Official Reports of the Battle of Shiloh: No. 85. Col. Hugh T. Reid, 15th Iowa Infantry

No. 85.

Report of Col. Hugh T. Reid, Fifteenth Iowa Infantry.

I have the honor to report that the Fifteenth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry from Benton Barracks arrived at Pittsburg on Sunday morning, with orders from General Grant’s headquarters to report to General Prentiss. Finding that his headquarters were some 4 miles from the Landing, I proceeded at once to report to him in person, and found a heavy fire of artillery and musketry already commenced along the lines. Orders were received from his aide to bring up my command as soon as possible, and I returned to the river for that purpose. The regiment was rapidly disembarked, ammunition distributed, and the men for the first time loaded their guns. We then marched to the heights in rear of the Landing, and formed in line of battle preparatory to an advance, our right resting on the road leading from the Landing to the field. At this time an order was received from a member of General Grant’s staff directing me to hold the position upon which we had formed, and to post such other troops as could be found about the Landing on the right of the road, extending to the bluff of the creek, emptying into the river below the Landing, in order to prevent the enemy from flanking it through the valley of this creek, and also to prevent all stragglers from returning from the battle-field to the Landing, and to hold ourselves as a reserve. The regiment was then advanced across the road to the right, so as to stop the progress of the multitudes returning from the battle-field, which could only be done by threatening to shoot them down. Some of them were induced by threats and persuasions to fall into line, but most of them had the Bull Run story, that their regiments were all cut to pieces, and that they were the only survivors, and nothing could be done with them but to stop their progress. Captain Benton [Bouton] placed his battery on our right, commanding the road leading from the battlefield to the river and also commanding the ravines to our right and left. Colonel Chambers, of the Sixteenth Iowa, formed his regiment on the right of Benton's [Bouton's] battery, resting the right of his regiment on the bluff' of the creek above mentioned. In this position we remained for about an hour, when an order was received from the engineer of General McClernand’s staff, by order, as he said, of General Grant, for the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Iowa to advance some 2 miles to the support of General McClernand’s division, on the extreme right of our lines. The advance was made, the Fifteenth leading, supported by the Sixteenth. We were led by the staff' officer of General McClernand first to the right, across a deep ravine and through thick underbrush, in a direction directly from the firing; then one of General Grant’s staff came up and said a wrong order must have been given us, in which opinion the undersigned fully concurred, and after consultation of the two staff officers the head of our column was turned to the left, and we marched in search of General McClernand’s division, his staff officer showing us the way. The road as we marched was filled with retreating artillery, flying cavalry, straggling infantry, and the wounded returning from the field. We reached an open field in front of the enemy, who were concealed in a dense wood and among tents, from which other regiments had been driven earlier in the day. Through this field the two regiments marched under a heavy fire from the enemy's artillery, and took position, by direction of General McClernand, near the tents. A regiment, said to be from Ohio, was on the field when we arrived, or came on soon after, and took position on the extreme right of the Sixteenth. The Fifteenth, which occupied the left, advanced upon the enemy and drove a part of them from their concealments among the tents and planted our colors in their midst, while the whole left wing of the regiment advanced under a murderous fire of shot and shell from the enemy's artillery and an incessant fire from the musketry. Our flag-staff was shot through and our colors riddled with bullets. For two hours from 10 to 12 o’clock, we maintained our position, our men fighting like veterans. The undersigned was severely wounded by a musket-ball through the neck, which knocked him from his horse, paralyzed for the time, but, recovering in a short time, remounted and continued in command throughout the fight. Fifteen of the 32 commissioned officers who went on the field had been killed, wounded, or taken prisoners; 22 officers and men had been killed, and 156 wounded. The Ohio regiment had left the field. The enemy were attempting to outflank us on the right and left. We were unsupported by artillery or any other regiment except the gallant Sixteenth, which had also suffered severely. It became necessary for the two regiments to retreat or run the risk of being captured, and by order of General McClernand the retreat was made. Portions of the regiments rallied, and fought with other divisions later in the day and on Monday.

Where nearly all fought with bravery it might seem invidious to particularize, but I hope to do no one injustice by specially pointing out those whose personal valor during the action came under my notice. Lieutenant-Colonel Dewey had his horse shot under him. Major Belknap was always in the right place at the right time, directing and encouraging officers and men as coolly as a veteran. He was wounded but not disabled and had his horse shot under him, but remained on the field performing his duty on foot. Adjutant Pomutz distinguished himself during the action for his coolness and courage. He, too, was wounded. Captains Kittle, of Company A; Smith, of Company B; Seevers, of Company C; Madison, of Company D; Hutchcraft, of Company E; Cunningham, of Company G; Day, of Company I; Hedrick, of Company K, who was captured in a charge upon the enemy, all distinguished themselves for their gallantry and courage in leading forward and encouraging their men. Captain Blackmar, of Company F, was wounded in the action and disabled. First Lieutenant Goode, of same company, also wounded. Captain Clark, of Company H, was not in the engagement, having been left sick in the hospital at Saint Louis. Captains Hutchcraft and Day were both severely wounded. Second Lieutenant Penniman, of Company A, and Hamilton, of Company I, were killed whilst bravely performing their duty. First Lieutenant King and Second Lieutenant Danielson, of Company H, were both severely wounded while acting well their part, thus leaving the company without a commissioned officer. First Lieutenants Studer, of Company B; Porter, of Company D; Craig, of Company E; Hanks, of Company G; J. Monroe Reid, of Company I, who, though wounded himself, continued in command of the company after the captain was disabled and the second lieutenant killed, and Eldredge, of Company K, all deserve special praise for the manner in which they conducted themselves on the field. Second Lieutenants Lanstrum, of Company B; Brown, of Company E; Second Lieutenant Herbert, of Company C, and Sergeant-Major Brown, who was severely wounded, conducted themselves well on the field. The non-commissioned officers generally were at their posts and performed their duty. The color-sergeant, Newton J. Rogers, who fought in the First Iowa at Springfield, gallantly bore our standard forward and planted it among the enemy, where it was bravely maintained and defended by portions of Company C, Company E, Company I, and Company K.

It must be remembered that this regiment had just received its arms, and that the men had never had an opportunity of learning the use of them until they came on the battle-field; that they had just landed and were attached to no brigade, and fought the enemy without the support of artillery in a position from which more experienced troops had been compelled to retire. The enemy, too, against whom we fought, the Twenty-second Tennessee and two Louisiana regiments, are understood to be among their best troops.

We have no means of learning the loss of the enemy in this engagement except from what they told some of our wounded men who were taken prisoners by them and left behind the next day, when the enemy made their final retreat, but from this source we learned that they had 40 men killed in the immediate vicinity of our colors and a large number wounded.

While we mourn our comrades in arms the gallant dead whose lives were sacrificed on the altar of their country, we are solaced with the belief that a grateful people will in after times pay a proper tribute to their memory.

To Quartermaster Higley great credit is due for the masterly manner in which he performed the arduous duties of his office on the field and elsewhere during the fight, and after it was over in providing for the comforts of the wounded and protecting the property of the regiment. To our surgeon, Dr. Davis, we are under great obligations for his energy and skill in the performance of the numerous operations rendered necessary. Assistant Surgeon Gibbon also performed valuable service in the midst of great danger on the battle-field in attending the wounded there and having them carried to our temporary hospital on board of the steamer Minnehaha. The chaplain, the Rev. W. W. Estabrook, too, for the time laid aside his sacred office and resumed the use of the surgeon’s scalpel with great success, and the wounded of numerous regiments besides our own shared in the skill of our medical staff.

Attached hereto will be found a list of the killed, wounded, and missing, making a total loss of 186.­*

H. T. REID,

 Colonel,  Commanding Fifteenth Iowa.

 ASST. ADJT. GEN. FIRST DIV., ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,

Commanded by General McClernand.

__________

*See revised statement, p. 105.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume X (Serial No. 10), Part I, pages 288-90

Roster Of Field And Staff Officers - 15th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry

Hugh T. Reid, Colonel.

William Dewey, Lieutenant Colonel.

William W. Belknap, Major.

George Pomutz, Adjutant.

John M. Hedrick, Quartermaster.

William H. Burnham, Surgeon.

William H. Gibbon, Assistant Surgeon.

William W. Estabrook, Chaplain.

SOURCE:  Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Iowa to the Governor, for the Year Ending December 31, 1861, p. 21

William Dewey

WILLIAM DEWEY was born on the 26th of March, 1811, in the town of Sheffield, Massachusetts, was educated at West Point Military Academy and later studied law with his father and was admitted to the bar of Indiana in 1836. After practicing law a few years he studied medicine at the St. Louis Medical College, then came to Iowa, becoming a resident of Wapello County in 1842. In 1850 he was one of the commissioners appointed to settle the disputed boundary line between Iowa and Missouri. After completing that work he removed to Sidney, Fremont County, where he was engaged in the practice of medicine when the Rebellion began. Early in 1861 he assisted Colonel Hugh T. Reid to raise the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, was commissioned lieutenant-colonel and was with it in the Battle of Shiloh and the siege of Corinth. In August, 1862, he was promoted to colonel of the Twenty-third Iowa Infantry. While in command of that regiment at Patterson, Missouri, he died of erysipelas on the 30th of November, 1862.

SOURCE: Benjamin F. Gue, History of Iowa, Volume IV: Iowa Biography, p. 72

William Dewey

William Dewey, of Fremont county, Iowa, was the first Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment. He was with the Regiment at the battle of Shiloh, and having been appointed Colonel of the 23d Iowa, resigned to accept the new commission. He died in Missouri during the war.

William W. Belknap was the second and John M. Hedrick the third Lieutenant Colonels. Their history is given above.

SOURCE: William W. Belknap, History of the Fifteenth Regiment, Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, p. 37

Letter From Col. H. T. Reid

A letter from Col. Reid, received last night, says that he was ordered, immediately on landing, to march to Prentiss’ Division. In marching there they met many disorganized troops, and found much confusion on the field. Soon. Col. Reid received an order from Gen. Grant to join Sherman’s Division. He marched there, and found only one regiment (an Ohio regiment) fighting bravely. The Fifteenth stood by them and fought until they were overwhelmed by superior numbers and compelled to fall back. Col. Reid’s horse was shot, and he was struck in the neck and paralyzed. He fell and was taken up and was being carried off the ground, but in a few minutes he revived, and again mounting a horse held command as long as there were any men left to fight. Lieut. Col. Dewey and Major Belknap both had their horses shot and Belknap was slightly wounded in the shoulder.

The regiment stood their ground along side the Ohio Regiment, exposed to a galling fire for an hour and a quarter, and 17 of the officers were either killed or wounded. Col. Reid speaks highly of his men, who stood up without flinching, though many of them had never before loaded a musket. This is very a different story from the one which the Secesh have been gloating over with diabolical malice. On Monday morning only 430 answered to their names.

Col. Reid’s wound was painful, but he expected to be in the saddle again in a week. Of course the report that he and Lt. Col. Dewey, and Major Belknap were on the way home was a mistake. It does not appear that Lt. Col. Dewey was injured.

Letters received last night state that Major Belknap covered himself with glory, by his gallantry and determined perseverance in rallying his own men and men of another regiment, in moments of confusion, and bringing them into line of battle and fighting like veterans. Three cheers for the Major.

– Published in The Gate City, Keokuk, Iowa, Thursday, April 17, 1862

COLONEL WILLIAM DEWEY

FIRST COLONEL, TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY.

William Dewey, the original colonel of the 23d Iowa Infantry, and a son of the late Hon. Charles Dewey, a former Judge of the Supreme Bench of Indiana, was born on the 26th day of March, 1811, in the town of Sheffield, Massachusetts. He was educated at the West Point Military Academy, but was not, I think, a graduate of the Institution. After leaving West Point, he studied law in the office of his father, and was admitted to the bar in Indiana, in about the year 1836. He practiced the law for a few years, and then abandoned that profession for medicine, which he studied at the St. Louis Medical College. He completed his medical studies in about the year 1842, and soon after came to Iowa, and settled in Wapello county.

In 1850 Colonel Dewey served as one of the commissioners, who were appointed from Iowa to settle the boundary line between Missouri and this State; after which he removed to Sidney, Fremont County. He practiced medicine in Sidney, till the summer of 1861, when, in connection with Colonel H. T. Reid, he assisted in recruiting and organizing the 15th Iowa Infantry. He was made lieutenant-colonel of that regiment, on the 6th of November, 1861, and, early in the following Spring, accompanied it to Pittsburg Landing. The 15th Iowa reached the Landing on Sunday morning, the 6th of April, just as the battle was opening, and was ordered to report to General Prentiss. All order however was lost before it reached the front, and, really, the regiment fought on its own account and independently of the orders of General officers.

Lieutenant-Colonel Dewey served with the 15th Iowa during the siege of Corinth, and until the 1st of August, 1862, when he was commissioned colonel of the 23d Iowa Infantry. He soon joined his regiment at its rendezvous in Des Moines.

The 23d Iowa was first stationed at Patterson, Missouri: indeed, that was the only point at which it served during the life of Colonel Dewey; for he died at that place on the 30th of November, 1862, of erysipelas. His affair at Pittman's Ferry, on Currant River, is the only one that approached to any thing like an engagement during his colonelcy of the 23d Iowa, and that resulted in little more than a long, fatiguing march.

The colonel was a tall, slender man, with gray eyes and spare features. He was not at first popular with his regiment. He was strict and exacting in his discipline, which did not accord with the democratic notions of his men.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 381-2