Recollections with the Third Iowa Regiment

by Seymour D. Thompson

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 manœuver 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.