Iowa in War Times
Des Moines, Iowa, W.D. Condit & Co.,1888.
Byers, S.H.M.
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CHAPTER XIX.
THE BATTLE OF HELENA.
July 4, 1863.
The 4th of July, 1863, was a great battle day. Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Helena, were
victories that told to the world that the beginning of the end of the war had come. The
importance of the battle of Helena was somewhat obscured by the glory of the other great
victories on the same day. Nevertheless, it was a battle gallantly fought by western
soldiers against great odds, and, as a victory, was important and complete.
Helena is a town in Arkansas, on the west bank of the Mississippi river, and about
one hundred miles below Memphis. It had been occupied by the union troops ever since
the arrival of Gen. Curtis, in July of 1862, and was well fortified by a line of four forts
occupying prominent hills of the high ridge just west of the town. Inside of this line of
works, and nearer town, stood a formidable redoubt known as Fort Curtis. The outer forts
were known as A, B. C, and D, running from north to southwest. The situation was well
adapted for defense, as the ridges where the forts stood were high, rough, and broken by
nearly impassable ravines. The roads leading into town over these ridges were blockaded
by fallen timber. Altogether, Helena was a bad place to attack, but the fact did not seem
to be very well known by the rebel commander in Arkansas.
While the siege of Vicksburg was going on, it occurred to the rebel authorities at
Richmond that a grand diversion could be made by the troops in Arkansas, and hints were
given accordingly. "I believe I can take Helena—please let me do it," telegraphed Lt.
Gen. Holmes from Little Rock to his superior commander. Kirby Smith. on the 15th of
June, 1869. Kirby Smith kindly said "yes" to the ardent request, "most certainly, do it,"
and by the evening of the 3d of July, Gen. Holmes stood in front of the ridge and the forts
with some 10,000 men. He had not heard of what was going on at Vicksburg, and,
evidently, he had not heard of what was going on right in front of him, and behind the
forts on the hills.
Midnight saw great commotion in the camps at Helena. There were not many troops
there—a trifle over 4,000 only, but the little command was rather glad that daylight
would probably bring on a battle. Among those soldiers were three regiments from
Iowa—the Twenty-ninth, Thirty-third and Thirty-sixth infantry, and the Third battery, all
waiting there in the darkness to add a new leaf to the chaplet of Iowa's military glory.
Maj. Gen. B. M. Prentiss was in command of the post of Helena, but the division of
troops was that of Brig. Gen. Salomon. The Iowa troops were brigaded together, with
them the Thirty-third Missouri, and commanded by Col. Samuel A. Rice, one of the
state's best soldiers and an able man, beloved by his troops as by his people at home. His
assistant adjutant general was John F. Lacey, then a rising young officer of unusual merit.
As Col. Rice was commanding the brigade, his own regiment, the Thirty-third, was led
into the fight by Lt. Col. Cyrus H. Mackey. Col. Thos. H. Benton, Jr., led the Twentyninth
Iowa and Col. C. W. Kittredge the Thirty-sixth. The Iowa battery doing splendid
service, was commanded by Lieut. M. C. Wright.
Long before daylight of July 4th, the troops were in positions assigned them. The
Rebels had intended to surprise Helena and capture it at daylight. Some delay in the
march had occurred and the surprise part failed, as Gen. Prentiss was aware of the whole
movement.
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The Thirty-third Missouri regiment was distributed among the four outer forts to man the
guns, with a part of it in reserve as sharpshooters. The Thirty-third Iowa was placed in the
trenches on the left, flanking and defending Batteries C and D, while a part of the Thirtysixth
was in the rifle pits at Battery A on the right. The Twenty-ninth Iowa, with a reserve
from the Thirty-sixth, was sent in front of battery A, with its line reaching to the Sterling
road.
Just as day was breaking, a rebel column came with a yell against batteries C and D.
Regiment after regiment was hurled on, only to be met by an appalling fire from the well
defended forts and rifle pits. Still they came, and in closed column, fighting desperately.
By overwhelming numbers, regardless of loss, they succeed in forcing back our lines at
the left, and Battery C for a short time is in their hands. So, too, are the rifle pits at
Battery D. It is a short time only, for the guns from four forts, including Curtis's, hurl a
terrific fire of grape and canister into their ranks, while the rallied men of the Thirty-third
Iowa and the Thirty-third Missouri drive them back with blazing musketry. The fort is
again ours, and with it many prisoners, while the rough ground and the tangled abatis are
full of dead and dying Rebels.
While this was going on in the center, a less determined contest raged at the right,
near Batteries A and B. where the rebel Gen. Marmaduke was trying to force his way in.
It was here that the Twenty-ninth and Thirty-sixth Iowa, with the Third Iowa battery, won
their first laurels in battle. "They were cool and brave," said Col. Rice, "and behaved in a
manner worthy of all commendation." They were confronted by four regiments of
infantry, a brigade of cavalry, and batteries. So close were the assaulting columns, the
voices of their officers could be heard as they rallied their men to the front. It was all in
vain. Gen. Holmes soon saw that his troops were being massacred uselessly. His
assaulting columns at the union right had no success at all. Price and Fagan on the left
had been driven from their captured positions with great loss. Price, when he forced his
troops into Battery C, hoped to take Battery D from the rear, and then enter the town. But
all had failed. His loss was very severe. The hills and the ravines were full of his dead
and wounded. So was it with the column under Gen. Fagan in the ditches, at Battery D.
His dead and wounded lay everywhere. "Price's charge, with his Missourians," said Staff
Officer John F. Lacey, who witnessed it all from a height at Battery A, "was a terrific
one. It was gallantry itself, and for a little time it looked as if all were lost." It was one of
the great sights of war—"to one who has no friend or brother there." Price's army was
good at charging when the pinch came, just as it was good on the retreat, and a view of a
column of several thousand of his men storming a position under a blaze of musketry and
artillery, was a rare but terrible sight.
When Price took Battery C in that storm of bullets, swarms of his men, without apparent
command or order of line, moved to the assault of Fort Curtis. Five 24-pounder siege
guns, a 32-pounder columbiad in Fort Curtis, a roar of musketry from rallied infantry and
the big cannon balls from the gunboat "Tyler" down at the river, soon sent the attackers
to right-about. These were things Gen. Holmes had not counted on—and they were very
dangerous things. He had apparently never heard of Fort Curtis till that moment, and did
not know that the "Tyler" was so uncomfortably near in the river.
The advance company that charged up and hurled the Rebels out of Battery C was led
by Capt. John Baugh of Oskaloosa. Capt. Yerger of Sigourney and his company also
charged in driving the Rebels from the captured guns which they had not been able to
use—they having been spiked as our line fell back.
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An incident of great heroism was the capture of five Rebels by Sergt. Moore, Co. GE,
Thirty-third Iowa. At one point of the battle he found himself alone, at the front, and
menaced by five of the enemy. Springing behind a stump, he brought his ride to bear on
one of them, and demanded the surrender of all. The whole squad wilted, and were
marched back by the sergeant as prisoners of war.
There was but one thing left for Lt.-Gen. Holmes to do, and he did it. His bugle
sounded the quick retreat, and his brigades, what was left of them, marched back to Little
Rock. As Gen. Holmes rode along the dusty roads at the head of his shattered columns on
that retreat, he must sometimes have thought of that June telegram and wished that he had
not asked Smith to "please let him take Helena." The conflict ended that day an hour
before noon, but Holmes had lost over 1,500 of his command and had suffered a bad
defeat. The battle had been undertaken as a diversion in favor of Pemberton at Vicksburg,
but at the very moment when Holmes's regiments were being slaughtered on the hills and
among the ravines of Helena, Pemberton's army was surrendering its arms to Gen. Grant.
The cannonading that tore Holmes's little army to fragments that forenoon was so
severe as to be heard beyond Little Rock, a hundred miles away. All the union troops
behaved with great gallantry; notably so the Thirty-third Missouri and the Thirty-third
Iowa. The latter regiment captured two battle flags and as many prisoners as it had men
in action. The different companies of this regiment were much separated in the fight, and
were hurried about from one point of danger to another under a hard fire. Lt. Col.
Mackey was conspicuously able for his task. His regiment lost 25 men killed, 52
wounded and 17 prisoners. Ghost of the time the enemy in his front numbered three to his
one. Maj. H. D. Gibson, Captains J. P. Yerger, John Lofland and L. W. Whipple were
complimented for gallantry, as was Lieut. Cheney Prouty. Lieut. Sharman, too, who had
been badly wounded, received notice for especial gallantry.
Col. Rice, on whose command fell the brunt of the battle, and who was himself cool
and efficient, was quick to recognize the ability and bravery of his fellow officers and
men. To Colonels Benton and Kittredge he gave special compliments for efficiency and
bravery, as also to Lieutenant Colonels Mackey, Patterson and Heath, with Majors
Gibson, Van Beck and Shoemaker. His competent A. A. A. General, John F. Lacey, was
also mentioned in reports. Neither did he forget honorable mention of the brave men of
Kansas, Indiana and Missouri who stood beside his own brigade and by gallant fighting
beat off the attacking columns.
The men of the Twenty-ninth lowa were under a severe fire for more than five hours,
and, says Col. Benton, "no Pinching or wavering was seen on that day." Some of
Benton's men rose from sick beds to shoulder their muskets and help defend the town.
The regiment lost 13 killed and 18 wounded.
Col. Eittredge. in a laconic report of a few lines as to the Thirty-sixth Iowa on that
day, says, "every officer and man did his duty," while Chaplain Hare and Quartermaster
Morrill were thanked for valuable services. They were the only field officers beside the
colonel present, the others being sick. The regiment lost but one man killed and a few
missing.
The Iowa battery was of great service in the battle and its commander, Lieut. Wright,
spoke in warm terms of the courage and efficiency of Lieut. Lyon and Sergeants House
and Dengle, and Corp. Folsom.
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In every sense the battle of Helena had been a gallant fight; the defenders vying with each
other in acts of heroism, while the Rebels attacked with that desperation for which their
charges were famous. It was, too, the last fighting for the possession of the Mississippi
river.
STERLING FARM
A few weeks after the fall of Vicksburg and the defense of Helena, a mishap occurred
to one of the Iowa regiments concerning which the chroniclers have had little to say. Gen.
Herron, with a division of troops, was operating for the defense of the Mississippi river in
the neighborhood of Morganzia, Louisiana. The troops usually on outpost duty were
much scattered and liable to be overpowered. On Sept. 12th, the Nineteenth Iowa, the
Twenty sixth Indiana, and two pieces of artillery, all under command of Lt. Col. Leake of
the Twentieth Iowa, were sent out in the performance of heavy picket duty. There was
daily skirmishing with the enemy either along the banks of the Atchafalaya or between
there and the Mississippi. This force took Sterling Farm, seven miles back from the
transports, for headquarters.
Sept. 29th the enemy in large force attacked the little brigade of Lt. Col. Leake in
front, flank and rear. They met with a volley which caused them to recoil, but being in
overwhelming numbers, they bore down our gallant force and captured it entire. Many of
the men, however, refused to surrender until their guns were forcibly taken from them by
the Rebels. A history of the Nineteenth Iowa, by J. I. Dungan, one of its members, and
one of this captured force, describes the command as in a state of constant vigilance,
prepared to spring to arms at a moment's notice, and with pickets and guards watching
the outposts at as many points as their small numbers permitted. Lt. Col. Leake was
aware of the critical position he occupied, and did the most a soldier could do to hold it.
The length of time that our troops held the Rebels in check is given as two hours and ten
minutes—our force being about 500—the rebel force 5,000. The Nineteenth Iowa was
commanded by Capt. Wm. Adams, Co. E, Maj. Bruce having been ordered shortly before
to New Orleans. Maj. Bruce's report gives 260 as the number engaged in the action.
Fortunately, about two-thirds of the regiment, from various causes, had been prevented
from joining with this force at Sterling Farm, and thus escaped capture. There were two
officers and eight enlisted men killed, one officer and sixteen enlisted men wounded, and
eleven officers and two hundred and three enlisted men captured. Lieuts. Kent and
Roberts were among the killed, and Capt. Taylor mortally wounded. The Rebels lost 50
killed and many more wounded.
Our captured were carried to Texas and kept in the prison camp at Tyler, undergoing
as much hardship and cruelty as fell to the lot of any of our prisoners in the South. After
about ten months of this experience they were exchanged, rejoining their regiment at
New Orleans, tattered, emaciated and suffering.

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