Iowa in War Times
Des Moines, Iowa, W.D. Condit & Co.,1888.
Byers, S.H.M.
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CHAPTER XVII.
ATTEMPTS ON VICKSBURG—ARKANSAS POST.
Winter of 1862-3.
COMBINED MOVEMENTS OF GRANT AND SHERIDAN—CHICASAW BAYOU.
Vicksburg was the Richmond of the Southwest. Its natural position and its splendid
fortifications made it the key to the Mississippi river. Its importance was appreciated in
the South as well as in the North. It was, in the words of Horace Greeley, the natural
center and chief citadel of the slaveholders' confederacy.
On the 2d of November, 1862, Gen. Grant, at Jackson, Tennessee, commenced a
grand movement against Vicksburg, by land, marching with a well organized army by
way of Holly Springs. Shortly afterward, December 8th, he ordered Gen. Sherman to
cooperate with him by starting a force of 30,000 men down the Mississippi river in
steamers; these to be supported by the entire federal flotilla of gunboats on the river. It
was intended by the government that Gen. McClernand should command this river
expedition. Leo add to his river force, Gen. McClernand was himself in Iowa and Illinois,
seeking, with the aid of the governors, to raise additional troops for this purpose. Grant,
however, had prejudices against McClernand, and without waiting for his coming,
hurried to place Sherman in command
There were many Iowa troops with the river expedition and there were quite 3
number of regiments marching with Grant, by land. Grant pushed his own army down the
great southern railroad from Grand Junction through Holly Springs and to Oxford,
repairing the road as he went. Holly Springs he made his base of supplies, and he
accumulated there vast stores for his commissary and quartermaster departments. His
advance cavalry, 9,000 strong, pushed on to Coffeeville, and was there met and defeated
by a large force of rebel infantry.
Just before Christmas Grant's advancing columns were brought to a sudden halt. Gen.
Van Dorn, with a large force of rebel cavalry, rode around the hanks of Grant's army to
his rear, crossed the railroad at Holly Springs, captured the town with its garrison, and
destroyed its vast stores of supplies. This single blow ruined the whole campaign, and
Grant's army was compelled to make a forced march on half rations clear back to the
Mississippi river. The expedition had proved hard and useless and six months' time was
lost. The Iowa regiments patiently took part through the long marches in mud and rain.
On the very day after the capture of Holly Springs, Sherman, not knowing of the
disaster to the cooperating army, boarded his steamers and started for Vicksburg. Grant's
failure by land had released the rebel army in his front, and it was hurried on to join the
confederate forces waiting to receive Sherman at Vicksburg. Now followed the short but
disastrous campaign of Chickasaw Bayou. By the 27th of the month the federal army,
consisting wholly of western troops, was landed on the south side of the Yazoo river. In
his front, and to contend with, Sherman had not only the well-manned batteries and forts
of Vicksburg, but deep lagoons, bayous and swamps—all protected by ridge pits,
trenches and batteries. Chickasaw Bayou, encircling and protecting the rebel front, was
passable but at two places, and these two thoroughly defended by ride pits and bluffs.
Vicksburg, from the direction in which it was now being attacked, was simply
impregnable. It was, as the Rebels had boasted, the Gibraltar of the West.
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Spite of it all, Sherman, still trusting that Grant's army vas coming up in the rebel
rear, hurled his devoted divisions on the enemy. Greater heroism or severer fighting are
seldom seen in war, than followed in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou. In midwinter, men
waded through water waist deep to storm rifle pits and trenches that scarcely could have
been entered had no enemy been there to protect them. At noon of Dec. 29th Chickasaw
Bayou was crossed at two points, a mile apart, under a terrific fire from ride pits and
earthworks. It was an heroic undertaking, but the positions gained by our storming
battalions could not be held, and in the night the federal forces were withdrawn to the
transports.
It was surely time. Another enemy had that day reinforced the Rebels at Chickasaw
Bayou. It was the heavy rains that in twenty-four hours could have made fifteen feet of
flood on the very ground where the union troops stood firing. The army would in all
probability have been compelled to surrender or drown. It escaped without either.
All of the Iowa troops at the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, were attached to the division
of Brig. Gen. F. Steele. Glen. Thayer of Nebraska commanded the brigade (the Third)
that did the hardest fighting among them. His command consisted of the Fourth, Ninth,
Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-fourth Iowa regiments and the First Iowa battery of
light artillery. Gen. Hovey commanded the brigade that included the Twenty-fifth and the
Thirty-first regiments. This brigade did not take part in the assault. Gen. Thayer's
regiment, however, crossed the big bayou, and joined the other troops in the storming of
the works. They fought gallantly and received the thanks of their superior officers.
Especially conspicuous was the Fourth Iowa, under Col. Williamson. No other regiment
on the field occupied so perilous a position on that day. The brigade led by Thayer, the
Fourth Iowa ahead, crossed the bayou over a narrow crossway, exposed to a concentrated
fire of musketry and cannon, and stormed into the enemy's works. By some blunder
during this charge, or right at its beginning, three regiments of the brigade had been
ordered to move to the right, Thayer, leading the charge, looked back and saw his
regiments all gone but the Fourth Iowa, which was in the works unsupported and alone.
Other troops, that had stormed into the left of the Fourth, were overwhelmed and falling
back, and the concentrated fire of the enemy was now directed on this devoted regiment.
In thirty minutes the little command of 480 men lost 7 men killed, and 104 wounded.
Among the killed was Lieut. E. C. Stiller. "No braver officer," said Col. Williamson,
"has fallen in his country's cause." Lieut. Leander Pitzer was mortally wounded, and
Capt. R. A. Still severely, as was the gallant Col. Williamson himself.
Later, Gen. Grant, in appreciation of the gallant conduct of the Fourth Iowa in this
assault, ordered that the regiment place on its colors the words "First at Chickasaw
Bayou." All the other Iowa regiments and the Iowa battery at Chickasaw, did their duty,
but to none as to the Fourth fell the opportunity of writing its name in the blood of so
many of its gallant men. The war department record shows the Iowa losses at Chickasaw
Bayou to have been in killed and wounded as follows: The Fourth Iowa, 112; the Ninth,
8; the Twenty-fifth, 10; the Thirtieth, 4; and the Thirty-first, 2.
Gen. Sherman promptly withdrew his army to the transports. If the assaults had been
a failure, neither he nor the brave men he led to battle were to blame. He had obeyed his
orders. The fault lay in the cowardly surrender of Holly Springs, behind Grant's
cooperating army. Some day it will be asked, how did Grant, the astute general, happen
to leave his base of supplies, of immense value and untold importance, in the hands of
only 1,000 volunteer recruits, commanded by an officer of no experience—a man who
had failed in duty once before, and who was, as it turned out, a coward?
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Glen. McClernand, who was to have commanded the river expedition originally, now
appeared at Sherman's headquarters and took supreme command. It was a strange sight—
a great military genius being relieved of his command by Gen. J. A. McClernand!
CAPTURE OF ARKANSAS POST.
The river army now, at Gen. Sherman's suggestion, was carried by steamers up the
White and Arkansas rivers, to attack Fort Hindman, or Arkansas Post, fifty miles from
the mouth of the river. All the Iowa regiments then near Vicksburg went along.
Fort Hindman, or Arkansas Post, was a strong, star-shaped fort on the left bank of the
Arkansas river, forty miles above its mouth. It was solidly built, well armed, and situated
in a position naturally strong. Its commander, on the approach of the Federals, received
from headquarters the order to "hold out till the last man was dead." The defense made by
its 5,000 garrison was a gallant one.
On the evening of the 9th of January the federal army landed from the transports and
proceeded to surround the fortifications from the land side. The flotilla of gunboats under
Admiral Porter took position on the river and cannonaded the fort most furiously until
dark. The investment was not complete before 10 A. M. of the 11th. Glen. Steele's
division, containing the Iowa troops, took position on the extreme right of the army. At
one o'clock the grand assault was to commence. The gunboats opened a terrific fire, soon
followed by the fire of artillery of the entire right and left wings of the investing army. At
half past one, Hovey's and Thayer's brigades, the latter all Iowa men, and the brigades of
Giles A. and T. K. Smith charged over the open ground to their front. They were
supported by Blair's brigade as a reserve, and all advanced under a fire of musketry and
artillery. In the advance which was at first made in column of regiments, Glen. Hovey
and many officers and men were wounded. In the battle line, as it now deployed, the
Twenty-sixth Iowa, under Col. Milo Smith, occupied the left, suffered much and did very
great execution. "No officer or regiment behaved better, or did better fighting on that
battle field, than Col. Milo Smith and his regiment," wrote the brigade commander to
Gov. Kirkwood. " They advanced to the front under a most galling fire," he continues,
"and in the most exposed part of the field, and held it till the action was over. Col. Smith
remained at his post till carried wounded from the field."
Lieutenants P. S. Hyde and J. S. Patterson, with 17 men of the regiment, were killed,
and 98 officers and men were wounded. Among them were Lieut. James McDill,
mortally; Adjt. Thos. G. Ferreby, Capt. N. A. Merrell and Lieutenants Edward Svensden
and W. R. Ward.
The Thirtieth Iowa, led by Lt. Col. Torrence, Col. Abbot being ill, was also well
advanced and warmly engaged. It was gallantly supported by the Thirty-fourth Iowa
under Col. Clark, while the Fourth and Ninth Iowa, though under fire, were held in
reserve.
In Hovey's brigade on the extreme right, the Twenty-fifth Iowa, under Col. Stone, and
the Thirty-first Iowa, under Col. Smyth, marched with the Missouri and Ohio regiments
to the assault. The Twenty-fifth Iowa gallantly supported the Seventy-sixth Ohio, and the
Thirty-first Iowa the Third Missouri. "This column," says Gen. Hovey, "moving over
open ground, and in advance of all others, drew the concentrated fire of the enemy's
artillery and rifle pits." At Hovey's right flank, a charge was ordered by the Third
Missouri, supported by the Thirty-first Iowa, under a galling crossfire of infantry and
artillery. The charge was gallantly made, but failed.
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At other points along the line, especially in front of the division of A. J. Smith, the
union troops were meeting with better success. Smith had advanced with twelve
regiments, and steadily drove the enemy into his entrenchments. Led by Smith
personally, the regiments advanced almost close enough to shake hands with the enemy
across the ridge pits. Burbridge's, Landrum's and Sheldon's brigades dashed forward
under a deadly fire almost into the enemy's works. All along the line the union troops
were successfully assaulting.
At 4:30 o'clock, and after three hours of hard fighting, the white flag was run up on
the fort, and the loyal troops of the Northwest marched into Arkansas Post. Five thousand
prisoners and large stores of arms and supplies were captured, and 900 Rebels had been
killed or wounded. The federal loss was 1,061 officers and men killed, wounded and
missing, Sixty-five officers were wounded, and 6 killed.
The Thirtieth Iowa fought hard and lost severely. It lay in one position for three
hours, successfully silencing some field artillery, supported by musketry from rifle pits.
James H. Smith, a private of the Thirtieth, was complimented for gallantry by his
commander. The loss of the regiment was 43 killed and wounded—among the latter,
Captains dreamer and Burk, and Lieutenants Creighton and Alexander.
Col. Stone, of the Twenty-fifth, was complimented by Gen. Hovey, as was his
regiment, with the exception of its major, who was accused of "leaving the field in the
face of the enemy." The loss of the Twenty-fifth regiment was 61 killed and wounded,
showing the severity of the fighting. Adjt. Samuel Kirkwood Clarke, one of the most
esteemed young officers, was mortally wounded. Less wounded were Captains Palmer
and Bell, and Lieutenants Stark and Orr.
Capt. Dan. H. Lyons, of the Thirty-fourth Iowa, was mortally wounded, and 15 others
were slightly wounded.
THE YAZOO PASS EXPEDITION.
The capture of Arkansas Post had been but an interlude in the various vain efforts to
reduce Vicksburg. These efforts had been by gunboats, by "cut offs," by bayous, canals,
and assaults. Many weary months had passed with armies marching hither and thither,
trying this thing and that, and yet Vicksburg was not ours.
Most unique and most picturesque of all the vain attempts to capture the coveted city,
and with it the key to the mighty Father of Waters, was the expedition to the "Yazoo
Pass." Gen. Grant cut the great levee of the Mississippi at a point near Helena. The river
was very high, and shortly the low lands, the little streams, the plantations and the woods,
for a hundred miles, were flooded so deep as to look like a vast inland sea. Here and
there, high ground and houses and tree tops stood above the water, as reminders that here
in times of peace, had been the homes and habitations of men. Grant's plan now was to
reach the rear of Vicksburg, transporting a small army escorted by gun boats through the
Yazoo Pass, via Moon Lake, and thence down the Coldwater and TallaHatchie rivers
toward Yazoo City and Haines Bluff, north of Vicksburg.
February 24, under Gen. Ross, seven gunboats and eighteen transports bearing
soldiers, many of them from Iowa, entered the sea of swamp and flood and forest. The
descent into Moon Lake was rapid and dangerous, and the boats, loaded to the water's
edge with the cheering soldiers, dashed on and were whirled about like toys. Slowly the
little fleet now picked its way down the deepest streams, along bayous and swamps,
across fields, wherever the obstructions of the forest trees might prove the least.
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It was a strange spectacle—this fleet of steamers and gunboats and cheering soldiers
among the forests, swamps and plantations of the Coldwater. At night, the boats were tied
to the trees, and the men left their cracker boxes with novel inscriptions and bits of
canteens and broken swords, far up in the tree tops. The darkeys, left on the plantations
here and there above water, thought the Y ear of Jubilee had come.
Some, seeing the rising waters, looked for another flood, and regarded the gunboats
as possible arks of safety. At the junction of the Tallahatchie and the Yallabusha rivers
the expedition came to a sudden halt. The Rebels had built a fort and obstructed the
stream with rafts so completely as to make further advance impossible. The gunboats
tried it and were badly crippled. So too did some batteries. The rebel position was too
strong, and there was nothing for Ross to do but to return, if he could. On his way back
from the remarkable voyage, he met Gen. Quinby's division, including more Iowa troops,
crossing to aid him.
Quinby assumed command and the expedition was sent forward again to the rebel
front. It was of no avail, and shortly the whole command slowly Steamed back through
the woods to the Mississippi, its commanders thankful that the whole force had been
neither captured nor drowned.
The men of the Iowa regiments, and they included the Fifth, Tenth, Seventeenth and
Thirty-third, will never forget the days when they were all mariners in the Yazoo Pass,
nor the adventures of a campaign the most novel of the war.

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