Recollections with the Third Iowa Regiment

by Seymour D. Thompson

As soon as the rear battalions had crossed the stream the march was resumed with energy. The roads were not dusty, and when the day dawned there arose a cool breeze, which enabled us to maintain the same speed with which we had led out. Fifteen miles brought us by 11 A. M. to a small stream where we halted till 2 P. M., for dinner and rest.

In the afternoon the roads were somewhat dustier. At Pocahontas Station we crossed the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and, soon after, the cavalry, two battalions of the 5th Ohio, came upon a picket of the enemy which they put to flight, losing one man mortally wounded. The column went into camp for the night on the Big Muddy, the 1st Brigade beyond it, the 2d behind it. The Third Iowa occupied precisely the same ground on which it had camped the night of the 13th of June.

The 1st Brigade had just stacked arms, when word came that our cavalry had engaged that of the enemy about a mile and a half to the front, and that they were fighting sharply. Listening, we could hear the indistinct crack of the carbines. Messengers began and continued to arrive from the scene of action; but it was some time before General Lauman seemed much concerned about it. At length we saw an officer ride up excitedly to him. Then the general climbed his horse, and galloping down to our regiment, cried out: "Third Iowa! in line!" We sprang to our stacks and took arms; when he commanded in the same tone: "At will—load!" While we thus stood in line, expecting every moment to see the cavalry breaking back upon us, we saw something in the east, flashing back the rays of the setting sun. It approached us, dancing through the bushes like two great wheels of fire, and soon discovered itself, an enormous pair of spectacles, behind which a cavalry officer came riding frantically up, and with a strange accent cried to Captain Trumbull: "Kapn-ve-kot-ateenuntert-kafalrie-kiust-uns-atwo-richiments-ot-ve-to-peet-a-retreat?" The Colonel very coolly referred him to the General, when he rode off, saying the General knew all about it.

After about an hour's fighting, the contending parties withdrew as if by mutual consent, and our cavalry as per orders retired upon the infantry. We again stacked arms, and nothing occurred during the night to prevent us from sleeping soundly.

About 3 o'clock in the morning, Major General Ord arrived from Corinth, whence he had come by way of Jackson and Bolivar, from the latter place on horseback, escorted by a company of the 2d Illinois Cavalry. He assumed command of all the forces, and approved the plan of battle General Hurlbut had already made. He brought intelligence that the rebels had been defeated at Corinth, and were retreating towards us. Early in the morning, and about the time we heard of his arrival, this news circulated through our fires merely in the shape of a vague rumor of a battle at Corinth.

We were aroused at daylight, and ordered to eat our breakfasts and get ready to move. The cavalry pickets, stationed at a house, fell back into the edge of a wood to eat their breakfast without molestation, and when they attempted to return to their former post, found the house occupied by rebels, and were unable to dislodge them. About seven o'clock, the 25th Indiana, of Veatch's Brigade, moved past us to the front, followed by a battery, and their brigade train. The wagons were parked with our's on the field on which the 1st Brigade still rested. It was not long before we heard the firing of skirmishers, and soon after, we were startled by discharges of artillery rapid and near. It was a section of Bolton's Battery shelling the enemy out of the house. Soon the remainder of Gen. Veatch's command moved past us, the 28th Illinois followed, and Generals Ord and Hurlbut, followed by the body-guard of the former, rode leisurely to the front. General Hurlbut was in full uniform, but General Ord wore a yellow linen coat.

About this time, and still further to the east, we could hear a skirmishing fire, now deepening into heavy volleys, and now slackening into occasional discharges. Suddenly began the noise of artillery, deep and loud, and for a long time we stood by our stacks of arms, and listened with great interest to the mingled sounds of both arms. Orderlies and staff officers rode to and from the field, but from them we could gather little news of the progress of the battle. But it was all in our favor. The enemy was being driven at all points. Retreating from Corinth and encountering our cavalry the previous night, which after the skirmish had retreated from him, he thought we were merely a cavalry force sent out to watch him, or to harass him in the rear, while attacking Corinth. He did not expect a heavy force was moving to attack him in the rear. He was not looking for such generalship on the part of Grant. Nor, when at the block house, he had seen Bolton's artillery and Morgan's skirmishers, was he willing to give up the delusion which General Hurlbut had so skillfully prepared for him; but with great boldness he pushed a heavy column of his troops across the bridge of the Hatchie, when, to his amazement, he saw General Veatch's infantry deploying before him, and his batteries taking possession of Matamora heights. The enemy quickly got his guns in battery, and his infantry deployed to the right and left. Then a severe artillery duel, and then the skirmishers again joined, and the 2d Brigade advanced at a charging step. The enemy withered before their fire, and finally fled before their approaching bayonets. The charge was gallantly pressed. Most of the rebels rushed, panic stricken, over the bridge; many threw away their guns and plunged through the river; some fled through the woods to the right, and escaped by crossing on logs above the bridge; and about four hundred surrendered on the west bank. A fine four gun battery was also captured.

To second these movements, General Lauman had sent forward the 28th and 53d Illinois regiments of his brigade; the 41st was detailed to guard the wagon train, and the 32d and 3d Iowa were in reserve. As soon as General Veatch's battalion commenced, General Lauman moved forward with these two reserve regiments about two miles, and deployed us, the 32d on the right, the 3d Iowa on the left of the road, about a half mile in the rear of Matamora heights, from which we saw the 2d Brigade move forward to the attack, and heard the noise of the battle. It was to us an hour of hope and fear. The appearance of the three generals, Ord, Hurlbut and Lauman, as they now sat in the road on their horses in advance of us, and received messengers and dispatched orders, and calmly conversed with each other, tended to give us confidence. But we had seen enough of battle to know that its fortunes defy calculation; we knew nothing of the strength of the enemy, and could not but think, that gallantly as they had advanced to the attack, our comrades might be driven back in dismay, and we compelled to interpose between them and a victorious foe.

The generals soon rode forward and found the enemy driven across the river. General Ord ordered Veatch to throw his regiments across and deploy them successively to the right and left of the road. Beyond the river there was about twelve rods of bottom, and then there arose a very high and steep bluff. Along the brow of this the enemy, rallying and reinforced, had formed new lines of battle, and planted artillery which from different points, enfiladed the road and bridge, and swept the field on both sides of the stream. Following up the river, just above the bridge it makes an abrupt elbow and comes down from the east running parallel to the road on the opposite side. In this elbow and on not more than half an acre of ground, a part of General Veatch's brigade, according to the orders of General Ord, would have to deploy. The 53d Indiana crossed first, and, endeavoring to form on this ground, became crowded together in the narrow space between the road and the river, when it met a plunging fire of musketry and canister, and was driven back to the bridge in disorder and with great loss. Here they met the 25th Indiana, which crossed bravely and stayed them in their retreat. The 14th and 15th Illinois followed handsomely and deployed to the left of the road. Then crossed the 28th and 53d Illinois of Lauman's brigade, which were ordered to deploy to the right, where, like the 52d Indiana, they were crowded together and confused; but they held their ground and bravely returned the fire of the enemy.

Meanwhile the reserves were ordered to the front. General Lauman took the lead, and we advanced by the flank rapidly down the road. We crossed the ridge and came to the village. Beyond us the field was swept by a converging fire of the enemy's batteries. Into this storm of shot, shell and canister, we ran. Beyond the river the battle was at its hight. Its noise was one uninterrupted roar. We knew that our troops were sustaining it bravely; for we met no stragglers as at Shiloh. The bridge was swept by a random fire directed through the tops of the trees. Colonel Trumbull ordered us to fix bayonets. We crossed the bridge on the run, and fixed bayonets, crossing. Beyond the bridge sat General Lauman and staff. Beauregard, the old orderly, was wounded and bleeding freely at the mouth; but he still was able to respond to our cheers, and to call upon us to "give the rebels hell." Colonel Trumbull riding in lead, pointed to the hill and ordered us to charge. The regiment obeyed bravely and had nearly reached the foot of the hill, when it was ordered to file to the right. Here in a moment we became massed and mingled with the regiments which had endeavored to form here before us. Through the dense smoke we could not see the enemy; but we could hear the rapid jar of his artillery before and above us, and his canister as it swept through the air in vollies, making inroads into the masses that swayed to and fro around us. The situation was disastrous in the extreme. We were massed and crowded together, and completely at the mercy of the enemy's fire, while we could scarcely hope to injure him with our's. Behind us an almost impassable barrier, obstructing retreat. To attempt to withdraw across the narrow bridge would have insured our destruction. What then were we to do? We could not advance, we could not retreat, nor could we effectively return the enemy's fire. The next moment the enemy's masses might pour down the hill at a charge. We must hold our ground like men, and, if necessary, die here. This terrible resolution seemed to have seized all hearts.