|
History of the Crocker's Brigade
Part Three
After the battle of Corinth the brigade took part in the Mississippi Central Railroad Campaign under General Grant and returning from this enterprise spent Christmas of 62 in Holly Springs. The first of the year 1963 found them marching again and pitching tents on Jan. 13th in Memphis, where officers and men were paid. Someone wrote to a paper that the brigade was as " happy as celestial beings for about a week" which the same writer observed was the normal condition for troops after the paymaster has been around.
The 8th of February found the troops camped on the banks of Lake Providence on the fine estate of confederate Senator Sparrow. Here they were involved with digging a canal connecting the Mississippi and Lake Providence. The end result was to get the steam tug the "John A. Rawlins" onto the Lake. They also accomplished the flooding of a large part of Louisiana. March 4th Wednesday: "The engineers finished caulking the steam tug and with ropes attached to it some five or six thousand men succeeded in pulling it overland to the lake where it is to be launched. I crossed the lake in a skiff to the south side to buy some notions of a sutler with the fourth division. Among other articles, I purchased a diary for seventy-five cents, for the purpose of keeping a record of my army life. We were ordered to prepare ourselves for inspection. A.G. Downing 11th Iowa Co. "E"
On May 1st 1963 General Crocker left the command of the Iowa Brigade to take command of the Seventh Division of the Seventeenth Army Corps. The four regiments that made up his brigade was from this time forth called the "Iowa Brigade" throughout the history books. The boys always thought of themselves as still being "Crocker's Brigade." Colonel Hall of the 11th Iowa took command of the brigade and stayed there until retirement.
From here they departed on the momentous campaign that they had yet engaged, the siege of Vicksburg. The Iowa Brigades main duty throughout the Vicksburg campaign was labor and rear guard. After the fall of Vicksburg the Iowa Brigade took part in a "marching campaign" into Louisiana, with hardships unprecedented. This campaign was under took by Brigader-General John D. Stevenson, temporally commanding Logan's Division who was home on furlough. Stevenson wanted to make a campaign into a region which had had very little attention with the hopes of swinging the support to the Union side. They moved through an area that had been flood by the making of the cannel at Lake Providence and in the Aug. heat was swampy, bogy, infested with bugs and stagnant water. One solider said the water was "hot enough to blister the tongue and filled with animated nature of the most repulsive kind." They had to build brigades and lay pontoons with the sun blazing down and in 100 degree temperatures with a considerable force of the enemy harassing them the whole way. They still marched from 15 to 20 miles a day. It was found that the local population had no desire to become pro-union and were in fact stanch supporters of the confederate cause. Hundreds of men dropped along the way some to be picked up by the wagons some to be taken by the confederates. The division returned to Vicksburg on the 3rd of Sept. General Stevenson was soon relieved and sent into an other department for failing to destroy the enemy's cotton and for marching his command nearly to death without any necessity. Many men died from the illness they contracted along this march and some suffered the effects for the rest of their lives.
August 23, Sunday. Our expedition broke camp this morning and stared for Monroe, Louisiana, on the Washita river, seventy-five miles northwest of Vicksburg. By 1:00 we had covered ten miles in the hot burning sun, without water to drink, and through neglected fields of hemp standing from ten to fifteen feet high. The cavalry went in front to break down the hemp, and were followed by a six-gun battery and our army wagons, after which the hemp was pretty well flattened for the infantry to pass over. The men and animals suffered awfully. Many artillery horsed gave out and some of the men were sun struck. Many of the boys fell out of rank and had to be cared for by the doctor. Finally at the end of the ten miles we reached the Tensas river, and although the water was stagnant, in mere pools, we throw ourselves down, brushed aside the green scum and drank that hot stick water to quench out thirst.
August 31, Monday: .......While marching today some of us heard the report of a rifle, and we learned later that a member of the Seventh Missouri had committed suicide by shooting himself. He stepped out of rank into the brush and putting the muzzle of his gun under his chin, touched off the trigger with his toe and blew his head off....... A.G. Downing 11th Iowa Co. "E"
They remained in camp until resting and recovering until Feb. 1864 where as it joined Sherman and made the Meridian raid. This occupied one month. Most of the regiment had resigned for second term of service and after the Meridian raid all went home for a month furlough. This being mostly the month of April 1964. Returning from this furlough they joined Sherman in Georgia as he prepared to take Atlanta. They caught up with him at Ackworth Ga. on the 8th of June. A few days later they found themselves fighting at Kenesaw Mountain. Here there is a discrepancy in the history I've found. The book "Iowa and The Rebellion" states the brigade was not involved in the direct attack on the mountain on July 27, but were within range of the sharp shooters and suffered heavy causalities. In my book "Downings Civil War Diary" A.G. Downing of the 11th Iowa Co. E states they were on the front line during the charge. A man from Company A being killed so close to the rifle pits of the confederates that his fellow company members had to go after his body under a white flag and could talk to the enemy. Which ever version being true the Iowa Brigade suffered heavy loses during this battle. From here they went to Nick-a-Jack creek and then to Atlanta. During this campaign from the 15th of June to the fall of Atlanta the 5th of Sept. the brigade lost have of it's strength. The 16th regiment having most of it's men captured on the 22 of July. Directly from the book Iowa and the Rebellion": No command ever fought better then the Iowa Brigade at the battle od Atlanta. It was a hand to hand fight between thousands of infuriated combatants contending for the vital position of the field. The 16th regiment meeting the first onslaught of the enemy, fought with desperate valor for some time, but was compelled to succumb to overwhelming numbers, and passed out of the battle in captivity in the earlier part of the conflict. The remaining regiments fought throughout as thought the salvation of the grand army depended upon their strong right arms. During the day these regiments repelled seven charges of the enemy which were only less determinedly made then that which has already been describes in the words of General Smith's official report. The command captured two stands of colors, and two hundred and fifty-seven prisoners-one colonel, one lieutentant-colonel, one major, two captains, and three lieutenants.
What was left of the brigade took part in the march through Georgia and the Carolinas. Finishing the war with the review in Washington. The regiment was officially mustered out at Davenport Iowa on the 28, 29, of July 1865.
From the Books: Iowa and the Rebellion
Downing's Civil War Diary
Iowa Journal of History
Roster and Records of Iowa Soldiers Vol. II
Contributed by:
Return to Crocker's Brigade
If you have any additional information you would like to add to the record of the Famous Crocker Brigade, please contact or .
|
Iowa in the Civil War
