REORGANIZATION OF GRANT'S ARMY--HOW OUR DIVISION WAS
POSTED--DESCENT OF GUERRILLAS UPON OUR FORAGE TRAIN--WE
MARCH TO MEMPHIS AND GO INTO CAMP--A GLANCE AT THE
OFFICERS OF OUR REGIMENT--GENERAL LAUMAN'S REGIMENTAL
DRILLS--REVIEW OF THE FOURTH DIVISION--COLONEL BRYANT'S
MOVEMENT AGAINST CHALMERS--OUR DIVISION ORDERED TO
VICKSBURG--PARTING WITH MY COMRADES--THEIR JOURNEY
DOWN THE RIVER AND AFFAIR WITH THE GUERRILLAS NEAR
GREENVILLE--ARRIVAL AT YOUNG'S POINT--THEIR VIEW OF
PORTER AND STEELE ENGAGING THE ENEMY--PROCEED UP THE
YAZOO AND OCCUPY HAINES' BLUFF--THE CAPTURES--BLOWING
UP THE MAGAZINES--THE 22D OF MAY--THEY MOVE TO TAKE
POSITION IN THE INVESTING LINES--THEIR POSITION AND
OPERATIONS SOUTH OF THE CITY--THEIR SUBSEQUENT POSITION
AND OPERATIONS.
The troops, lately constituting the 13th Army Corps, were
re-organized into four corps, the 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th,
commanded respectively by Major Generals McClernand, Sherman, Hurlbut
and McPherson. The Fourth Division, at first attached to the 17th,
was soon transferred to the 16th Corps, and thus it was again under
its old commander. It was distributed in detachments of different
sizes along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, from Moscow on
the east, to Colliersville on the west. General Lauman had his
headquarters at the former place. For a short period, during his
temporary absence, Colonel Pugh was in command of the division, and
Colonel Moore, of the 33d Wisconsin, in command of the 1st Brigade.
The eight weeks our regiment passed at Moscow, transpired without any
occurrence of importance. The line of railroad guarded in part by
our division ran parallel to the enemy's late front of operations;
but the winter rains soon put the roads in an execrable condition,
and besides, he was too much attracted in the direction of Vicksburg
by Grant, who, with McPherson's corps, had gone thither to join
McClernand and Sherman, and renew in person operations for the
reduction of that stronghold, to make any demonstrations against us.
But we were not without the usual number of rumors and reports of
the enemy's approach, and of actual alarms by night and day. I have
described similar occurrences so often, that it would be superfluous
to mention them here.
One little occurrence, however, as it was the first of the kind that
has ever happened to our regiment, must not be passed over. We still
supplied our animals with forage from the country, and for this
purpose were accustomed to send out expeditions in all directions,
frequently ten or twelve miles, and with great boldness. On one
occasion, a brigade train was out with an escort commanded by Major
Long, of the 41st Illinois. They were returning with loaded wagons,
a part of the guard with the Major marching in lead of the train,
while the remainder, under Lieut. Hall, of the 3d Iowa, brought up
the rear. Some of the wagons got stuck in the mud, and the rear
guard, halting to help them out, was left about half a mile behind
the main portion of the train, when, about two miles from the picket
lines, a band of Richardson's guerrillas dashed down a narrow lane
into the main road, and with fiendish yells attacked the center of
the train, and before the rear guard could get up, succeeded in
getting away about fifty mules and a dozen teamsters. They shot and
mortally wounded one teamster, who refused to unhitch his mules. The
rear guard fired several volleys at them with but little effect. The
guerrillas traveled through fields, woods, and over by-roads to their
place of rendezvous somewhere to the north. Here they paroled the
boys, who found their way to Fort Pillow, and thence back again to
Moscow.
On the 11th of March, we were relieved at Moscow by a part of
Denver's division, and took up the march toward Memphis. We
bivouacked the first night at Colliersville. Before we could get
up our tents, it began to rain heavily and continued with little
intermission till morning. We had to lay exposed to it all the while,
with whatever patience we could summon for the occasion. When the
morning broke, an abundance of dry rails afforded fires, from which
we derived a little comfort, until, at 9 o'clock, the march was
resumed.
Soon after starting, it again began to rain, and continued, till
nearly night, cold and heavy from the northwest. With great fatigue
and immense straggling we reached White's Station, where, in the
deep, soft mud, we passed a night, cold, dreary and comfortless
enough.
The next day was cool and pleasant. Starting late, we reached Memphis
in the afternoon, and went into camp on the western environs of the
city.
Two more months of monotonous camp-life. Major Brown had been
promoted Colonel, at Moscow; and now, at the almost unanimous request
of the officers of the regiment, Captain James Tullis, of Company
H, a very brave soldier and proper man, who had been twice wounded
in battle, was appointed Lieut. Colonel, and 1st Lieut. George W.
Crosley, whose gallant conduct at Blue Mills and Shiloh, I have
already mentioned, was appointed Major. These appointments gave very
general satisfaction. The line officers of our regiment were now for
the most part men who had served in the ranks, and who were faithful
to their duties, and loved and respected by their men; and what was
more, they had been tried in the ordeal of battle, and had not been
found wanting. Compared with many regiments in the field, our's was
exceedingly fortunate in this respect.
General Lauman instituted a regulation that two regiments of the
division should meet each evening on the green, in front of his
headquarters, for drill. This excited a spirit of rivalry among
some of the regiments, which, between the 41st Illinois, of Colonel
Pugh's brigade, and the 14th Illinois, of Colonel Hall's brigade,
increased to great bitterness. These regiments drilled twice against
each other, the second time in pursuance of a challenge from Lieut.
Col. Carn of the 14th. The prize of this drill was a silver bugle,
purchased jointly by the officers of both regiments. The judges could
not be accused of partiality in their decision. As in the first trial
the 41st had borne away the palm, so in this it bore away the bugle.
Both regiments went through the various movements in a manner which
excited the highest admiration; and yet few of the spectators, who
were strangers to both, would have awarded the prize differently. I
confess that in this strife, and in the jealousy and bickerings which
grew out of it, the sympathies of the men of our regiment were with
the 41st. We had always belonged to the same brigade, had fought on
the same field in the battle of Shiloh, had been side by side in
prosperous and adverse circumstances, and now that we were camped
close by each other, a singular attachment, which was universal
throughout both regiments, had sprung up between us. General Lauman
understood this, and our regiment never drilled against the 41st.
These drills with our regiment were productive of the most beneficial
results. Captain Smith was, for a while our drill master, and a
model one he was too. When Major Crosley received his appointment
and returned from the brigade staff, he was assigned to this duty.
For the first day or two he put us through the exercises with some
difficulty; but he was too ambitious to allow us to suffer at his
hands, and he soon became proficient in the tactics, and an excellent
drill master.
Perhaps the most memorable event of this period was the review of
the Fourth Division, by its old chief, General Hurlbut. The scene
took place on the fair grounds northeast of the city. It was an
occasion calculated to call up old memories. Hurlbut, Lauman and
Veatch, three generals, under whom we had served through Shiloh,
Corinth and Matamora, were there, and there also, under the tattered
banners they had borne through those storms, were the troops they
had commanded so bravely and so well; generals and men between whom
existed the strongest ties that can bind men together, recollections
of mutual peril and the possession of a common glory. Here we again
met the generals who had been so proud to command us, and whom we had
been so happy and proud to follow. It seemed like a renewal of the
past.
A large concourse of citizens and soldiers were present to witness
it. _The Memphis Bulletin_ thus described it:--
"Yesterday, at about ten o'clock in the morning, the division was
drawn up by Brigadier General Lauman, preparatory to the review by
General Hurlbut. We have seen these splendid reviews so graphically
described by the "Knights of the quill," of the army of the Potomac,
by General McClellan--when that army was in its prime,--but never did
we look upon a body of men presenting a more soldierly appearance
than did the Fourth Division yesterday. The old veterans who had
passed through the fires of Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, Matamora, and
other fields of action, who had scattered the armies under Van Dorn
and Price, reminded us of the soldiers who fought in the Crimea.
As General Hurlbut rode along the line accompanied by his staff,
we thought for the moment that our eyes never rested on a more
captivating picture. It was a glorious sight. The review was what
all anticipated it would be. Not a single manoeuver was at fault.
From "shoulder arms," to the end of the review, all went smoothly,
without a mistake. It is necessary to have educated officers to make
good soldiers; and if any thing was wanting to convince the hundreds
of ladies and gentlemen present at the review, of the falsity of the
report, that the officers of the Fourth Division were not thoroughly
qualified for the position they occupy, it is now entirely dispelled."
On the 17th of April, an expedition was sent into Mississippi against
Chalmers, who held the rebel lines southeast of Memphis. It was
commanded by Colonel Bryant, of the 12th Wisconsin, now in command
of the 3d Brigade. While it was gone, the wildest rumors gained
circulation in the city, and a thousand and one reports of fighting
on the Cold Water, flew through our camps. But after a week it
returned without having met any occurrence of importance.
Early in May, intimations came that we were ordered to Nicksburg, and
these were followed by orders to be ready to move on the shortest
notice. The 3d Brigade moved first; in a few days it was followed by
the 2d, and on the 17th the 1st struck tents and prepared to embark.
And here end my personal recollections with the 3d Iowa. I was at
this time detached from my regiment to remain at Memphis. It was
with no ordinary feelings, on the morning of the 18th, on board of
the Crescent City, I parted with my comrades. I had not supposed
that I had become so attached to those men. And it was with strange
feelings of regret that I stood on the bluffs of Fort Pickering, and
gazed upon their boat as it sped down the noble waters, like a bird
that is flying away. And when it had disappeared, and I could see
it no more, an indescribable vacancy seemed to surround me. Nothing
looked familiar to me; I felt as though I were in a strange land.
Separated from the men with whom for two years I had been associated
in extraordinary circumstances; I left behind, and they gone to
meet unknown hazards and to preserve their past career of glory. I
expected never to join them again, and knew that I had shook hands
with many of them for the last time. I must now turn to the strangers
surrounding me, and among them form new associations and find new
comrades.
If I have succeeded in making this book of interest to any reader,
he will surely be unwilling to pardon me, if I do not go with my
regiment briefly through the scenes which followed--its participation
in what was the crowning glory to the army of the Tennessee, the
siege and capture of Vicksburg, and where at Jackson my comrades
fought for honor and without hope.
The transports conveying the 1st Brigade were convoyed by a gunboat
of the musquito fleet. In the afternoon of the following day the
gunboat had dropped behind and the Crescent City was in lead; while
passing unconcernedly along near the foot of Island 65, a force of
guerrillas opened upon it with two howitzers from a covert of young
timber, throwing canister and shells. The first shots took effect,
wounding thirteen men of the 3d Iowa, one of them mortally. To
protect her machinery, the boat immediately refused her broadside
and presented her stern. From this end of the boat, the boys began
to reply with musketry, when the gunboat coming up, the guerrillas
fled. The gunboat opened fire upon them, and the troops landed.
The 41st and 53d Illinois pursued them two or three miles without
overtaking them. When they returned, the brigade moved down the shore
three miles to the town of Greenwood, which they set fire to and
burned--house and hovel, sparing not even the church.
At noon the next day they arrived at Young's Point, disembarked, and,
after cooking their dinners on the shore, started to march across
the peninsula. After proceeding half a mile, they were halted, and
waited for orders till ten o'clock at night. During the afternoon
the scene around was inexpressibly sublime. They could see the
shells of Porter's fleet from below bursting over the city, and the
enemy's river batteries replying. While on the bluff above it, they
could discern, under a dense cloud of smoke, Steele's infantry and
artillery hotly engaged, as well as the smoke which rose from the
enemy's forts on his front. The gunboat, Choctaw, also dropped down,
for some reason, to draw the enemy's fire. His guns opened upon her
heavily, and, when she had reached a position about half a mile below
the red flags which marked the enemy's furthest range, she halted and
lay in the channel but did not reply. Her guns were not of sufficient
range to reach his batteries. As soon as the enemy saw her object,
he ceased firing. Some of his shots in their flight had crossed the
river, the peninsula and the river again, and lodged above the city
on the Mississippi shore. During the night the scene was still more
sublime. Signal rockets from the gunboats flashing against the sky,
and the shells from the mortar fleet describing in their flight an
immense curve of fire, making the noise of a distant wind storm, and
bursting in fitful flashes over the doomed city. They could likewise
see the flashes of Steele's artillery, and at times the flames
leaping from the mouths of the enemy's responding cannon.
The brigade went aboard the boats in the night, and had all the
baggage they were to take with them got aboard before midnight. The
rest, comprising most of their tents and camp equipage, was left
under a guard detailed for the purpose. That of the 3d Iowa was
commanded by Lieut. Lakin.
At daylight their fleet moved into the mouth of the Yazoo where they
found the Choctaw, which joined the musquito boat that had convoyed
them from Memphis, and the two convoyed them to Haines' Bluff. The
position was found to be evacuated, and Companies G and K of the
3d Iowa landed and occupied it. Here they found a rebel hospital,
containing about 360 patients, who were paroled the following day.
The brigade landed about a mile below to execute the purpose of the
expedition, that of opening communication with Sherman. Meanwhile
the crew of the Choctaw landed and commenced blowing up the enemy's
numerous magazines and bursting the guns he had abandoned. Some of
these magazines were filled with loaded shells, which were thrown
into the air and exploded in all directions. In this way were
destroyed an immense quantity of ordnance and ordnance stores, which
might have been made serviceable to General Grant in the subsequent
operations of the siege. But it was expected that Johnson would move
in this way to attack Grant in the rear, and it was deemed more
prudent to destroy them than to run the risk of their falling into
his hands.
Our boys found here plenty of tents and camp equipage abandoned by
the enemy, and supplied themselves even better than they were before.
Gen. Lauman immediately went back to Young's Point on a dispatch boat
for orders, and soon after the brigade marched from where it lay to a
position on the bluff, where the two companies were, and here spent
the night.
The next day was the memorable 22d of May, on which Grant made his
second assault on the enemy's works. They could hear the sounds of
the battle--on the right the infantry engaging with a continuous
war, and with it the quick jar of the batteries, and above all the
thunders of Porter's fleet. Of the cause of all this they knew
nothing; but conjectured the army was forcing its way into the
beleaguered city. That day the Choctaw and musquito boats went up the
Yazoo as far as Greenwood, but could not pass the batteries there.
The same evening the brigade was relieved by a cavalry division under
command of Major General Washburne.
Next morning it moved toward Vicksburg to take position in the
investing lines. As they advanced they met many supply wagons on
the way to the Yazoo, the teamsters giving dolorous accounts of
yesterday's repulse, and saying frequently, in the most discouraging
tones, "Boys, we can't take 'em; they're too well fortified." As
they approached the lines of the army they saw scattered through
the woods many men who had been wounded in the previous day's fight;
and many more in cotton sheds, crowded together on the soft cotton,
as thick as they could be placed--men who had marched hither from
Bruinsburg, without a change of clothing or a cooking utensil, dirty,
ragged, and clotted with blood, lay under dense clouds of settling
dust, raised by the troops and trains continually crowding past. It
was a spectacle of wretchedness sufficient to appal common men. That
night the 1st Brigade camped south of the Jackson Railroad, and about
a mile and a half from Fort Hill, the rebel work which guarded the
main entrance into the city. They were not allowed fires, and had to
eat their raw bacon and hard crackers with the best relish they could.
On the 30th, they had out a strong force to protect their pioneer
corps in constructing roads on which to bring up gabions to protect
the rifle pits, to be constructed, from the enemy's flanking fire.
That night their pickets advanced and drove those of the enemy from
the hill they occupied. Here they dug their first line of rifle pits,
a straight ditch, and in it inserted the gabions at intervals, with
sufficient room for a single man to pass round them without getting
out of the ditch. At daylight the enemy's artillery opened from What
was known as the sand bag fort on the right, and speedily cleared the
ditch of these obstructions, killing two men of the 41st Illinois. Of
course this experiment was not again repeated.
That day our pickets protected themselves as well as they could.
As soon as it was dark, Capt. Knight, of the 3d Iowa, crawling
between the two picket lines, ours and the enemy's, made a survey
of the ground which enabled them next morning to commence digging
zigzag rifle pits, by which they were enabled to advance their line
steadily, under protection from the enemy's fire, front and flank.
They did not extend these rifle pits through the valleys, but, on
gaining the slope of a hill towards the enemy, would drive him
from his rifle pits on the opposite hill by a night assault, and,
occupying them, change the embankment to the other side, and commence
anew their operations. They deviated from this rule in but one
instance. Thus, until the final surrender, with frequent artillery
duels and sharp engagements of the infantry; laboring and watching
night and day; exposed constantly to an alternation of burning sun
and chilling dew; amid a succession of scenes the most unreal;
where romance itself palled on the sense and became monotonous;
amid hardships which, under ordinary circumstances, few would have
endured, they forced their steady progress toward the enemy.