The Lost Army

by Thomas Wallace Knox

“General Vandever's brigade went a little beyond Elkhorn Tavern and took position on the left of the road nearly opposite to where General Dodge had stretched out to the right. As I sat on my horse close behind the general I could see that we had a dry ravine in front of us and a wooded slope farther on, and it did not need sharp eyes to discover that this slope was well occupied by rebels. The general ordered the Dubuque battery (Captain Hayden) to open fire on these gray and butternut coats, and as he did so there was a lively running of the fellows to cover. They showed by their actions that Captain Hayden's shots were well aimed; but we had not given them more than two or three rounds before a battery on the other side replied to us.

“That battery was evidently in the hands of a good officer, as he got our range at the very first fire. A shot came whistling close to the general, and I thought it passed between him and me, but an officer who was there said it went over our heads. You have no, idea if you've never heard it, what a spiteful screeching a cannon-shot makes when it goes by you. Involuntarily you dodge, but really dodging is of no use, as the ball has gone past you before you hear it. A cannon-ball moves a great deal faster than sound. According to our school-books sound moves one thousand one hundred and forty-two feet a second, and the scientific gunners say the velocity of a cannon-ball is from one thousand four hundred to one thousand, eight hundred feet a second. That of a rifle-ball is greater, and so by the time you can hear the sound made by a missile, whether large or small, it has gone way past you.

“At the third fire the rebels blew up one of our limber-chests, which was standing close behind the gun to which it belonged. The great puff of smoke that rose from it showed the rebels that they were taking good aim, and they poured in their shot very rapidly after that. In ten minutes more they blew up another limber-chest, and then the general ordered the battery to change its position, and sent me to carry the order to Captain Hayden.

“It was about nine o'clock in the morning when the first shots were exchanged on this part of the field, and in fifteen minutes the whole of General Carr's division was engaged. Before I could get to Captain Hayden to give him General Vandever's order the rebels made a rush upon the battery and captured one of the guns; the rest were hauled back a short distance, and at the same time the Ninth Iowa, which was supporting the battery, poured in a heavy fire and covered the ground with the enemy's dead and wounded. The rebels were driven back to their cover in the woods, and the gun that had been captured was retaken, as they did not have time to drag it from the field.

“'They stand like veterans,' said General Vandever, referring to the soldiers of the Ninth Iowa. 'Their long march yesterday has n't affected their courage. There were never better men on a battlefield.'

“Just as he said this Colonel Herron, of the Ninth came up, and the general congratulated him; and then the general rode along the line and said to the soldiers the same that he had to their commander. The men cheered him and were evidently determined to do their part toward winning the battle for the union side. But would they succeed against all those masses of men that could be seen on the hill-slope to the east and west, and crowded in the brushwood and among the trees that stretched away to the north?

“After this for a while there was a lull in the fighting, and meantime we could hear the artillery and small arms to the left, where General Sigel and General Davis, with their divisions, were sustaining the shock of the enemy. They were overmatched in numbers, but their weapons were more effective, and they had a better supply of ammunition. Many of the enemy were armed only with squirrel-rifles and shot-guns, and, of course, they could not load and fire with the rapidity of our men. Had they been able to do so, and had their weapons been equally effective with ours, the battle would have been hopelessly lost to us by reason of the great superiority of the rebels in numbers alone and their better knowledge of the ground.

“By and by we heard that Sigel and Davis had driven away the enemy and were slowly drawing in their lines, as only a small force were in front of them. The attack on General Carr's division was renewed by the rebel artillery, and we could see that they had a great number of men gathered behind their battery to charge upon our lines at the proper moment. So General Carr sent an order for General Vandever to fall back, and at the same time he gave a similar order to General Dodge.

“We fell back perhaps a hundred and fifty yards, close to Elkhorn Tavern and a little to the north of it. There our battery opened fire again, still supported by the Ninth Iowa, and there the rebel battery again poured its fire upon us.

“Near the house were two companies of infantry drawn up in line and waiting orders to move. I had just gone to carry an order for them to come up to the support of the Ninth, when a shell passed close to me and struck in their ranks, where it burst. Two of the men were killed and five were wounded by this shell. Almost at the same time another shell exploded on the ground in front of the house and shattered the leg of a soldier who stood there. Another fell among some horse-teams, frightening the animals into running away. They dashed up the road in the direction of the enemy, and were lost in a cloud of dust. In its runaway career one of the wagons knocked down some of our soldiers, wounding one seriously and two or three slightly. A solid shot struck the house and went completely through it, but did no damage to any one, as the family had taken refuge in the cellar.”