 Iowa In the Civil War |
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TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY COMPANY D. Second Lieutenant: M. E. Black. Privates: Currier, E. G., Littleton, A. D., Currier, Charles F., Bish, Stephen, Black, C. H., Davis, P. T., McCall, W. B.,
TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY.
This regimentone of the bravest and best disciplined in the servicewas organized at Council Bluffs, and mustered into the service of the United States at that place, December 1, 1862, with the following officers: Thomas H. Benton, Jr., of Council Bluffs; colonel; R. F. Patterson, of Keokuk, lieutenant colonel; and Charles B. Shoemaker, of Clarinda, Major. The regiment was ordered to Helena, Arkansas, but on reaching that place were not disembarked, but ordered to join an expedition then being organized by General Gorman to go up the White river. This expedition resulted in no good to anybody, but, on the contrary, was the cause of much suffering to the troops. In April and May, 1863, the 29th formed part of the expedition to Fort Pemberton, and came back to Helena in time to take part in the attack on that place, on the 4th of July, 1863. It seems that Helena had been made a depot of supplies and recruits, and was the source of much uneasiness and alarm to the rebels, still holding the most of Arkansas, threatening, as it did, the more important points therein. Lieutenant General Holmes, of the Confederate army, was ordered to take it. Re-enforced by the troops of Generals Sterling Price, Fagan, McRae, Walker, Marmaduke and Parsons, until his force numbered according to the official report, 7,646 men, he appeared before the place. Helena was fortunately under the command of Major General B. M. Prentiss, who had 3,800 effective men behind strong earthworks, mounted with serviceable guns, with the main approaches well covered with abatis. The gunboat Tyler, under command of lieutenant commandant, J. M. Pritchett, was also on hand, and played an efficient part in the defense. The 29th was drawn up in line of battle at daylight, and marched across the bottom to their position on the Sterling road, about half-past four &clock. Two companies were immediately sent forward to drive the enemy from their position on the crest of a hill, but finding them too strong, other companies were sent to their assistance, until eight were thus deployed. In the meantime the enemy had got two guns into battery, with which they opened a brisk fire, and under which their line pushed rapidly forward, cheering and exulting as they advanced. Our skirmishers met them with a galling and incessant fire, under which they gradually fell back, contesting the ground inch by inch. The skirmish line of the 29th now pressed the rebels back to the crest of the hill, previously held by the confederates, compelling them for a time to abandon their guns, which, however, after several ineffectual attempts they recovered, leaving one caisson on the field. The regiment, supported by the 36th Iowa infantry, in this contest was pitted against one brigade of five regiments of infantry, one battery and two regiments of cavalry, and reported a loss of seven killed and twenty-four wounded, some mortally and many of them severely. On the 1st of August, 1863, General Rices brigade, to which the 29th was attached, became a part of the expedition intended for the reduction of Little Rock, Arkansas, under command of Major-General Frederick Steele. Leaving Helena, August 11, after a fatiguing march they reached the front of the enemys works before the city, September 10. Fully expecting a severe contest for the possession of the capital of Arkansas, they were disappointed, the enemy evacuating the place upon the charge of the cavalry division under General Davidson, who was in the advance. The 29th was on duty in Arkansas, with the balance of the division, throughout the balance of the year 1863 and 1864, and had several engagements with the rebels. On the morning of the 2d of April, 1864, the 29th was assigned the position of rear-guard to the supply train, together with a section of Captain Voeglers battery. While the train was passing through a narrow, muddy defile, made by a small stream about a mile beyond Terre Noir Bayou, a battalion of Shelbys cavalry made an attack upon the rear, but was held in check by the left wing of the regiment. As soon as the advance had cleared the ravine, Colonel Benton ordered the line to be formed and the battery into position and opened upon the advancing rebels. This was responded to with spirit and accuracy by two pieces of artillery. The enemy fell back but made demonstrations of a flank attack upon the left of our forces, whereupon Colonel Benton with his regiment returned to Terre Noir Bayou, where the rebels again renewed the attack. This was met as before by the fire of the battery and a few rounds of musketry, which sufficiently discomfitted the rebels to enable the Union line to fall back under cover of the fire of its skirmish line to a hill two miles distant. At this point the regiment was deployed on each side of the road and the battery placed in position, and the enemy came up in force and made a desperate charge upon our left wing, but was promptly repulsed, upon which he fell back, crossed the road, and attacked our right with no better success. The engagement lasted about an hour and a half, although the 29th was not engaged any more, the brunt of the balance of the conflict being borne by the 50th Indiana regiment, which had just come up. The loss to the 29th in this battle was twenty-seven killed, wounded and missing, including among the wounded three commissioned officers. In the engagement of the 4th of April, at Elkins ford, on the Little Missouri, this regiment was ordered forward by General Rice, across the bayou, and drawn up in line of battle in the rear of four companies of the 36th Iowa Infantry, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel F. M. Drake. The left wing was subsequently ordered back across the bayou, under Major Shoemaker, and drawn up in line in the rear of the remaining six companies of the 36th Iowa, under Colonel C. W. Kittredge, and the right wing was ordered to fall back to the bank of the bayou. No part of the regiment was engaged with the enemy, and the casualties was confined to one man wounded. On the afternoon of the 10th of April, 1864, another engagement was had with the enemy at Prairie d Anne, where the regiment was ordered into position, as reserve, in the rear of the 33d Iowa. The line of battle having been formed, it was propelled forward, skirmishing with the enemy, but driving him back at all points and the march resumed toward Camden. On the morning of the 30th at April, 1863, the 29th was also engaged in the battle of Jenkins ferry. The official report on this affair speaks in glowing terms of the gallantry of this favorite regiment. Colonel Engelman, commanding the brigade, thus officially speaks of it as "one of the most sanguinary engagements of the war, and was fought exclusively by infantry, the section of artillery brought into position by us firing but a single shot, whilst the enemys battery of four pieces went into position only to be taken by a combined charge of the 29th Iowa and 2d Kansas. The ground over which the battle was fought, with the exception of two open fields near the road, was a majestic forest, growing out of a swamp, which it was very difficult to pass on horseback, the infantry being up to their knees in water most of the time." Between the 11th of August and the 10th of September, 1863, the 29th, with the balance of the army, marched, under General Steele, to Little Rock. The weather was exceedingly hot and dry. and there was but little of any worth transpired except the difficulty of the march. Many were sun-struck, and it was impossible to get all the sick in the ambulances. This campaign ended it the occupation of Little Rock, where the 29th went into winter quarters. In the spring the regiment was unfortunate enough to be a participant in the Red river expedition, following General Steele in what is known as the Camden campaign. On the return of the army to Little Rock a re-organization was effected and the 29th was assigned to the first brigade of the first division. It was afterward transferred to the second brigade, second division, where it remained until the end of the year. The regiment remained at Little Rock nearly a year now, except about a month from the latter part of July to the first of September, when it was stationed at Lewisburg on the Arkansas, fifty miles above Little Rock.
When General J. J. Reynolds assumed command of the department of Arkansas there was another re-organization of the army. In this the 29th was assigned to an organization known as the "Detached Brigade of the Seventh Army Corps," and Brigadier General E. A. Carr made the commander. Under this leader the brigade received orders to proceed to New Orleans, which expedition they started on the 9th of February, 1865. After a tedious voyage our regiment reached the "Crescent City" on the 14th and 16th of February. The 29th was quartered in an old foundry in Algiers, across the river from New Orleans. On the 20th the regiment moved by rail to Lakeport, on lake Ponchartrain, and thence by steamer to Mobile Point, Alabama. The vessel on which they were embarked ran aground in Grants Pass, one of the inlets of the harbor of Mobile, and they had to be transferred to another steamer. They were disembarked on the 23d of February, and without tents or baggage went into bivouac on the sands of Navey Cove, three miles in the rear of Fort Morgan, one of the defenses of Mobile. The preparations for the campaign now commenced. On the 17th of March the army began its toilsome and difficult march to Mobile. On the 25th, it found itself under the frowning guns of one of the strongest defenses of the citySpanish Fort, and at once began its investment. During this seige the 29th bore its full part, and in no way diminished the unsurpassed reputation of the Iowa soldiery. Its loss during this campaign was twenty-two men. After the capture of Spanish Fort, which took place on the 9th of April, the regiment marched to the assistance of General Steele, who was investing Fort Blakely, another of the defenses of Mobile, five miles above Spanish Fort. The 29th arrived just in time to witness one of the most brilliant and successful charges of the war, the assault of General Steeles command on Fort Blakely, on the evening of Sunday, April 9, 1865. On the 12th, the regiment entered Mobile, and the next day marched with the division to which it was attached, to proceed to Mount Vernon arsenal, on the Tombigbee river, forty miles from Mobile. On its way thither, the regiment had a lively skirmish with the enemy, the last in which the regiment was engaged, and among the last of the war. On the 22d Colonel Benton assumed command of the arsenal, his regiment forming the garrison. On the retreat of the rebel forces much of the property belonging to the government had been destroyed, and much more carried away by the neighboring inhabitants. Hence the arsenal, once one of the most pleasant and beautiful pieces of property owned by the government was found by Colonel Benton in a dilapidated condition. He immediately set to work to renovate it as far as possible, and succeeded in restoring it to much of its former beauty. The regiment returned to Mobile on the 12th of May. On the 1st of June, part of the regiment sailed for Texas, and arrived at Brazos Santiago, on the 9th, where the rest of the command joined it in a few days. When General Sheridan assumed command of the military division of the gulf, he directed the immediate muster out of the 29th Iowa. Consequently the regiment sailed for New Orleans in the latter part of July, and on the 10th. of the following month was honorably discharged from the service, and ordered to Davenport, Iowa, for final payment and disbandment. It arrived at Davenport on the 19th, and then numbered seven hundred and sixty-five officers and enlisted men. Of these only four hundred and fifteen were originally attached to the 29th. The remainder were recruits of the 19th, 20th and 23d Iowa regiments, which had been assigned to Colonel Bentons command a few weeks previously, when these regiments returned home for disbandment. On the 25th of August, 1865, the 29th was disbanded and its members dispersed to their several homes in the far West. The regiment was unfortunate in being kept so long in the department of the Arkansas, away from the more brilliant fields of action. It was one of the best disciplined regiments in the army, never shrank from any duty required of it, and only needed the opportunity to make a record equal to that of any Iowa regiment. The 29th never tarnished the fame of Iowa troops. Colonel Benton was a brave, high-minded, and intelligent officer, and exerted a fine influence over the men of his command. Lieutenant-Colonel Patterson had few superiors as a commander among the field officers of the army. In the opinion of the writer, one star at least should have honored his shoulder. At Helena, Terre Noir, Elkins Ford, Prairie DAnne, Camden, Jenkins Ferry, Mobile, and on every other occasion, where it has been called upon to meet the enemy, it responded with a degree of alacrity, soldierly skill, and courage unsurpassed by the troops of any of the armies that have borne a part in the great struggle for the Union.
ROLL OF HONOR.
McCartney, George, Company D, 29th infantry, died February 2, 1863, at Helena, Arkansas.
Friend, Bice, Company D, 29th infantry, died of erysipelas, at Helena, Arkansas, January 29, 1863. *Taken from the "History of Adair County, Iowa" Contributed by: |
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