Recollections with the Third Iowa Regiment

by Seymour D. Thompson

At this juncture General Ord was wounded, and the command devolved upon General Hurlbut, to whom it of right belonged. The day was now lost, and it was for him to regain it. It was for him to correct the fatal dispositions of the former, to make new dispositions of the troops under that appalling fire, and out of shattered and broken elements to organize victory. He rode across the bridge and into the thickest of the fire. He ordered the 46th Illinois, and the 68th Ohio, and 12th Michigan, yet on the west bank, to cross the bridge, and deploy to the left so as to flank the hill. They executed the movement finely, and in a few moments the enemy saw, with astonishment, regiments emerging from the field of his concentrated fire, where he had held us so long, and advancing in good order upon his right. His firing suddenly ceased; his colors disappeared from the crest of the hill. He saw his victory snatched from him by superior skill and courage, and fled in dismay.

At this juncture, having quickly formed our regiment, Colonel Trumbull took off his hat and said to us, "Men of the Third Iowa, will you stand by me this day?" All voices responded, "We will!" "Then," replied he, "here's a man that never retreats this day!" Could we have asked for a better leader?

In a few moments the whole force, splendidly aligned, advanced up the hill, and new lines were formed on its crest. The artillery followed, Mann's battery in lead, the planting of which General Hurlbut superintended in person. This battery, which won such honors at Shiloh, now behaved, if possible, more admirably than before. Leaving their caissons and limbers under the crest of the hill, the men ran their guns up by hand and opened a fire upon the enemy's masked battery, directing their aim at its smoke. The other batteries took position to its left, one of them so as to command the enemy's battery with a flanking fire. The practice of our artillery was splendid. As often as one of the enemy's guns would fire, three or four of ours would reply. Meantime a party of volunteer skirmishers from the 15th Illinois, crept up behind the crest of a hill in the open field, between the left of our line and the enemy, and with the most amusing impudence, picked off his wheel horses and cannoneers. In a short time his battery was knocked to pieces and compelled to leave the field. His rear guard then withdrew, and disappeared from our front. The firing of our cannon had scarcely ceased, when we heard those of Rosecrans in the direction of Corinth, thundering in the enemy's rear. This should have been sufficient to determine the general to press the pursuit. Why this was not done was an enigma to us then, and it has remained unexplained ever since. It is true, we were not prepared for a general pursuit. But the enemy twice beaten was between two victorious armies, and had but one avenue of escape to the south, and that over a single bridge, where a portion of his force might have been cut off. But though the enemy's situation was not realized then, and though, with the knowledge he had, the general followed the best counsels in resting on the field, it is not doubted now that the enemy's retreat might have been pressed till night with splendid results.

We rested in line of battle till nearly night, when the wagons came up and we bivouacked on the field. The battle had lasted seven hours, beginning before eight in the morning, and ending before three in the afternoon. We were fatigued, not so much from the day's fighting as from the hard march of yesterday. A victory is for a time a great equalizer of military caste. It obliterates the distinctions of rank; the officer does not feel above the soldier, and the soldier feels as good as the officer; all become comrades in the general rejoicing. It is hard then for the soldier to disobey the officer; it is likewise hard for the officer to chide the soldier. And when to-night squads of the boys went to the nearest farm houses, and came back with back loads of fresh meat, the officers,—the general himself, could not utter a word of disapproval.

That night three companies of the Third Iowa, A, F and H, were detailed for picket. Our position was a half mile in advance of the bluffs, and near where the enemy had formed his last lines of battle. Before us lay an open valley which looked strangely beautiful in the light of the moon. Behind us were scattered through the woods the enemy's dead. Our own were yet unburied. The moon as it looked down seemed to be pitying the fate of the brave men that lay staring a death-stare at her serene countenance. The "dim-lit fields" and the shadowy woods surrounding them, possessed a weird appearance, as though the ghosts of the slain heroes were flitting over them. And as we listened to the distant barking of the wakeful dog, and to the moanings of the night owl, we heard, or thought we heard, the far off sounds of the enemy's retreating hosts. And there we watched while our comrades slept. Terrible battle! glorious victory! moonlight watching on a field of death!—what scenes for future recollection!

Early in the morning, the 41st Illinois with two howitzers of Mann's battery, went forward to reconnoiter. They met the army of Rosecrans in pursuit of the enemy, who had retreated to the south, crossing the Hatchie six miles above us, and thus made good his escape. The line of the enemy's retreat was strown with abandoned baggage, wagons and artillery. A large detail under a commissioned officer went forward to burn them. Many squads of stragglers came in, exhausted, sick, disheartened, and telling doleful stories of their sufferings. The day was spent in burying the dead, caring for the wounded and collecting the arms scattered over the field, abandoned by the enemy in his retreat.

Our rations were exhausted, but the country supplied us abundantly. On the morning of the 7th, wagons arrived with rations from Bolivar, and we replenished our haversacks and began our return march. We had not proceeded far before we met another train of wagons coming to take away such of the wounded as had not yet been removed. It was a matter of much regret to us, as we turned our backs to our field of glory, that we had not joined Rosecrans in the pursuit. But we were retiring victorious, and save the thoughts of our dead and wounded comrades, little served to diminish our joy. We halted for the night on the creek where we had taken dinner on Saturday, and the next day at eleven o'clock we reached our camp.

Before dismissing the battalion, Colonel Trumbull addressed us, saying that General Lauman had complimented our good conduct in the battle, and that if our Generals were proud of us, we had equal reason to be proud of our Generals. He therefore proposed three cheers successively for Generals Ord, Hurlbut, Lauman, and Veatch, which were given with a will, and three were then spontaneously given for Colonel Trumbull.

The next day Colonel Trumbull ordered the officers of the regiment, who had commanded companies in the battle, to make out official reports, stating who, if any, had behaved in a manner particularly meritorious, and who, if any, had been guilty of misconduct. Under the latter head, a few were reported, whom the Colonel promptly arrested and confined, and reported to brigade headquarters with the request that they be court-martialed and punished.

Our loss in the whole force engaged did not fall far short of six hundred in killed and wounded. Our regiment lost two killed and about sixty wounded. The enemy's loss in killed and wounded must have been much less than ours. He did not leave many in the field. According to the most moderate reports, the captures were two batteries, including fourteen caissons, four hundred prisoners, one thousand stand of small arms, and about seventy wagons, burned the next day on the line of his retreat.