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HISTORICAL SKETCH TWENTIETH REGIMENT IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY The ten companies which were assigned to the Twentieth Regiment were ordered into quarters by the Governor on dates ranging from July 15 to August 15, 1862. The designated rendezvous was Camp Kirkwood near Clinton, Iowa, and there the companies were mustered into the service of the United States on the 22nd, 25th and 27th days of August, 1862, by Captain H. B. Hendershott, of the United States Army.The aggregate strength of the Regimental muster in was 904, rank and file. (report of Adjutant General of Iowa, vol. 1, 1863, pages 718 to 750, original roster of the regiment.) Like most of the regiments which had preceded it, the Twentieth had but a brief opportunity for instruction before leaving the state. It was armed with Enfield rifles, (at that time considered one of the most effective weapons,) was furnished with the usual equipment for active service In this, their first experience in marching, the men suffered much hardship, because of the fact that they had not yet become inured to the exposure and fatigue of an active campaign. It was their first Upon its arrival at Springfield, the Regiment was assigned to a brigade consisting of the Twentieth Iowa, First Iowa Cavalry, Thirty-seventh Illinois Infantry, and one section of the First Missouri Light Artillery. This was the Second Brigade of the Second Division of the Army of the Southwest, commanded by General J. M. Schofield. the Division was commanded by General Totten, and the brigade by Colonel Dye, of the Twentieth Iowa, leaving Lieutenant Colonel Leake in command of the regiment. The Twentieth Iowa was now about to enter upon a campaign which was to put to the severest test the bravery, fortitude and discipline of its officers and men. The hardships to which they had thus far been subjected were slight in comparison with those they encountered while marching and counter-marching in pursuit of their elusive enemy. From the 30th of September to the 7th of December, on which latter date the battle of Prairie Grove was fought, the Regiment passed through an experience, the details of which are described with great particularity in the history of the Regiment written by Colonel Dye, and in the prefix to the official report of Lieutenant Colonel Leake, describing the conduct of his Regiment in the battle of PrairieGrove. (report of Adjutant General of Iowa, vol 2, 1863, pages 826 to 830. report of Adjutant General of Iowa, vol. 2, 1865, pages 113 to 1120.) the following extracts taken from Lieutenant Colonel Leake's report will serve to whom some of the great hardships endured by the regiment during this period of its service: The army remained in this position until the 2nd of November, when in pursuance of orders from Major General Curtis commanding the department, the Second and Third Divisions commenced their return march to Missouri. the First Division under General Blunt retained its position west of Bentonsville.. .a few days afterwards intelligence was received that the post at Clark Mills, on the road from Springfield to Forsyth, garrisoned by five companies, three of state militia, and two of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry, had been surrendered, and that the enemy were marching in large force on Springfield, to protect which the Second Division was moved on the 10th of November, making the march of thirty-five miles in twelve hours.'.'. The Second Division moved on the 17th, the night of the 17th, and the 18th, through a drenching storm westerly thirty-six miles to Camp Lyon... up to this time the Regiment had marched since leaving rolla, the distance of 520 miles. we rested at Camp Lyon from all our fatigues and exposure until the morning of December 4th. During the stay at Camp Lyon, the men were provided with everything needed for comfort except shoes and stockings. Only one hundred pairs of shoes, one hundred and eighty pairs of infantry On the morning of the 6th, we left camp at 5 o'clock, passed through pea ride and sugar creek, and reached cross hollows, ark., at about 5 o'clock p. m. twenty-six and a half miles. Here we halted We then marched on rapidly, until we arrived at the battlefield between eleven and twelve o'clock on the morning of the 7th, a distance of nine miles. The Regiment thus marched the distance of one hundred miles in eighty consecutive hours, the last fifty-three and one-half of which we accomplished in thirty-one hours. Very many of the command marched with shoes so much worn that their feet were upon the ground, and were badly bruised and cut up by the stony road Many of the boots furnished at Camp Lyon fitted the feet of the men so illy that they became inflamed and blistered by the continuous marching, and a few carried their boots in their hands and marched to the field in their
At this time the Twentieth was on the extreme right of the Second and Third Divisions. This movement was executed under a galling fire which we returned, advancing to within a few paces of the edge of the orchard. At this time a force appeared on our right advancing up the valley. Fearing that we were being outflanked by the enemy, I was ordered to fall back across the field and take position behind a fence in our rear, which was executed in good order under fire. I then threw out companies A and F, under command of Captains Bates and Hubbard, from the right wing shortly after, as skirmishers. A Cavalry force appeared upon our right and rear, whereupon the skirmishers were recalled and a change of front made toward the approaching force, to the rear behind a fence running at right angles We had scarcely taken this position when an aide from General Blunt reported to me that the forces which had come up the valley, and were taking position in the field on our right, was the command General Blunt at once sent forward a part of the First Indiana Regiment as skirmishers. Colonel Dye reported to General Blunt and ordered me to make a charge with the Twentieth up the hill and on the left of, and operating with the forces of General Blunt. I Moved the Regiment rapidly forward in line of battle across the field, obliquing to the left; crossed the orchard fence, drove the enemy throughout the orchard, and advanced beyond the upper orchard fence and through the woods a short distance... fearing that the troops on our left wing had ascended the hill and advanced to our front, I saw directly in front of us a mass of troops moving down upon us. At almost the same instant they fired a volley under which the left wing recoiled nearly to the orchard fence, where they promptly The moment we crossed the fence the orchard was shelled by the batteries of General Blunt's forces on the right in the field, and by that under command of Captain Murphy in position at the point from which we entered the action, from the combined effects of which, and our own firing, the enemy were driven back. As soon as the enemy was driven from the orchard I was ordered to retire in good order from the fence and form in the middle of the field. As we commenced to retire, Major Thompson having been wounded and the left wing, not receiving the order to halt, promptly retired nearly the fence from which wa had advanced, I rode down, and at the command they returned and formed at the place designated. This ended our active participation in the contest. About the time we had retaken our old position, the rest of General Blunt Division had become heavily engaged with the enemy on our extreme right and remained so engaged until darkness closed the contest... the next morning before daylight, I formed the line of battle, and awaited the renewal of the action. Soon after daylight it was discovered that the enemy had fled during the night, thus acknowledging defeat. The Union troops were so worn and exhausted from forced marches and the hard fighting of the previous day that they were in no condition to pursue the enemy.
The loss of the Regiment in the battle of Prairie Grove was 1 officer and 7 The brigade Commander Colonel Dye warmly commended Lieutenant Colonel Leake for the excellent manner in which he handled his Regiment during the battle, and also made special mention of Adjutant Lake of the Twentieth Iowa, who acted as Assistant Adjutant General upon his staff, and carried his orders to different points on the field under the fire of the enemy. While the subsequent recordof the Regiment is altogether an honorable one and deserves full description, the limitations prescribed for this historical sketch will not permit of the occupancyof much greater space in describing its future movements than has been devoted to its operations up to and including the battle just described. The compiler believes, however, that the events embraced in this period of the history
On Jan. 2, 1863, the Regiment again took up the line of march, with its Brigade and Division. General Schofield had again assumed command of the army of the frontier. In the campaign which ensued, and which extended through the winter and into the spring, there was much hard marching, and the troops were exposed to alternate storms of snow and rain, marching over muddy and sometimes almost impassable roads, but everywhere the movements of the army as a whole, and in detachments, were directed against the rebel forces with the one purpose in view ,that of driving the invaders from the state and placing the loyal citizens of Missouri in position to defend them selves from further invasion, and enabling the troops composing the army of the frontier to be withdrawn for the propose of cooperating in the great expedition against Vicksburg. General Schofield's plans were successfully carried out, the rebel troops in his front being mostly withdrawn during the winter for the purpose of reinforcing their army in Mississippi, then preparing to resist the advance of the Union Army under General Grant. Toward the latter part of march, the Regiment with its Brigade and Division was being gradually withdrawn from the Missouri frontier and moved towards the point where these troops had entered upon their first campaign. At length, on the 23rd of April, 1863, the Division marched into Rolla. the
At 9 a. m. on the 4th, part of the Division, the Twentieth Iowa leading, marched into the works of Vicksburg, planting the first Union flag which floated over the extreme fort on the right of the enemy's works. As bad as the water used by our men was, the sickness was not so severe before th surrender, as when, by a relaxation of the system from the stimulant of excitement,intermittent and congestive fevers at once prostrated about one-third of the regiment. We remained in the works, collecting the surrendered material, until the 11th, when the Division embarked with orders to reinforce the investing force of Port Hudson. When aboard, and about leaving, intelligence arrived of its surrender. The destination of the Division was then changed to
On the 17th, arrived at Carrollton, La., losing, during our stay here, many of the men, from the protracted diseases of the summer. The regiment embarked here, without tents or knapsacks, and bivouacked, Sept. 7th, near Morganza, below the mouth of Red River. On the 8th, we marched to the Atchafalaya, driving the enemy to the opposite bank, a part of the Division having a skirmish. We were absent but two days on this duty, yet the men suffered greatly from the heat ( many being sun struck) and the want of good water. We remained at or near Morganza, almost constantly bivouacked, until October 10th. The knapsacks of the Regiment did not arrive until about September 28th. Lieutenant Colonel Leake and two men (the former slightly wounded) were unfortunately captured, at Sterling farm, Sept. 29th, On the 11th of October encamped at Carrollton, La., where the Regiment remained until November 1st arrived in sight of Brazos de Santiago, (coast of Texas) and landed on the 4th, after making, with the Twentieth Wisconsin, an unsuccessful effort to land through the surf, at the mouth of the Rio Grande, in which seven out of ten surf boats, loaded with men, were either swamped or upset, losing, miraculously, however, only four men by drowning. A portion of the Division, including Company G, (provost guard of the Division) proceeded to Brownsville, and a detachment of the regiment( with there exceptions) on the 6th crossed the Lagoon Del Madre, to Point Isabel, where it remained, suffering from great scarcity of water, and want of cooking utensils and baggage, until the 13th. November 15th, the Regiment re-embarked and landed, with a portion of the Division, on the south end of Mustang Island, in the evening. At 9 a. m. on the 17th, it arrived at the north end of the island, (about 25 miles distant,) after a very fatiguing march, the men drawing by hand two pieces of artillery, carrying their knapsacks and sixty rounds of ammunition, this after about two weeks confinement aboard ship. About one hundred of the enemy, with three pieces of heavy artillery, were at this end of the island, guarding the Arkansas inlet. The enemy surrendered as soon as our forces appeared. On June 24, 1864, the Regiment embarked at Mustang Island and was conveyed to Brazos Santiago, and from there it marched to Brownsville, Texas, where it remained, doing garrison duty until July 29th, when it started on its return to Brazos Santiago, and from there returned by sea to New Orleans, arriving there and going into its old camp at Carrollton, August 6th. Here it remained but a short time when it was conveyed by steamer to Fort Gaines, Ala., which, however, had surrendered before the arrival of the regiment. It disembarked at Mobile Point, and participated in the siege of Fort Morgan, which surrendered August 23, 1864. During all these movements Colonel Dye was detached from the regiment and in command of a brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Leake was still a prisoner of war, MajorThompson had resigned, and the Regiment had alternately been under the command of Captains M. L. Thompson and Edward Coulter. On September 7th the Regiment proceeded by steamer to New Orleans and thence up the river to Morganza, La. During the voyage an accident occurred to the machinery of the vessel, and five men of the Twentieth Iowa were badly scalded by escaping steam; three of them jumped overboard and were drowned. At Morganza Lieutenant Colonel Leake rejoined the regiment, having regained his liberty by an exchange of prisoners. He received a glad welcome from the officers and men, who had become greatly attached to him and had complete confidence in his courage and ability. With full appreciation On the 12th of October orders were received to embark the command and During this period of its service the Twentieth Iowa was part of the time engaged in scouting in the surrounding country, but was most of the time performing garrison duty and erecting fortifications. many of its men were on the sick list, the prevailing disease being scurvy. A quantity of sanitary stores were sent to the Regiment from Iowa, and were used with excellent effect, and when the Regiment left Arkansas, on the 8th of January, the health of the men had greatly improved. Its next place of encampment was near Kennerville, La., where it remained until February 16th, on which date it embarked for Pensacola Bay, Florida, and, after a voyage without incident, went into camp at Florida Point, remaining there until the commencement of the Mobile campaign, in which it was an active participant. on the march to Mobile which was very toilsome, the Regiment attracted the attention of the Division commander to such a marked extent as to cause him to make special mention of its conduct in a General Order thanking all the troops under his command. The order is here quoted as follows: The record of the Twentieth Iowa is an honorable one. while the regiment was engaged in but one hard fought battle in the open field, it was no fault of its gallant officers and men that it did not participate in more of the great battles of the war. They went where they were ordered to go, and |
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