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Iowa in War Times Des Moines, Iowa, W.D. Condit & Co.,1888. Byers, S.H.M. 1 CHAPTER XVIII. IOWA AT VICKSBURG. May-July, 1863. At last, Vicksburg's hour was coming. The great Mississippi river was subsiding, and the endless and tortuous bayous, creeks and lagoons through which Grant's army had been wading and swimming in mid-winter—they, too, were subsiding, and dry land was to be found about Vicksburg. The army infantry were to be mariners no longer. The crocodiles and the alligators of the swamps and the lagoons were to have a rest. Gen. Grant's army was to be marched down the west side of the Mississippi to a point below Vicksburg, and there, under the protection of the gunboats, cross over and attack the rebel stronghold from the rear. Gunboats and transports, manned mostly by volunteers from the army, some of them from Iowa, ran past the fierce line of batteries in the night. That was one of the great scenes of the war. "It was a magnificent sight," said Gen. Grant, "but terrible." At ten o'clock at night on the 16th of April, eight gunboats and three transports, their boilers and decks protected by bales of cotton and thousands of sacks of grain, started on the perilous undertaking. Each vessel dragged at its side barges laden with bales of hay and army supplies, all to be used when the fleet and the army should meet below. In the dark holds of each vessel stood volunteers, ready to stop with cotton and boards any holes made in the sides by the cannon balls of the enemy. Gen. Grant, from a tug in the river, watched the brave men start. At a point farther down, right opposite the batteries and among the swamps, Gen. Sherman, with a yawl and a few soldiers, awaited their coming, determined to aid the wrecked, if the boats should sink. The upper levees toward Milliken's Bend were thronged with soldiers eagerly listening for the shots that would tell that the danger was on. Prompt at the signal from the shore, the feet started into the darkness, the flag ship Benton ahead, and the brave Porter commanding. Sullenly and slowly, with lights hidden, and as quietly as possible, the boats drifted down the mighty river. Sullenly they slipped along the river's bend, till suddenly the watchful pickets of the foe sent up a burning rocket, and that moment came the boom of mighty cannon. All the shore suddenly blazed with torches and burning houses. Gun after gun, battery after battery, let loose a thunder of explosions and bursting missiles. Every boat in the floating line was hit, and the iron sides of the gunboats rattled and shivered with the awful hail that struck them. The roaring cannon, and the shells bursting like balls of fire in the air, one of the boats on fire and sinking, and the Rebels running and yelling on the half lighted shore, made a terrific spectacle. All this time the soldiers, in the dark holds of the boats, stood waiting with the cotton in their hands. It took two hours for the boats to pass the awful storm of all the batteries. What hours for the men down in the holds! One boat only was lost. The fleet was below Vicksburg and the army could cross the river. A similar feat with the batteries at Grand Gulf, and daylight of April 30th saw l0,000 union soldiers landed on the east side of the river, ready for battle. Other thousands were hurrying across, and all now in full view of the amazed defenders of the forts at Grand Gulf. Only yesterday, these same forts, after an awful bombardment, had driven back the federal gunboats and prevented a landing above the position. 2 That night while they were loading their guns and preparing for the morrow, the "Yankee" boats passed their batteries and were now ferrying their thousands across the river. Among those thousands now marching on Vicksburg from the rear, were twenty-nine regiments and batteries from Iowa. It was to be another great Iowa victory. Again Iowa troops were to hold key positions, and Iowa blood was to again seal her people's devotion to the Union. The honor to be achieved by these Iowa regiments, crossing over the river on the gunboats that bright morning, was not the same to all. Some were placed in unimportant or subordinate positions—some in reserve—some were hurled into the hottest vortex of the battle; but, in its place, each and every Iowa regiment at Vicksburg did its duty. Two hundred miles were to be marched by day and by night, on short rations, and five battles were to be fought in almost the same number of days. A letter received by Grant from Gen. Banks led him to change the plan of his campaign the moment he was over the river. Banks was to have cooperated with Grant from Port Hudson; New Orleans, instead of Milliken's Bend, was to have been the base of supply. Banks could not act with the required celerity, and Grant, regardless of war department wishes, abandoned the plan, cut loose and entered the enemy's country determined by quick marches and fierce battles to whip the rebel armies in detail and as suddenly march on the fortifications of Vicksburg. The plan was in design, as in execution, Napoleonic. PORT GIBSON. The point where the army was mostly ferried over the river was known as Bruinsburg. McClernand's corps, containing several Iowa regiments, marched in advance with the Second brigade of Carr's division, commanded by Col. Wm. Stone, ahead. Stone had with him in this brigade, the Twenty-first, Twenty-second and Twenty-third Iowa infantry, and the First Iowa battery. The course was east, and that midnight the head of the column struck the enemy eight miles from Port Gibson. The Rebels, 8,500 strong, lay along two roads running a mile apart, and on high ridges, back to Port Gibson. Osterhaus's division was advanced on the north road, and Carr's, Hovey's and Ross's divisions, including several Iowa regiments, were pushed against the enemy on the southern road. There was a deep, impassable ravine between the two roads, completely separating the two wings of the union army and preventing cooperation. At midnight, four companies of the Twenty-first Iowa, under Lt. Col. Dunlap and Maj. Van Anda, and a part of the First Iowa battery, under Capt. Griffiths, led as skirmishers. Being fired on in the darkness, the rest of the Twenty-First, led by Col. Merrill, was brought up. As the line reached a little church at the roadside, they were met by a tremendous volley of musketry. So commenced the first battle in the new campaign for Vicksburg, and the first union volleys were fired by Iowa men. The full Iowa battery opened, as did other field guns, in reply to several guns of the enemy, whose shells and balls and canister crashed through the trees and fences for an hour. Then a pause came, and both sides waited for daylight. With the rising sun, the rebel batteries again opened, and their infantry sprang to the attack. The conflict was soon raging along both roads, and with success on the union side at the right, though Osterhaus, on the north road, made little progress. 3 For hours the fighting was severe. Grant, himself, came on the field at ten o'clock, and soon parts of Gen. McPherson's corps came forward to help. By eleven, Stone's brigade in the right center had orders to charge the enemy's lines in their immediate front. The men advanced for the purpose in double lines of battalions, through a deep hollow whose sides were covered with heavy cane and underbrush. On reaching an open field they delivered a fire so steady and so withering that the enemy gave way and ran. The union line followed slowly, the Twenty-third Iowa in advance; but, in another mile found the enemy heavily reenforced and again awaiting it. Again heavy fighting occurred in Stone's brigade, and the battle raged to right and left, until the enemy, fairly defeated on his own ground, withdrew. McPherson had materially aided in the victory, by getting one of his divisions along a difficult ridge to the enemy's right flank. The whole country was ridges and ravines, cane brakes and hollows—"stood on edge," in the words of Gen. Grant. It was an awful place to fight in, and gave the enemy great advantages. Col. Stone, in his report, complimented highly the leader of the Twenty-third Iowa, Lt. Col. Glasgow, Col. Merrill of the Twenty-first Iowa, Maj. Atherton, commanding the Twenty-second Iowa, and Lieut. Waterbury of the Twenty-third Iowa, who acted as aide. Col. Stone, himself, received the warm commendations of the division commander. He gave out in the afternoon of the battle from exhaustion, and was succeeded in command by Col. Merrill—but lived to fight again and to become governor of the loyal state whose men he had been leading. "Col. Merrill," says Gen. Carr, "was wounded, and he was the first in battle and the last to leave the field." He was the second hero of the day to become a governor of Iowa. No regiment was truer or braver than his. Captains Jacob Swivel, J. M. Harrison, E. Boardman and J. M. Watson were complimented for gallantry. Capt. Crooke, with Co. B of the Twenty-first Iowa, was the first to receive the fire of the rebel pickets. Sergeant Kihst of the regiment captured a rebel dispatch bearer. The Twenty-third Iowa led the brigade advance in the afternoon, fought gallantly and lost more heavily than any other Iowa regiment engaged. It and its gallant leader, Lt. Col. Glasgow, were highly complimented by Gen. Carr, division commander. Sergt. Wm. R. Leebart, of the First Iowa battery was wounded and mentioned for gallantry. Among the wounded of the brigade were the brave Lt. Col. Dunlap of the Twentyfirst, Lieutenants Wm. De Camp, John Francisco, D. W. Henderson and Adjt. D. J. Davis of the Twenty-second, and Capt. Wm. R. Henry and Lieut. D. P. Ballard of the Twentythird. The Twenty-eighth Iowa also fought heroically at Port Gibson, but in another division and farther to the left. It was their first engagement, but "they fought" says Col. Connell, their commander,"with fearless spirit and determination." The other Iowa regiments present, the Fifth, Tenth and others were held in reserve or participated but slightly in the battle. The losses of the Iowa regiments were as follows: the Twenty-first Iowa, 17 wounded; the Twenty-second Iowa, 2 killed and 13 wounded; the Twenty-third Iowa, 6 killed and 27 wounded and the Twenty-eighth Iowa, 1 killed and 16 wounded. That evening Grant's army marched into Port Gibson. The first act in the new drama of Vicksburg was finished. 4 RAYMOND AND JACKSON. Port Gibson had proven an important victory for Grant, for the way toward Vicksburg was now open, and on "dry land." The Rebels immediately abandoned the strong post of Grand Gulf, with its armament of heavy guns and batteries, leaving Grant's left flank clear and ready to advance. He determined to grasp the advantages before him at once, and to hurry his army along the Big Black river toward a point half way between Vicksburg and Jackson, the state capital, where Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was already assembling a second rebel army. In this position, Grant could strike right or left, and whip the enemy in detail. McPherson's corps moved well to the right, slightly in advance, in the direction of Raymond. The rest of the army moved north, parallel with the Black river, and all troops were kept within supporting distance. To cover Jackson and to threaten Grant's right flank, a rebel force had been advanced to Raymond. On May 12th, at four o'clock in the morning, McPherson's corps struck the videttes of this force in front of the town. Gen. John A. Logan, commanding a division, was in advance, and by eleven o'clock, the battle of Raymond was being fought. Quinby's division, commanded by Crocker of Iowa, was ordered to the front as supports. It contained the Fifth, Tenth and Seventeenth Iowa regiments, but as the enemy gave way after two hours hard fighting, they were but little under fire. At five P. M., McPherson's troops marched into Raymond. The enemy fell back on Jackson, toward which point Grant suddenly turned his whole army, marching by nearly parallel roads. It was his chance, and he saw it. The Rebels under Pemberton were marching out of Vicksburg, expecting to be attacked at Edwards station. While they were waiting Grant's shock in line of battle, that general was wheeling his divisions toward Jackson, and on the 14th, at ten o'clock A. or., in the midst of an awful thunder storm, the cannon of the union army opened on the capital of Mississippi. Grant advanced on Jackson by two lines—the right, under Sherman, from Mississippi Springs, near Raymond, and the left under McPherson, marching from Clinton. The two lines were nearly parallel, but were from three to five miles apart. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was in command of the Rebels in the city in person, and had about twenty-five thousand men with him. When McPherson's advance ran on to the enemy's first lines outside his fortifications, a terrible rain was falling. When, shortly, the fight opened, the shocks of thunder were so sudden and explosive and so commingled with the artillery, the soldiers could not tell the thunder from the cannon. On McPherson's line, in Quinby's division, which was led by Crocker, the Iowa men had the advance, and the post of honor. They were the Fifth, Tenth and Seventeenth Iowa regiments. The outer lines of the Rebels were some distance outside of the city and encircled it from Pearl river on the north around to the same river on the south. Crocker's division was all deployed in line of battle by 1l A. or., with John A. Logan's troops as a reserve. Between the line and the rebel works was a creek, lined with thick brush and willows, with an open field beyond, and woods on right and left. The creek was quickly crossed under a heavy artillery fire; but at the edge of the open field that sloped up to the rebel works, the line was checked. Suddenly the whole division was ordered to charge. The advance, under a fire of artillery and musketry, was magnificently made, as the line reached into the woods on either hand, with its center moving straight up through the open field. 5 Steadily forward, firing as they went, the long line moved on, not heeding the withering fire that thinned their ranks at every volley. Half way up, and the charge so earnest alarms the rebel front. They yield and ran, leaving their entrenchments, their field batteries, and their heavy guns, in the hands of the assaulters. Jackson, the capital, has fallen. Sherman's advance on the right had been easier, and a flanking movement by Gen. Tuttle had forced the rebels there to desert their cannon and fly back over the river. In McPherson's advance, Crocker's assaulting column had suffered severely. The brave Seventeenth Iowa, in its fierce charge, lost 80 men, out of only 350 engaged. It was led by Col. D. B. Hillis, and its advance was the first inside the rebel works. Capt. Houston, though wounded, alone captured three Rebels and took them with him to the hospital. captains flicks and Johnson, together with Lieutenants Kenderdine, Skelton, Browne, and Woodrow were all wounded, and Lieut. John M. Inskeep was killed. The colonel commended Lt. Col. Wever, Adjt. Woolsey and Captains Craig, Houston and Walden for coolness and duty, though the entire command was conspicuous for extreme gallantry that day. The losses in the other Iowa regiments engaged were small. The Fifth lost but 4 men, while the loss of the Fourth is not given. The Thirty-fifth, fighting at the right, lost S. Yet all were in line, and did their duty. The Fourth Iowa cavalry was constantly on the move at front or flanks, and its service was valuable and recognized. "it was composed of as good men," said Gov. Kirkwood, "as Iowa ever sent to the field." When Grant rode into Jackson with Sherman that afternoon, he found thirty-five pieces of cannon, and much public property as trophies. He was scarcely dismounted, when he learned that Pemberton was to march and attack his rear, while Johnston should swing around northwest from Jackson, and the two attack and try to destroy the union army somewhere near Clinton, fifteen miles away. The order was sent to Pemberton by Johnston, by three different couriers. One of these happened to be a loyal man, and he took the dispatch straight into the federal camp. Grant at once set all his divisions in motion facing Vicksburg, proposing to concentrate in the neighborhood of Bolton, about half way between Jackson and Vicksburg. Pemberton was all at sea as to Grant's movements and was himself not following the orders of his commander. Defeat and danger threatened every movement he made. At last he commenced to turn south a little, to strike Grant's base of supplies and so cut him off. But Grant had no base—he was loose from everything. All communication with the North was gone. His army slept in fields and on roadsides, and lived on whatever it could pick up on the nearest plantations. A new kind of war had commenced and Pemberton did not know it. So he marched for the base that was not. Swollen creeks and broken bridges checked his movement, and at the last moment, he changed his plan and started north again to try to join Johnston at Clinton, as he had first been ordered to do. This movement brought on the important and hard fought battle of CHAMPION HILLS. May 16, 1863. Grant's divisions moving west from Jackson and in almost parallel lines, struck Pemberton's front well posted on the high, wooded hills of Champion's farm, some twenty-five miles east of Vicksburg. 6 It was a strong position, and one dangerous to assault. Pemberton decided to fight, and possibly to settle the fate of Vicksburg among the woods, rocks, and ravines of this commanding position. The hill was wooded and in many places stood very large magnolia trees in fall bloom. The day was exceedingly hot, and Grant's troops, since crossing the Mississippi, had done nothing but march and fight. Much of the marching had been done at night, and every road in the great triangle of Port Gibson, Jackson and Vicksburg, had constantly been filled with marching soldiers. The union divisions, without a base, with the great river behind them making retreat impossible, and without headquarters—cut oft and wholly in the enemy's country, were tramping wherever ordered. Some were foraging for food and feed, and some hurrying to cover threatened points. The rebel army had been doing much the same thing at the same time,—and now, in the hot woods of Champion Hills. with empty stomachs and emptier canteens, the two armies met in a decisive battle. It was the 16th of May. Hovey's division, including two gallant Iowa regiments, the Twenty-fourth and the Twenty-eighth, marching from Bolton, was the first to strike the Rebels on their left center, and bring on the engagement. Their position was across the road from Jackson to Vicksburg, near to Champion's house. They captured a battery, but could not hold it, and were hard pressed though desperately fighting, when Logan's division, and then Crocker's, with several more Iowa regiments, were pushed in to their aid. Grant was at the front in person. When Hovey's division, with the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-eighth Iowa, first entered the engagement, the fighting was terrific, as the fearful loss in those regiments shows. They fought in Slack's brigade. The Twenty-eighth was first at the left, where a determined flanking movement of the enemy was defeated—then at the right of the brigade, and though once overpowered and driven back, they rallied and helped to chase the enemy from the field. The regiment lost 100 men, mostly killed and wounded, and the number severely and mortally wounded was astonishing. Four companies of the regiment came out of the fight without a commissioned officer. Capt. Benj. F. Kirby was killed, as was Lieut. John J. Legan. Lieut. John Buchanan lost a good right arm, and many of the men died from their wounds. Capt. John A. Staley was taken prisoner. "Of this regiment and the Twenty-fourth Iowa, (the Temperance regiment) what shall I say ?" writes Gen. Hovey. "Of them the state of Iowa may well be proud." The Twenty-fourth, in the same brigade, fought like veterans, and dashed past and over a well defended rebel battery. In the daring charge many brave officers and men fell, killed or wounded. Among the killed were Captains Wm. Carbee, Silas D. Johnson and Lieut. Chauncey Lawrence. The gallant Maj. Ed. Wright was wounded, as were Captains Leander Clark, J. W. Martin and Lieutenants S. J. McKinley, J. C. Glue, and S. J. Dillman. One hundred and ninety-five out of the 417 who entered the fight, were killed, wounded or missing. That meant nearly every other man, and the men of that noble regiment who so heroically gave life and limb for their country that day were of Iowa's best blood. Nowhere, in all the dreadful four years' struggle, was the state of Iowa more honored by the patriotic valor of its sons than at Champion Hills by the Twenty-fourth regiment. The Seventeenth Iowa fought in Crocker's division, Holmes's brigade. Inch by inch this regiment drove the Alabamians in their front through woods and ravines, up hill and down hill, recapturing the battery that had been taken and then lost in the earlier part of the fight. Three times in two hours this Alabama battery changed hands. In the charge for these guns, the Seventeenth also captured many prisoners and a battle flag. 7 Five times the Seventeenth Iowa charged the Rebels at Champion Hills, and each time under a murderous fire of musketry and artillery. The regiment 103t 57 of its men in the short fight. Among its wounded were Captains A. A. Stuart, J. F. Walden, and Lieutenants Daniel W. Tower and Jas. W. Craig. Lieut. Tower lost a leg. He, with Lieutenants C. W. Woodrow, Geo. W. Deal, Sergt. Swearingen and Corp. A. S. Trussel, who captured a flag, were all mentioned for great gallantry. Lt. Col. Wever, who led in one of the charges, and Adjt. Woolsey were also much complimented by Col. Hillis for bravery. Both had their horses shot under them. The Fifth and the Tenth Iowa were in Boomer's brigade of Crockery division. The Fifth Iowa fought as desperately at Champion Hills as any regiment on that memorable field. It entered the fight with its division and on the run, at about eleven o'clock, and under the vertical rays of a boiling sun The regiment had marched hard, and for twentyfour hours had little sleep, water, or food. It waded to the front by Lt. Col. H. S. Sampson, and in the bloody battle that followed, lost more than a quarter of the number of its men engaged. On its right, in the same brigade (Boomer's), were the Tenth Iowa and the Twenty-sixth Missouri, while the Ninety-third Illinois stood like a blazing rock on its left. Just as Crocker's division, with these and other regiments, came up, Covey's hard fighting division, overpowered, was falling back—its lines pushed out of the woods down the slope over the open, and almost up to Champion's house. Disaster seemed inevitable. Hundreds of wounded men, with faces begrimed with powder and blood, met Crocker's reenforcing lines as they hurried into the wood. The crashing of the musketry was simply appalling. Such terrific salvos from infantry were seldom heard in battle. A few moments before the Fifth Iowa started in on the double quick, Grant, the commander, rode up behind the regiment. Grant was brave spite of the bullets that were whizzing past and through the ranks, and though occasional men were falling where they stood, the quiet and unassuming general dismounted from his bay mare and calmly leaned against the beast's shoulder smoking a cigar, as seemed a necessity with him. It was not bravado. In quiet tones he gave orders to mounted aides who dashed off to other parts of the battle field. Certainly few words were uttered by him, though our position at that point, at that moment, seemed perilous. Once a poor soldier, wounded and torn and groaning, was borne close by him on a litter. A glance of pity seemed to change his countenance—but for a moment, only. Then the face, so apparently unconcerned as to the dreadful surroundings, quietly turned to an officer waiting near him. His voice could not be heard. He was dressed in half uniform, wearing his general's yellow belt, but not his sword. His countenance seemed handsomer, more businesslike and more soldierly than in any of his pictures, save that of Marshall's. How we all wished that Grant would leave the spot, and ride away from the danger. Yet spite of the bullets whizzing past our heads, how many faces turned to glance at him, feeling that he was to see the regiment of which we were so proud start in on the charge. We forgot our own danger in our fears for him. Ah! many a man of that noble regiment was looking on Grant for the last time. "Forward"—the order came—"double quick"—"fix bayonets"—and on the brigade went—over the open, into the sloping woods and ravines, up to the very front, charging and yelling as we ran. How we yelled ! Once at the ridge's crest, in the woods, the line halts, and for an hour and a half stands facing a fearful musketry, answering back volleys that made the hills roar as if the elements were in commotion. 8 Other masses of Rebels poured over on to the front of the Fifth and Tenth, when some regiments to the left breaking away, and cross fires reaching the left flank and even rear, the line gave way. It was a fearful race in the hot sun; and with the hotter bullets following, till the men rallied in a new line, protected by batteries. The color bearer had fallen, but in the chase rearwards Corp. Teter picked up the bullet-ridden flag. At that instant, a comrade cried to him, "Let's halt and give them another round." With an oath the corporal lifted the flag in air "I'll stay here so long as a man of the Fifth Iowa will stay by me,"—and he waved it in defiance of the increasing hail of bullets, and of the fierce line of rebels advancing and yelling: "Kill those men—capture that flag." There the two comrades stood, screaming to the powder begrimed and blood covered men, passing rearward, to stop and help save the flag. A few braved to halt in the storm of bullets and answered the rebel yell with the crack of their rifles. Nearer came the yelling line, firing as they ran. Never will the writer of this forget that little group of men with the flag, standing there in the broiling sun, the rushing, blood stained men, and the bullets cutting down our flying comrades. It was of no use. The little group guarding the flag also fell back, but they took the colors with them. Farther back the regiment formed a new line, from which no soldier of the Fifth yielded a step that day. The Rebels came on, but it was to meet the rallied and solid lines that could not be moved. The men fired till the last round of ammunition was spent and then, still holding the Rebels at bay, took the cartridges from the bodies of the dead and wounded, and shot them into the faces of the now dismayed and retreating enemy. It was by such terrible fighting that the battle of Champion Hills was won. Once, before the line left the front ridge, just when the firing and the roar of battle were the greatest, a boy, a stripling of perhaps sixteen, came running up to the writer at the left of the regiment. "My regiment is gone," he cried, "my regiment has left! what shall I do?" His face was black with powder, and his eyes were filled with tears. "Stay here. Fire right here, with us," was answered him. To the last moment, that boy stood in the battle and loaded and fired his musket. When our line, overpowered, fell back, and the Rebels pursued, I saw him no more, but after the battle an officer of the Seventeenth Iowa found a boy near the same spot, with both legs shot of, and dead. The trees where that hero boy stood and fired so long at the left of the Fifth Iowa were filled with thousands of bullets. On the sides of one large oak the scars of more than two hundred balls were counted that evening. Near by, Capt. S. B. Lindsay and Lieut. Jerome Darling, with many men were killed, and Lieutenants J. Limbocker and Thompson were wounded. It seemed almost a mystery that any man escaped from that line alive. The loss of the Fifth was 19 killed and T5 wounded, out of only 350 engaged. Maj. Marshall, then adjutant, received just praise for his gallantry, as did Captains Lee and Pickerell. What the Fifth Iowa had been doing in that hot battle, that had the Tenth Iowa been doing equally well. They were in the same brigade and fought together on the same fierce line. They suffered, besides. a severe enfilading fire on their flank. Their losses were very great in both officers and men, and attest the heroism of that brave regiment. Thirty-four were killed and 124 were wounded. The Christian gentleman and the gallant soldier, Capt. Poag, was shot dead, and lay there among the leaves, a bullet in his forehead, and his feet to the foe. So, too, fell Lieutenants Brown and Terry, while Captains Holson, Swallow, Hobson, Kuhn and Lusby, with Lieutenants Meekins, Wright and Gregory, were wounded. 9 It was a sad day for the noble Tenth—so many of its men left dead on the field of battle. But to the Iowa regiments that battle field was especially a field of honor. The battle was the important one of the whole campaign, and it had been fought by Hovey's, Logan's and Crocker's divisions, McClernand's forces coming up on Grant's left too late to be severely engaged. Had McClernand been up as promptly as others, Pemberton's whole army would have been captured, as Logan's fighting division had flanked it and well nigh cut it off from all possible retreat. Even as it was, Champion Hills was one of the most complete union successes of the war. It was fought against superior numbers, and on the enemy's chosen position, and without rifle pits or aids of any kind. It was a well planned, hard fought battle, and the Rebels were fairly and terribly beaten, with a loss of 24 pieces of artillery, some 3,000 killed and wounded, and 3,000 prisoners. The union loss was 9,441. By McClernand's failure to get his divisions into the fight earlier, more than half the union army was not engaged. Loring's division of Rebels was cut off, only escaping capture by a circuitous and flying night march southwards, not getting back to Vicksburg at all. Pemberton's army, badly beaten, fled that evening to the railroad crossing of the Big Black river, a few miles nearer Vicksburg, closely pursued by the victorious troops of Grant's army. BATTLE OF BLACK RIVER BRIDGE. May 17th 1863. Before nine o'clock of the morning of the fifth, another battle had been fought. Once more Iowa regiments were put to the post of danger and once more won a victory. Pemberton had thrown up breastworks in the open field, nearly a mile east of the river, and in front of the bridge he proposed defending. These breastworks, crossing a peninsula formed by a big bend in the river, were filled with rebel regiments and field batteries. Carr's division, in which was Lawler's brigade, with the Twenty-first, Twentysecond and Twenty-third Iowa regiments came in sight of the rebel works at daylight, having marched several hours in the night. The semicircle of rebel breastworks was made of cotton bales covered with earth—the kind of works that were so effective against the British under Packenham, at New Orleans. Lawler's brigade was put at the extreme right of the union line, its right resting almost on the river, then a high, rapid and turbulent stream. The treeless and open bottom across which the rebel works ran, was so covered by guns from both sides of the river as to make an assault seem impossible. To add to the danger, a deep, narrow bayou with two feet of water in it, stretched around in front of the rebel breastworks, serving as a perfect ditch or moat. Spite of it all, Grant's forces were preparing for a general assault. At that very moment, as Gen. Grant tells us, a staff officer rode up, bringing from Halleck a peremptory order for Grant to abandon the campaign and take his army to Port Hudson, to help Gen. Banks. Halleck, of course, knew nothing of the recent victories. All communication with the North had been lost by cutting loose at the Mississippi river. "I think it is too late," said Grant, while the officer expostulated and felt that Halleck's order should be obeyed. The words were scarcely spoken, when Grant, glancing to the right of his lines, saw a dashing officer in his shirt sleeves, leading his brigade to the assault. 10 It was Gen. Lawler and the men of the Twenty first Twenty-second and Twenty-third Iowa, and the Eleventh Wisconsin, rushing into a hailstorm of bullets, in an assault on the works. Lawler's brigade, like the rest of Carr's division, had been partially covered at the right by a cluster of woods near the river. Close inspection had convinced Lawler that by appearing from the woods and pushing close along the river, a sudden assault might be made, and the works entered. At a given signal, the charge across the open bottom and the assault was commenced. "It was," said Gen. Grant, "a daring movement." Lawler's men, mostly from Iowa, left the woods with a loud cheer, and spite of a terrific fire of musketry in their faces, crossed the open bottom on a run, waded the dangerous bayous under murderous fire, and in five minutes were inside the enemy's works. The Twenty-third Iowa, led by Col. Kinsman, was in the advance. The Twenty-first Iowa and the Eleventh Wisconsin followed. The Twenty-second Iowa, nearer the river, moved close along its banks, flanked the enemy, and took a great number of prisoners. When the assaulting column, yelling and firing, reached the ditch in front of the rebel lines, the enemy dropped their guns and rushed for the rear. Some escaped, hundreds were cut off by the Twenty-second Iowa and captured, and scores jumped into the river and were drowned in their effort to get across. The works and eighteen cannon were in possession of the assaulters. The charge of Lawler's brigade was one of the brilliant events of the war. It cost, however, the fife of many a gallant Iowa man. Two hundred and seventy-nine Federals were killed or wounded, and nearly all in this assaulting column. The names of the Twenty-first and the Twenty-third Iowa were that morning written high on the scroll of Iowa's military honor. With the commander in chief and half the army looking on, they had successfully assaulted a position that might have stood in Grant's path to Vicksburg for a month. Col. Kinsman of the Twenty-third, bravest of the brave, and one of the state's most esteemed officers, was shot dead. It was a noble life, sacrificed on his country's altar. Capt. McCray, and Lieutenants S. G. Beckwith, J. D. Ewing and Washington Rawlings, of the same regiment, were wounded—the first three mortally. The total loss of the Twenty-third in killed and wounded in this charge was 87— a fearful 103S considering the number engaged. In this charge, too, fell, severely wounded, Col. Merrill of the Twenty-first Iowa. He fell at the head of his noble regiment, in the midst of a shower of bullets. A braver man never rode into battle. Lt. Col. Dunlap took his place, and in his report of the assault, speaks of the great bravery of Maj. S. GE. Van Anda, of Captains Harrison, Swivel, Voorhees, Watson, Boardman, Wilson and Crooks,—and Lieutenants Dolson, Childs, Jackson and Roberts. Acting Adjt. Howard was shot down, mortally wounded in the charge. Lieutenants Andrew Y. McDonald and W. W. Lyons were wounded. The brigade that made this memorable assault was composed of the same troops that had fought so well under Col. Stone, at Port Gibson. In their charge, they had captured a number greater than their whole command. The loss of the Twenty-first in the battle was 83 killed and wounded, out of less than 300 engaged. That day and the next night, Grant's army marched up close to the walls of Vicksburg. On the same day, the Fourth Iowa cavalry, under Col. Swan, having crossed the Big Black with Gen. Sherman, was swung off to the right to reconnoiter in the direction of the fortifications at Haines's and Snyder's Bluffs on the Yazoo river. 11 Advancing a few miles the report came that the road and the fortifications were occupied by six or seven thousand Rebels. Col. Swan believing it imprudent for his small force to proceed, at once about-faced. Capt. J. H. Peters of Company B protested, and obtained permission to take a select company of volunteers, and proceed close to Fort Snyder. He went forward on a quick gallop, and capturing a number of Rebels on the way, appeared suddenly at the very entrance of the rebel works. The rebel garrison was mostly gone, and a quick charge on the guard left behind, and Peters,; with his Iowa cavalry, was in the fort. The fort on Haines's Bluff, evacuated, was also taken possession of, and a federal gunboat happening to be in sight down the river, it was signaled to, and the works and cannon of Snyder's Bluff turned over to its officers. Capt. Peters and his daring men hurried back to Grant's army with the news, and daylight of the next morning saw mule teams hauling supplies from the Yazoo river to the hungry soldiers. Grant's right wing now touched water again and the line to his new base of supplies on the Yazoo river was open. An Iowa regiment had been the first to march from the Mississippi river below Grand Gulf—an Iowa regiment was the first to water its horses in the Yazoo above Vicksburg. The siege of Vicksburg had begun. THE SIEGE. Twenty Iowa regiments were present at the siege of Vicksburg. The same troops that had sailed here waded through endless bayous and lagoons—that had marched two hundred miles in a little over a fortnight, and fought and won six battles in as many days, were now ready to take Vicksburg by siege or by storm. The attempts to take the city and let free the waters of the Mississippi, had already cost the union army 10,000 men killed or wounded. Other loyal lives were ready for the sacrifice, and Grant's soldiers urged him to assault the lines at once. The morning of May 19th saw the union army forming a semi-circular line outside the Vicksburg fortifications. Sherman held the right, McClernand the left, and McPherson the center. The investment was not quite complete, as there was a gap on the left for a few days, but later, when that was closed, the union line was nearly eight miles long. confronting it, were fortifications pronounced by Gen. Sherman to be stronger than the works of Sevastopol. The soldiers defending them were veterans, and on their own soil. Outside the line of the investers, the Rebels, under Gen. Johnston, were rapidly collecting along Black river a second army to attack Grant's rear. It was a boast in the South that Grant, blindly placing himself between these two armies, was lost. In fact, the gathering of this second army at Grant's rear was an important factor in determining him to assault the seemingly impregnable works at two o'clock of that same 19th of May. They were brave men who marched to storm such lines. The main redoubts were ten feet high, with ditches in front seven feet deep, making the top of the parapet seventeen feet high. They were twenty-five feet thick. From fort to fort, on the long line, ran intrenchments ten feet thick and five feet high, with ditches four feet deep. One hundred and twenty-eight cannon defended these strong positions, not counting the many siege guns and the many strong batteries on the side next the river, for defense against the gunboats. The country about was all hills, cane brakes and deep ravines. Nature vied with the Rebels in making Vicksburg the most defensible position on the continent. It was pronounced by Pemberton the most important point, too, in the confederacy. 12 Grant believed that the recent defeats of the Rebels had alarmed them, and that they would possibly not fight much on the 19th. He was mistaken. The assault took place and only resulted in getting better and nearer positions; no work was taken. Sherman's troops on the right did most of the assaulting and did it fiercely—planting flags on the enemy's parapets under a dreadful fire; but it was of no use. They withdrew at dark. Many of the Iowa regiments were under fire that day, but few joined in the immediate assault. The Fourth, however, lost considerably, and during the whole siege some 80 of its men were killed or wounded. The Twelfth also lost a few. Capt. W. W. Warner was wounded. The failure on the 19th did not cool the ardor of either soldiers or commanders. The position of Johnston's army in the rear was becoming a terrible menace. If Vicksburg could be taken by assault, the union army could suddenly turn on Johnston and destroy him. Ten o'clock of the morning of the Dad of May was set for the second attempt to storm the works. From daylight of that morning till the moment for the assault, every cannon of the besieging line poured its thunder of shot and shell into the forts in front. Then the union lines advanced from the near ravines where they had lain secreted, and long and desperately assaulted the forts and the intrenchments that now blazed with rebel musketry. The soldiers of Iowa were in the van of that awful charge. They only, and but few of them, ever reached the inside of the rebel forts—and of that few but a handful came out alive. There were Iowa regiments in almost every division of the investing line. At the given signal 35,000 men had rushed from cover to the assault. Such a storming of fortifications had never before been seen in America. On the right, some of Sherman's troops advanced under a fearful fire of musketry, reached the ditches and planted the union flag on the parapet of the fort. The enfilading fire, however, was too severe to permit of progressing another inch. Many of the men lay close up to the forts, or in the ditches, till night permitted them to withdraw. Among the Iowa regiments either advancing or supporting under Sherman that day, were the Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, Twelfth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth, Thirtyfirst and Thirty-fifth. The Twenty-fifth was on the advance line and gained the heights and the ditch, but not the fort. Capt. J. D. Spearman was among the badly wounded. Private Isaac Mickey was mentioned in reports for special gallantry in carrying an order along an exposed line. The regiment lost about 30 in killed and wounded. Col. Charles H. Abbott was killed in the assault while gallantly leading his Thirtieth Iowa through a storm of bullets. Among the wounded of his regiment were Lieutenants S. J. Chester, David Letner and J. P. Millikin (the latter two mortally), and some 60 non-commissioned officers and privates. The Twenty-sixth Iowa, led by the gallant Col. Milo Smith, had 45 officers and men killed or wounded in the two days assaults. Capt. A. D. Gaston, Lieutenants John W. Mason, Lewis Rider, Wm. M. Magden and N. Vi. Wood were all wounded, and so, too, was the gallant Col. Smith himself. Lieut. Pearson was captured. The Ninth Iowa, in this dreadful assault, lost nearly 80 men. Seven officers were killed or mortally wounded, viz.: Captains Kelsey and Washburn, and Lieutenants Martin, Wilburn, Owen, Jones and Tyrrell. Among the wounded were Captains McSweeney and Little, and Lieutenants Sutherland, Bartholomew and Kemery. 13 To this fatal list was to be added another 20 killed and wounded during the siege or the assault of the day before. All the color guard who bravely planted the flag on the enemy's parapet were shot down. J. M. Elson, a color bearer, especially distinguished himself for bravery in trying to scale the works, and was shot in both thighs. The flag was saved by the extreme gallantry of Adjt. Granger. The other Iowa regiments were slightly engaged, or used in support. Lt. Col. Jenkins and Lieut. James G. Dawson of the Thirty-first and Lieut. Jas. C. Maxwell of the Eighth, were among the wounded. Lieut: Robt. Anderson of the Twenty-first, was killed. At the center of the line, where McPherson's troops were charging up to the works, Iowa was represented by the Fifth, Tenth, Eleventh, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth regiments. Some of these were pushed forward as supports—some were led right up to the rebel forts under an appalling fire of musketry. This was especially true of the Fifth and Tenth Iowa. These brave regiments not only charged up in front of their own lines, but in the afternoon made a second assault in front of McClernand at the left. They were among the reenforcing regiments which Grant sent to the left that afternoon, under the impression that McClernand had taken part of the rebel lines. That second assault cost the Iowa regiments not only great losses in killed and wounded, but the competent commander of the brigade, Col. Boomer, was shot dead. Adjt. Delahoyd of the Tenth was wounded severely, and so too, was the gallant Capt. Head. The losses in the Fifth were 17; in the Tenth, 18 killed and wounded. Certain regiments of McClernand's wing of the army had come nearer capturing the fortifications in their front that day than did any others. Lawler's brigade of Carr's division, including the Twenty-first, Twenty-second and Twenty-third Iowa regiments, charged just south of the Jackson railroad. Benton's brigade of the same division charged with them. The principal fort in front of Lawler occupied a prominent hill close to the railroad. Up this hill the Twenty-first and the Twenty-second Iowa went with a cheer, defying the hail storm of bullets that met them on the way, and the awful enfilading fire from other angles in the intrenchments that struck them just as they reached the very ditch of the fort. It was a hot, dangerous time, when thirteen men of the Twenty-second Iowa, led by Sergt. Joseph E. Griffiths, climbed out of the ditch over the shoulders of each other and right into the rebel fort Beauregard, killing or dispersing the enemy within. Such valor is seldom witnessed in battle. The comrades of Griffiths in peril were John Robb, M. L. Clemmons, Alvin Drummond, Hezekiah Drummond, Wm. H. Needham, Ezra L. Anderson, Hugh Sinclair, N. C. Messenger, David Trine, Wm. Griffin, Allen Cloud, David Jordan and Richard Arthur. Brave as the deed was, it resulted in little. The enemy's guns so covered this captured fort as to make it untenable. Spite of the heroism of the whole regiment that days the work was retaken by night. In the assault, many brave men fell. The total loss of the regiment was 164. Capt. James Robertson and Lieut. M. A. Robb of the Twenty-second were killed while leading in the charge. Lt. Col. Graham was captured. Col. Stone, leading the regiment, was slightly wounded, while Capt. John H. Gearkee, and Lieutenants John Remick and Mullins were severely wounded. In this gallant charge the Twenty-first Iowa lost heavily. More than a hundred of its brave men never came back with the line. Lt. Col. Dunlap came up just after the charge, and was shot dead while talking with Col. Stone. He had been wounded at Port Gibson. and could not keep up with the line. 14 This loss was severely felt. Maj. Van Anda, Captains J. M. Harrison and D. Greaves, with Lieutenants Allan Adams, G. H. Childs, Wm. A. Roberts and Samuel Bates were wounded—the last two mortally. Lieut. Bates was also captured. All that day the flags of the Twenty-second Iowa and the Seventy-seventh Illinois floated from the parapet of that rebel stronghold, while the soldiers of Lawler's brigade held the ditch and with hand grenades thrown out by the enemy conducted a hand to hand contest. All along Grant's lines, troops from almost every state in the Northwest, had made terrific assaults, and in different places union flags were planted by brave hands on the parapets of rebel forts. In almost every regiment there were acts of individual heroism that day. Usually in front of the assaulting columns, a small band of soldiers would spring ahead with ladders to throw over the ditch of the fort. In each case these men were volunteers, and few of them survived the peril of their heroic deeds. While officers received promotion for the gallantry of the day, these heroic volunteer privates found only a shallow grave. In front of one of Sherman's divisions, 150 brave men volunteered in the forlorn hope of going in advance with the ladders to the rebel ditch. "Their dead bodies," says an eye witness, "soon obstructed the way." Most of them were killed within five minutes after starting. The writer witnessed a band of these heroic men with ladders advancing to the rebel ditch in front of the Fifth and Tenth Iowa. The men who volunteered to do this perilous duty were the bravest heroes in all Grant's army. Their names are not of record, though they deserve to be written on shafts of marble and in letters of gold. The assaults of the 22nd of May, spite of the heroism of the army, were failures. The rebel works were too strong to be taken by storm, and in the darkness the lines were withdrawn, and the siege by sapping and mining commenced. In the two assaults, more than 4,000 of Grant's army had been killed and wounded. Now commenced a kind of conflict unique in the history of warfare. Every man in the investing line became an army engineer. Day and night the soldiers worked at digging narrow, zigzag approaches to the rebel works. Intrenchments, rifle pits, and dirt covers were made in every conceivable direction. When intrenchments were safe and finished, still others, yet farther in advance, were made, as if by magic, in a single night. Other zigzag, underground lines were made, and saps and mines for explosion under forts. Every day the regiments, foot by foot, yard by yard, approached nearer the frowning, strong-armed rebel works. The soldiers burrowed like gophers and beavers— a spade in one hand and a musket in the other. The pickets were not squads of soldiers only; whole regiments filled the extremely advanced trenches all the time, being relieved only in the night. These regiments poured a constant fire of musketry into the embrasures and over the parapets of the forts. Day and night were heard the ceaseless firing and roar of musketry, whole batteries of artillery often joining in the midnight chorus, while the shells from the gunboats rose into the air like burning comets and fell into the devoted city. It was a wonderful spectacle. The rifle pits of the two armies were now so close that the pickets talked with each other and nightly traded tobacco for coffee. Sometimes, as if by sudden impulse, a fierce bombardment with all the artillery would take place—or a mine beneath a fort explode, throwing its occupants into the air, while whole regiments would dash into the fearful crater only to be driven out. Forty-two days and forty-two nights the singular siege went on, and they were bold Rebels who dared to show their heads in all that time above the parapets of their forts, or over the sand bags of which they made little breastworks outside the ditch. 15 Inside the city, the rebels lived in caves and holes in the ground. No other life was possible, so frequent were the storms of shot and shell from the gunboats and the batteries, and the musketry from the rifle pits now right under the slopes of the forts. The history of one regiment during that historic siege was almost the history of all. In front of each the same perpetual skirmishing by day and by night went on—the same sapping and mining, the same slow advancing on the enemy's works, the same dangers that were scarcely second to battle. It was hard work for the union soldiers there, digging under the almost tropical sun of Mississippi. They lived in the deep ravines back of their lines, or in their rifle pits, forever loading and firing their muskets. Once Gov. Kirkwood and his adjutant general. with Surgeon General Hughes, came down to visit the boys, and were serenaded by a storm of rebel cannon balls. They made speeches to the brave boys— the boys cheered a little, and, divining what was going on, the Rebels turned their batteries on the scene. Kirkwood honored and loved the soldiers. He knew what their sacrifices meant. He knew that they stood between the state and destruction—that there would be no state, no governor, no liberty, no life, but for these men in the ditches at Vicksburg. "The heroism of our soldiers has made it a high privilege to be a citizen of Iowa," said he. So it had. The forty-two days of fighting, burrowing and besieging, were drawing to a close. Meantime, other troops were added to Grant's investing army. With them, came more from Iowa, until at last the proud state had thirty regiments besieging Vicksburg, or helping to keep back Joe Johnston's army in the rear. Then came that memorable day, that fete day of a nation, that victory day— Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Helena,—that dawning of new light all over the North, that ringing of bells from sea to sea. With the joyous clangor of those bells, the knell of the rebel confederacy was sounded. From that 4th of July, the fate of the lost cause was sealed. Invasion of the North was a thing no more to be thought of—the confederacy was in twain. The men came out of the trenches that day, for Vicksburg had fallen, and the waters of the great river towed unvexed to the sea." SIEGE OF JACKSON. A sequence of the victory at Vicksburg, was the rapid pursuit of Gen. Joe Johnston's army now flying toward Jackson. Since the 22d of June, Sherman, with a large force, had been at Grant's rear on the Big Black, prepared to follow and attack Johnston, the moment the city should surrender. The writer happened to be with his regiment, the Fifth, on the Big Black, at this time, and recalls with exceeding pleasure reading there an order to the regiment. That order announced the surrender of Vicksburg an hour or so before. The men did not wait for the command to "break ranks," but simply shouted, fell on the grass, rolled, stood on their heads, shook hands and turned handsprings. The little liquor in the commissary was divided out, and everybody drank to Gen. Grant. Suddenly the march forward was begun, and over dusty roads. in an almost tropical heat, with almost no water fit to drink, the rebel army was pursued clear to Jackson. There, behind strong works, well manned, Johnston made a stand, and for a week was besieged by the forces of Sherman's army. There were many of the Iowa regiments from Vicksburg present with Sherman at Jackson, but two of them only were very severely engaged. 16 The Sixth Iowa, under Col. John M. Corse, afterward major general, was in Smith's division, and occupied with its brigade a position north and west of the town. On the 16th of July, Col. Corse was ordered to take command of a grand skirmish line, and to move up to the enemy's works along the whole front of the division, for the purpose of uncovering their position and batteries. At a given signal, the line, with the Sixth Iowa on the right, and the Ninety-seventh Indiana on the left, gallantly advanced, supported by two Ohio and Illinois regiments. The left of the line charged through open fields under a withering fire of musketry and batteries, holding their place long enough to accomplish their object. The advance turned out to be not only a slight reconnaissance but rose almost to the severity of a battles with the odds all against the union line. Corse himself led the Sixth Iowa on the right. "At the signal," says Morse, "the men dashed forward with a shout, met the line of the enemy's skirmishers and pickets, and drove them back, capturing eighteen or twenty and killing as many more. Clearing the timber they rushed out into the open field over the railroad and fence, up a gentle slope, across the crest, down into the enemy's line, when two field batteries of four guns each opened a terrific cannonade. The enemy were driven from two pieces at the point of the bayonet, our men literally running them down." At that moment, two rebel regiments lying behind the batteries opened a blazing fire of musketry, while a large gun battery at the right opened an enfilading fire along the Sixth, throwing its grape and canister about them until "the corn fell as if by an invisible reaper." The bugler sounded the "lie down," until the observations of the locality were made and the "retreat" sounded. In steady order the men fell back as they had advanced—in splendid line, though under the steady fire of three regiments and seven cannon, halt the latter enfilading the line. "Few of the men," says Corse, "who had so gallantly charged the battery, got back." Capt. Minton and Lieut. Rarick were both wounded. It had been a notable reconnaissance, and was of extreme use to the army. In the affair the Sixth Iowa lost 28 men, though during the siege its loss was about 70. It was such fighting that shortly put a star on the shoulder of Col. Corse. Maj. Stiller, Adjt. Ennis, Captains Minton and Bashore, with Lieut. Holmes, were all honorably mentioned in Corse's report. "In short," said he, "there is no officer of my command, but that has on some way rendered himself worthy of honorable mention during our advance on Jackson." "The valor of your noble regiment," said Smith, the division commander, "has been conspicuous." During this little siege of Jackson, the Third Iowa infantry, led then by Maj. G. W. Crosley, suffered in a conflict pronounced by participants the severest in its history. At nine o'clock on the morning of the 12th of July, Gen. Lauman, in accordance with orders of Gen. Ord, who commanded at the right, proceeded to move his division farther to the front, to be in line with Hovey on his left. Pugh's brigade—the Third Iowa, Forty-first, Twenty-eighth and Fifty-third Illinois and Fifth Ohio battery, were ordered to cross over the New Orleans and Jackson railroad south of the city, thus bringing the right nearer Pearl river. They were a mile from the rebel works, but were at once ordered to advance, dressing the troops up to Hovey's line on their left. In half an hour they came under the rebel fire. Their own battery opened, but was instantly answered by the guns from the forts. Gen. Lauman came up at the end of the first half mile, looked the situation over, and ordered the men to still advance. The rebel pickets and their reserves were driven in, and the advancing line moved up in full view of the rebel forts three hundred yards away. 17 The order was "still to advance," when a terrible fire from three rebel brigades and twelve pieces of artillery was opened on them. No one in the line seemed to understand the reasons for such a move.- All Sherman's army was there at hand. Was one small brigade to assault the works alone? There Divas no demonstration right or left—no supports were in sight. Every man in that line felt that he was about to be slaughtered—and for no purpose. "Forward" was still the order, and the brave men advanced under the volleys of grape, canister and musketry. Steadily forward they went on over the open field— climbed through and over the abatis, only to meet a merciless fire. Within seventy-five yards of the fort, the line halts and suffers the converging fire of cannon and musketry for twenty minutes—an eternity in such a place. At last, they fall back. Their flag and their banner they have brought with them— their dead and wounded are left in a scorching sun, on the hot battle field. No appeal by Sag of truce could induce the enemy to permit our men to care for their hero comrades lying there bleeding and perishing for thirst in that burning sun. Almost every other man of the 241 of the Third Iowa who entered that charge, was lost. Capt. .T. L. Ruckman was killed, as were also Lieutenants E. W. Hall, Joseph Ruckman and A. H. McMurtrie. Col. Brown, Lieutenants C. L. Anderson, Jacob Abernethy and Capt. Simon G. Geary were all wounded. Lieut. Earle was taken prisoner. The other regiments suffered equally. It was the Third Iowa infantry's last battle. The unwarranted and uncalled for assault looked like a massacre of brave men. The blame of the tragedy was placed upon Gen. Lauman. He was at once relieved of his command, and his military career ended. But he was never permitted an opportunity of explanation or justification. He asserted that he had only obeyed the verbal orders of Gen. Ord. The truth, nearer than this, probably never will be known. That brave men's lives were lost without a purpose, never was doubted. Jackson fell for the second time. Johnston's army was scattered into the interior of the South, while the victorious soldiers of Generals Grant and Sherman returned to Vicksburg to enjoy their honors. |