History of the Sixth Iowa Infantry.

    In July, 1861, the Sixth Iowa was mustered into the United States service at Burlington, with John A. McDowell as colonel; Marcoe Cummings, of Muscatine, lieutenant-colonel; John M. Corse, of Burlington, major.

    Company A, Captain H. W. Gray, was enrolled from Linn County; Company B, Captain Daniel Iseminger, was enrolled from Lucas and Clarke counties; Company C, Captain D. M. Strump, was enrolled from Hardin County; Company D, Captain M. M. Walden, was enrolled from Appanoose County; Company E, Captain Henry Saunders, was enrolled from Monroe County; Company F, Captain S. P. Glenn, was enrolled from Clarke County; Company G, Captain John Williams, was enrolled from Johnson County; Company H, Captain W. Galland, was enrolled from Lee County; Company I, Captain F. Brydolf, was enrolled from Des Moines County; Company K, Captain W. Denison, was enrolled from Henry County.

    To most of the boys of the Sixth, that sunday morning of April 7, 1862, when the rebels assaulted General Grant's center at Shiloh, may now seem like a dream. It was their first real taste of war. Many of the boys of the regiment had never seen a battle, nor heard the roar of artillery until the preceding day. The regiment had been mustered into the service at Burlington, and on August 3d had been ordered to Keokuk, and after participating in a movement

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to repel a threatened attack of rebels on Athens, Mo., on August 5th, the regiment was hurried off to St. Louis, august 9, 1861, for the seat of conflict.

    On the 19th of September, 1861, the regiment was ordered to Jefferson City, and on the 7th of October it was merged into Frémont's army at Tipton, Mo., where the army of 30,000 was reviewed by the Secretary of War and Adjutant-General Thomas, on the 13th of the same month.

    The Sixth Iowa was among the troops that made a forced march to Springfield, a distance of seventy-five miles, in two days, on short rations. When they arrived November 3d, Frémont was relieved by Hunter, and on the 9th the regiment was ordered back.

    It remained at Sedalia until December 9th, when it marched to Lamine Bridge; an don January 22, 1862, it was stationed at Tipton to perform guard duty. colonel McDowell, who was mustered into the service as colonel of this regiment, was at this time absent on leave, and Lieutenant-Colonel Cummings took command of the regiment. Major Corse was also absent, being detached on the staff of General Pope as adjutant-general.

    The Sixth was ordered to Pittsburg Landing on March 9th. On April 6th the regiment was assigned a position near Owl Creek in the vicinity of Shiloh church.

    For a detailed statement of the part taken by the Sixth Infantry we are indebted to H. Hickenlooper, a member of Company E of the regiment, who kindly supplies us with the following:

    "On the morning of April 6, 1862, the First Brigade of the Fifth Division of Grant's army was encamped with its right resting on Owl Creek, and its left out towards Shiloh Church. colonel McDowell, of the Sixth Iowa, commanded the brigade, and Lieutenant-Colonel Cummings commanded the Sixth Iowa Regiment; this regiment was the extreme right regiment of the brigade and of the whole of Grant's army at that place. The rebel column did not attack this brigade in its position, but moved to the left and made their attack on the line of the left of this brigade.

    "About this time Colonel McDowell discovered, or thought he discovered, that Cummings was intoxicated, and ordered him under arrest; and the command of the regiment then devolved upon Iseminger, of Company B, he being the ranking captain. Soon the regiment, with the brigade,

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was ordered to the left, and the regiment took a position about a half-mile to the left, or east of the first position, and there fought a short time, and several were killed and wounded at this place.

    "Meantime the rebels had driven our line back on the left, or east of us, and the brigade was marched to the rear and left about a mile, and joined McClernand's right. Here the brigade charged the rebel line and drove it back about a quarter of a mile, and held this position about three hours, during the most desperate fighting of that whole day.

    "Here Captain Iseminger was killed, and the command of the regiment by rank should have devolved on Captain Walden, but Colonel McDowell ordered Captain Williams, of Company G, to take command of the regiment. He, too, was soon badly wounded and unable to command, and Captain Walden, being offended, would not assume command, and for a long period during the battle the regiment had no commander.

    "Lieutenant-Colonel Cummings, who was under arrest, got a gun and fell into the ranks of Company E, Captain Saunders' company, and fought 'like a Turk.'

    "The regiment held this position until about 3 o'clock p. m., and the rebels were fighting in front, to the right, and to the right rear; when General Sherman came galloping up to our rear and told us, 'For God's sake, get out of here or you will all be captured!' The regiment, as well as all other regiments in that line, moved to the rear with great alacrity, without any regard for military tactics—in fact, we 'skedaddled' for about a half a mile, when the regiment rallied and re-formed under command of Captain Saunders, who was next in rank to Captain Walden. The whole line was slowly moved back towards the Tennessee River. Regiments, brigades, and divisions were badly mixed up.

    "The Sixth Iowa took a position in the line about three regiments to the left of a battery of heavy guns—four 32-pound seige-guns and two 32-pound howitzers. There was no support for the battery. Meantime Captain Walden had assumed command of the regiment, and presently we saw old Colonel Webster, chief of artillery, riding down the line on a white horse and making an effort to get a regiment to support the battery. The first two regiments nearest the battery refused to move, and he came on down the line to the Sixth Iowa and asked Captain Walden to move his

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regiment up to the battery, with which request the captain complied, and the regiment was placed in position in the rear of the battery, and just in time to meet a charge of the rebels. Never was a battery worked better than that one until the rebel line was almost to the guns; when the gunners shouldered their swabs and fell back to the rear.

    "It was now after sundown, and the artillery kept up a continuous fire, and the gun-boats, Tyler and Lexington, in the river, about half a mile from the mouth of the ravine over which the rebels had to cross, kept up a furious crossfire. At length, when it was almost dark, too dark to see farther than a few rods in our front, the rebel masses came on again, and with a rush, almost to the guns, when again the regiment charged past the guns and met them with another volley, and then continued to fire as fast as the men could load and shoot, until there was nothing in our front to be seen or heard, except the groans and cries of the wounded rebels.

    "The regiment again retired to the rear of the battery and remained there the balance of the night, but the batteries all along the line and the gun-boats in the river kept up an occasional firing all night.

    "Some time after the musketry fire had all ceased along the line, an officer came down the line and told us General Buell had arrived on the opposite side of the river. Soon General Buell himself and staff came riding along in rear of our line. Three cheers were proposed for him and the stars and stripes, which were given with all the vim left in our throats, but it was rather sorrowful cheering.

    "Soon Nelson's division came marching past our front, regiment after regiment, with their bands playing, and appearing fresh and vigorous, and all the night through regiments and batteries kept passing along, taking positions in our front. We remained at the battery we had supported. In the fore part of the night there came up a storm of great fury, which continued all night.

    "Before daylight Buell's men and Lew Wallace's men, who had come up in the night, commenced to move out in front; at about daylight, and about a mile in front of our line, the fighting commenced, and the firing was by volleys and ran all along the line for two or three miles away to the southeast, south, and southwest, and continued without intermission for several hours.

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    "General Sherman ordered the Sixth to remain in its position at the battery until nearly noon, when he came along and ordered it to follow General Oglesby, but soon colonel Garfield came and took command, and Oglesby left for some other part of the field. Soon after the regiment passed the line of battle. The rebels had fallen back. The regiment passed the church and on, into a field growing in bushes and small timber, when suddenly it ran into a rebel battery concealed in the bushes. The battery shelled the regiment briskly for a short time, when it limbered up and fled to the rear.

    "Thus ended the part taken by the Sixth Iowa Infantry at the battle of Shiloh.

    "Lieutenant-Colonel Cummings was court-martialed and dismissed from the regiment, but he afterwards went to New York, where he became colonel of a New York regiment, and greatly distinguished himself in some of the battles about Richmond."

    After the siege of Corinth the Sixth Iowa went west along the line of Memphis and Charleston Railroad, repairing track and bridges which the rebels had destroyed after having evacuated Corinth. On or about July 4, 1863, the regiment moved against Price at Holly Springs, and drove the rebels from their position.

    Then, on the 17th of July, they arrived at Memphis and remained for three months doing provost guard duty. Then in October the division, including the Sixth Iowa, went on an expedition into Mississippi and returned in a week, to find that a battle had been fought at Corinth.

    Then shortly after, in November, Grant's army started for Vicksburg in his attack on the rear. The sixth was included in General J. W. Denver's division of Sherman's corps and accompanied Grant's army. On the march to Vicksburg Sherman returned with a portion of his corps to Memphis, and General Denver's division continued with Grant. General Van Dorn came in the rear and destroyed the entire army supplies at Holly Springs; forcing the Union army back to the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

    The Sixth Infantry in January, 1863, was stationed at various points along the railroad, mounted on mules, which the soldiers had captured. During its stay near Grand Junction, the sixth made frequent raids into Mississippi.

    Early in June the regiment arrived in the vicinity of

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Vicksburg and was placed in General Park's command of the Ninth Army Corps, doing outpost duty.

    On the surrender of Vicksburg, July 14th, the regiment was marched back to Black River to drive back Johnson's army, and on the 6th, while hemmed in, in a bend of the river, had a severe brush with the enemy, but succeeded in driving it back, and in crossing the river.

    The regiment arrived at Jackson on the 10th, and from the 10th to 16th participated in almost constant skirmishes with the enemy. On the 16th the fighting was so severe that on the following morning the rebels had entirely abandoned the city, after having burned their supplies.

    After the battle of Chickamauga, the regiment, together with the entire Fifteenth Army Corps, was loaded in boats and taken to Memphis, Tenn., and then set out on a 400-mile march through Tennessee to Missionary Ridge, and participated in that battle. After the battle, the regiment was sent up to Knoxville, Tenn., to relieve Burnside, and returning a short time later, went into winter quarters at Scottsborough, Ala., and on April 1, 1864, started home on a thirty-days furlough.

    The regiment returned to the front, and marched with Sherman to Atlanta and took part in all the engagements before that city. The corps (the Fifteenth) was under command of General Logan.

Mission Ridge

    The Sixth Iowa Infantry arrived in the vicinity of Lookout Mountain three or four days in advance of Sherman's corps.

    The regiment and brigade was ordered up Lookout Valley as a diversion, taking a position on the mountain in the rear of the rebel lines, remaining two nights and a day, making a big noise to deceive the rebels as to numbers.

    On the second day of their arrival the enemy attacked the regiment in force, when it retired down the mountain. The Sixth then pursued its march down the valley, marching all night and arriving at Moccasin Bend in the morning. It crossed on pontoon bridges, which were being continually broken by rafts floated down the stream by the rebels, and then took a position opposite the mouth of the Chickamauga River.

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    In the meantime the battle of Lookout Mountain was in progress across the river. About midnight of November 23d the army recrossed the river at its mouth, and were assigned a position on the extreme right of the corps. It then moved forward to Mission Ridge, and, charging up the ridge, deployed as skirmishers.

    On the 25th the brigade was ordered, with picks, shovels, and guns, to advance on the enemy. This was the opening of the engagement, and, after repeated charges, they gave up the hope of forcing the enemy back. The boys would charge on the lines, and being hurled back, would retire over the brow of a hill to re-form. They remained here all night, and in the morning found that the enemy had retired.

    After the fall of Atlanta, the regiment went on the famous march to the sea; was at Savannah a short time, and then, after a long and memorable campaign through Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia, rounded up at the city of Washington, at the close of the war, and was a conspicuous regiment in that grand review up Pennsylvania Avenue.

    Lieutenant-Colonel Cune, of Burlington, was the last commander of the regiment.

    The regiment took a prominent part in the battles of Shiloh, Resaca, Mission Ridge, Dallas, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Jackson, Black River Bridge, Jones' Ford, Griswaldsville, and numerous fights of less note, and was mustered out of the service at Louisville, Ky., July 21, 1865.

History of the Thirty-Sixth Iowa Infantry