, October 20, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade,

First Div., Seventeenth Army Corps,

Vicksburg, Miss., Oct. 20, 1863.

My Dear Mother:

General Grant received your letter and of this I have written before. He is now gone, I don't know whither — flitted with his staff and surroundings before I had come back, as the swallows flit in the fall. I do not think you have got a right estimate of Sherman. You call him “slow, cautious, almost to a fault.” On the contrary, he is as quick as lightning, the most rapid thinker, actor, writer, I ever came in contact with — proud and high-spirited as an Arab horse. Grant is slow and cautious, and sure and lucky. They are both good men. Men you would admire if you knew them, and men who upon first blush you would be marvellously deceived in.

You ask about the tribute from the old “54th.” I understand the boys have made arrangements to fit me out; but haven’t received the articles. Somebody said that they were sumptuous. I suppose they would get the best that money could buy, for they think a heap of “old Kilby” — the only name by which I am known in the Fifteenth Army Corps. Strangers used to come and ask for Kilby, and for a long time I rarely heard the name of Smith as applied to myself. I don't know but what their presents have been burnt up or sunk in the river. There has been a great deal of loss lately. When they come, I will let you know and tell you all about them.

Enclosed herewith find copy of a letter written by General Sherman to the 13th Regulars on the occasion of the death of his son at Memphis. I saw a copy by accident to-day, and together with the brief notice that his son had died, is the only intelligence I have. He had his boy with him, a bright, active little fellow, who rode with him wherever he went, and who was a great pet with his own old regiment, the 13th Regulars. You know General Sherman came into the service as colonel of this regiment at the outset of the war. The death must have been sudden, and you perceive by the tenor of the letter how deeply he feels it. I do assure you that we find every day in the service, that “the bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring.” I will forward your letter to him, and perhaps you had better address him again on the occasion of his bereavement. I am sure he is a dear friend of mine, and in the chances of this war, calculating upon his position and mine, it is hardly probable we shall meet again. Like him, “on, on, I must go, till I meet a soldier's fate, or see my country rise superior to all factions, till its flag is adored and respected by ourselves and all the powers on earth,''¹ and now our paths are slightly divergent. Can you imagine it, even as I write, the enclosed order is handed me, and received without one pang of regret. I copy verbatim. You may understand the chances and changes of a soldier's life. The darky says, “here to-morrow and gone to-day.”

Special Orders

No. 236.

headquarters Seventeenth Army Corps,

Dept. Of The Tennessee,

vicksburg, Miss., Oct. 20, 1863.

Brig.-Genl. E. S. Dennis, U. S. Vols., will report forthwith to Genl. McArthur, to be assigned to command of Second Brigade, First Division, and will relieve Brig.-Genl. T. K. Smith.

Brig.-Genl. T. K. Smith, on being relieved from command of Second Brigade, First Division, will proceed forthwith to Natchez, Miss., and report to Brig.-Genl. M. M. Crocker, commanding Fourth Division, for assignment to command of Brigade in Fourth Division.

By order of Maj.-Genl. Mcpherson,

W. T. Clark,

A. A. General.

Brig.-Genl. T. K. Smith,

Com'g Second Brigade, First Division.

Thus you perceive, having licked the Second Brigade into shape, I am assigned elsewhere. Meanwhile, pray for me, and thank God that everything has transpired to take me out of the filthy God-forsaken hole on a hill. My next will be from Natchez and will contain full directions how to address me. Keep writing, and enclose my letters with request to forward to Major-Genl. James B. McPherson, commanding Seventeenth Army Corps, Department of the Tennessee, Vicksburg, Miss. He is my warm, intimate, personal friend, and will see that all come safe to hand. I enclose you his carte. He is very handsome, a thorough soldier, brave as Caesar, young, a bachelor, and — engaged to be married.

Genl. M. M. Crocker, to whom I am about to report, is a most excellent gentleman and eke a soldier, thank God! graduate of the Military Academy of West Point, also an intimate of mine and friend. Somehow or other, the West Pointers all take to me, and by the grace of God I find my way among soldiers. You can't understand all this, but it is most delightful to have a soldier, a real soldier, for a commander and associate. Natchez, by this time is a second home to me. I know a heap of people and have some good friends even among the '”Secesh.” I may be there a day, a month, a year, nobody knows and nobody cares. I can pack, and “get up and dust” as quickly as any of them.

_______________

¹ General Sherman's letter to Capt. C. C. Smith 13th Regulars.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 340-2

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, May 1, 1863

News came that General Sherman has again made an attack on Haines's Bluff, the same as last fall when the plan failed because General Grant failed to co-operate with him. The plan is to be tried again this spring. A large ammunition train passed through here for Carthage, Louisiana. General Crocker left the command of our brigade, to take command of the Seventh Division of the Seventeenth Army Corps. The boys are all sorry to see him leave.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 112

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, March 14, 1863

I was on guard at Colonel Crocker's headquarters in the old Sparrow house and had a fine room to stay in over night. The Sixteenth Iowa got two months' pay today. Major Wilson of the Thirteenth Iowa left today for his home in Iowa on a thirty-day furlough, and I sent $35.00 home by him. The weather is quite warm.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 105

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.

__________

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: Friday, November 14, 1862

Nothing of importance. The Eleventh Iowa is in the Third Brigade commanded by General Crocker; the brigade is in the Sixth Division commanded by General McArthur; the division is in the Seventeenth Army Corps commanded by General McPherson.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 82

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: Sunday, September 14, 1862

We started early this morning with General Crocker in command and marched fifteen miles without stopping to get a drink. But several of the men became overheated, for it was a dreadfully hot day and the roads were dusty. We reached Corinth at 1 p. m., and going out a mile south of town, stacked arms and remained there the rest of the day. We were nearly famished when we reached Corinth. Our road was on a pine ridge, hot and dusty, with a mile to water on either side, and it was utterly impossible for one to fall out of rank, get water, catch up and get back to his place in line. It was one of the hardest marches I have ever been on.¹ On passing through the town, by the college grounds, the young lady students worked hard at drawing water from the well and giving it to the men to quench their thirst. We bivouacked in a large cotton field, as our teams had not yet arrived with our tents. It commenced to rain about sundown and we lay on the ground without any protection.

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¹ The fast march and doing without water so long was all uncalled for, as after we got to Corinth we did nothing but lie around. — A. O. D.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 68

Thirteenth Regiment

Capt. VanHosen, of this city, is now in command of the Thirteenth Regiment.  The Colonel is acting Brigadier-General, the Lieutenant Colonelcy is vacant, and the Major is at home wounded.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, May 5, 1862, p. 1