Iowa and the Rebellion
Lurton Denham Ingersoll
Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1866
CHAPTER XIX.
TWENTIETH INFANTRY.
ENROLLED IN THE COUNTIES OF SCOTT AND LINN-FLAG PRESENTATION-MOVE TO BENTON BARRACKS-ORDERED TO ROLLA-SPRINGFIELD-MARCH INTO ARKANSAS-"JAYHAWKING"-THE BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE ENCAMPMENT ON THE FIELD-THE CAPTURE OF VAN BUREN-RETURN TO MISSOURI-ACTIVE OPERATIONS THEREEMBARK
FOR VICKSBURG-TAKE POSITION IN THE LINE OF INVESTMENT-CAPTURE OF YAZOO CITY
   Among the regiments, numbering more than twenty of infantry, which were recruited and organized in the State of Iowa under the President's proclamation of July 2d, 1862, calling for three hundred thousand additional volunteers, the Twentieth was among the first.
In the patriotic ardor under which the regiment was quickly recruited the counties of Scott and Linn vied with each other, and each contributed five companies to the organization. They were ordered to rendezvous at Clinton, and there the organization of the regiment
was completed on the 25th of August, the command then numbering nine hundred and two officers and enlisted men. William McE. Dye, who had served as Captain in the regular army, was appointed Colonel; Joseph B. Leake, who had conspicuously served in the
State Senate, Lieutenant-Colonel; and William G. Thompson, who had also been in the legislature, Major. Of these, Leake had recruited a company and was promoted from captain thereof Constant S. Lake, who had served with the First Iowa, was appointed Adjutant;
Jasper H. Rice, Quartermaster; Doctor Henry Ristine, Surgeon, with A. O. Blanding and K. S. Marlin, Assistants, and Reverend Uriah Eberhart, Chaplain. The line officers of the regiment were: Captains—E. N. Bates, Ed. Coulter, M. L. Thompson, Dolphus Torrey,
Chester Barney, N. M. Hubbard, Charles Altmann, R. H. Lucore, Charles C. Cook, S. B. Byram; First Lieutenants—Charles L. Drake, James M. Dennison, Harrison Oliver, A. H. Brooks, J. G. G. Cavendish, William Corbett, F. E. Starek; Joseph J. Holland, Stephen L.
Dows, Elijah Stone; Second Lieutenants- Joseph A. McClelland, David Cavin, Robert M. Lytle, Charles E. Squires, Edward E. Davis, Manson H. Crosby, John B. Parcell (soon resigning, succeeded by George A. Bennett), Wilson Wightman James W. Carver, and Elias
Taylor.
   The regiment remained at Clinton only about one week after organization. Several of the officers and not a few of the men having seen service, schools of instruction and drill were at once instituted, and the command immediately began to fit itself for the duties of
campaigning. There was an agreeable relaxation from these studies and exercises one day, however, when the patriotic ladies of Lyons visited the encampment in large number and in behalf of the donor, Mrs. Harrison, presented the regiment a beautiful flag. The
Reverend G. F. Magoun made a very handsome and eloquent speech, on presenting the flag in behalf of the donors, and was responded to in an equally handsome manner by Major Thompson on the part of Colonel Dye, who made no claims to oratory on the 23d of April, after six months of active operations in Missouri and Arkansas, our regiment marched into Rolla, and on the next day moved by cars to St. Louis.
   Here, the command was scattered, part being on duty at Benton Barracks, part down the Mississippi some distance, patrolling the river, the principal portion at the arsenal, all doing excellent service at a period when an uprising of traitors in St. Louis was expected,
and when the rebels in heavy force were threatening the city. The regiment afterwards encamped at "Camp Gamble," formerly called Camp Jackson, and noted as the spot where Captain Nathaniel Lyon gave the first palpable example of a vigorous prosecution of the
war. On the 10th of May, the second anniversary of General Lyon's capture of Camp Jackson, that event was remembered by a magnificent celebration, in which the regiment took part, and was reviewed, with the other troops in the city, by Major-General Curtis
Five days afterwards the regiment moved by rail to Pilot Knob. Here it went into encampment, and remained somewhat more than a fortnight having a fine opportunity to drill which was improved to the utmost by both officers and men. On the morning of the 3d of
June, marching orders were received, and on the same day the regiment moved for St. Genevieve, on the Mississippi River. Here, with that portion of the Army of the Frontier under command of Major-General Herron, who had been most justly promoted for his victory of Prairie Grove, the regiment embarked on the steamer "J. D. Perry," and was soon on a voyage to reinforce the army before Vicksburg.
   Speaking of the arrival of the regiment at St. Genevieve, Captain Barney says: "Our campaigns in Missouri here ended. We had marched on foot since leaving Rolla on the 16th of September, 1862, eleven hundred and twenty-seven miles—most of our marches
being made during the winter season, exposed to the rains, and over roads at times almost impassable on account of the mud. Much of the time we had been on half rations, and. with inadequate supplies of clothing. The hardships endured on these marches had thinned our
ranks more than would as many hard-fought battles. And now, even after the lapse of time, and subsequent more stirring scenes of sieges and battles in which we took part, our memories still retain vivid recollections of the lonely wayside graves where we deposited
the bodies of our comrades along the route of these unparalleled marches. They fell, not in battle, but by disease contracted while in the performance of duties beyond their strength, and under circumstances of peculiar hardship. We shall never cease to honor their
memories for the heroism which enabled many of them at times, even while suffering under disease, to still continue in the discharge of their duties. "
   The command arrived at the mouth of the Yazoo River on the 11th, and was ordered to report at Haine's Bluff. Moving thither, it was ordered back to Young's Point, where it disembarked. Marching across the peninsula to a point opposite Warrenton, it there crossed
the Mississippi, and on the 14th took position on the left of the beleaguering army. From this time until the capitulation the regiment took an active part in the siege, pushing forward the works, the whole command, or heavy details therefrom, being engaged night and
day. Many in the command became sick, but the losses by casualty of battle were trifling. At ten o'clock on the morning of July 4th, the regiment, at the head of the division, marched into the rebel works, and was the first on the left to plant the flag of the Union on the
battlements of Vicksburg.
   The regiment had just got comfortably fixed in camp inside the rebel works, when marching orders were received. It went aboard transports on the 11th, having been ordered to reinforce General Banks, at Port Hudson. But intelligence of the surrender of that place
having been received, the destination of the army under command of General Hereon, was changed to Yazoo City, whither it at once proceeded. The enemy evacuated the city upon the approach of the army and the gun-boats, leaving much property to fall into our hands.
The regiment joined in the march to Black River, and bore its full share of the discomforts thereof On the 22d it was again in camp at Vicksburg, but remained there only three days.

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