On the 7th of July Johnston evacuated Jackson, the scene of the last engagement, and here, in rebel hospitals, were found the wounded who had survived the disastrous charge of the 12th inst. Among the number was Lieut McMurtrie, who had both legs broken by rebel shots. His right leg had been wounded with a piece of shell, and was so badly shattered that amputation was necessary. The left leg had been broken by a minie ball. It was found necessary, on the 21st of July, to remove the wounded to Vicksburg. The journey had to be made in ambulances. Lieutenant McMurtrie was among the unfortunates that had to submit to the removal. Words cannot express the suffering this trip entailed upon him in his weakened conditution. On the 23d he was placed on a hospital boat to be sent north, but died before the boat left the wharf, at 2 p. m., July 25, 1863. Lieut. McMurtrie was born at Homer, Michigan, June 30, 1837. He came to Iowa in 1856. He was promoted First Lieutenant of Company D, May 21, 1862. Lieut. McMurtrie was endowed with a great moral character, which lost none of its noble attributes by his army career. He died a brave soldier, lamented by his comrades in arms and all who knew him. C. W. Burdick was promoted First Lieutenant, to fill the vacancy caused by Lieut. McMurtrie's death, which post of duty he held from that time until his three years enlistment had expired. At this time Lieut. Burdick was the only commissioned officer in the company. During three years' service, Lieut. Burdick was off duty but twelve days. He took an active part in every skirmish and battle in which his company was engaged, and was never touched by an enemy's fire. Few men, and I doubt if any, in Iowa can show a better record than this. The engagement at Jackson was the last of any note in which Company D took an active part. The time of enlistment of Company D expired on the 10th of June, 1864. The Company was stationed at Kingston, Georgia. All that did not re-enlist, started home to be mustered out of the service. Many of the boys remained. At the memorable battle of Atlanta, fought July 22d, the Third Iowa literally fought itself to death. The boys of the Third and Company D went into this battle with that Spartan valor that had characterized them, individually and collectively, in many a hard fought engagement. As the battle grew raging hot and desperate, a handful of our undaunted men, among whom were a remnant of Company D, gathered amidst the pelting shower of shot and shell, and there around our flag and banner they stood its guard in the most perilous moments. The color-bearer, the bravest of the brave, relinquished his hold by death alone. Still the mass stood there fighting madly for its defence. Their number fast decreasing by death, their hopes began to fail, and as they surrendered themselves to the enemy, they tore the emblem of our nationality, and regimental designation, into pieces and into shreds, which concealed, they proudly brought back to us, untouched and unsoiled by impious and traitorous hands. COMPANY H-"IOWA GREY HOUNDS." Company H, Ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, was organized at Decorah, in the months of August and September, 1861, and was mustered into service at Dubuque, on the 24th of September, the same year. After remaining at Camp Union, Dubuque, until the middle of October, the Regiment was sent to St. Louis, and went into camp at Benton Barracks. A few weeks were passed in the usual routine of camp duty, when the regiment was ordered to Pacific City, Missouri, and passed some little time in guarding railroads and arresting guerillas. During this time the regiment was perfecting its discipline; and the diseases incidental to the climate and season, joined to the hardships of camp life, were thinning the ranks of all men who were deficient in physicial vigor. When the expedition against Price was organized, the Ninth was ordered to Rolla, Mo., and after a week spent in camp at that place, started on the march for Springfield. The march was made in winter, and the crossing of the Gasconade, the roads knee-deep in mud, and the cold, inclement weather tested the endurance of the men, and when the regiment was placed in the advance, after the capture of Springfield, it earned its title, "The Iowa Greyhounds," by marching 135 miles in four days in pursuit of Price. Company H received its "baptism of fire" at Pea Ridge, and the day before the fight marched forty miles on a half-pint of cornmeal to the man. It mustered fifty-two men when the fight opened; twenty-two were unwounded at the close of the struggle. On that field the boys, most of them beardless, who six months before were laboring on farms and in workshops, showed themselves able to defeat the practiced riflemen of Missouri and Arkansas, the Rangers of Texas, and the trained regiments of Louisiana. The march across Arkansas, in the summer of 1862, followed the conflict at Pea Ridge. Some time was passed in camp Helena, and in December the regiment took part in the first attack on Vicksburg. The expedition up the dark Yazoo and its unfortunate results, were amply avenged at Arkansas Post, January 10, 1863. In all the operations that culminated in the capture of Vicksburg the Ninth was actively engaged from digging in the canal to storming rifle-pits and batteries. And in the charge on the 22d of May, Company H lost eighteen men killed and wounded out of a total twenty-six men in action, and of these nine were killed on the field or mortally wounded. From Vicksburg to Jackson, thence back to Vicksburg, up the river to Memphis, thence to Tuscumbia, where a severe conflict took place, then up the sides of Lookout Mountain, under the lead of Osterhaus, followed by a rapid pursuit of the routed foes, and the fight at Ringgold, is a brief outline of the work Company H took part in during 1863. The majority of the company re-enlisted as veterans, and after their return from furlough the boys found themselves a part of the mighty host Sherman was about to lead "to the sea." For seventy days from the opening of this memorable campaign, members of Company H who participated in the operations, were constantly under fire, with perhaps slight intermission prior to the crossing of the Chattahoochee. The fights at Resaca, New Hope Church, Burnt Hickory and Kenesaw Mountain, showed the valor and discipline of the Ninth. On the 22d of July the Ninth was one of the Iowa regiments that, under the eye of Sherman, recaptured the battery of DeGress, and drove the rebels, at the bayonets' point, from the entrenched line they had wrested from the loyalists. At Ezra's Church, on the 28th of July, and at Jonesboro, where the fate of Atlanta was decided, the boys of Company H were actively engaged. After the capture of Atlanta and the pursuit of Hood, who was left to the "tender mercies" of Thomas, the boys followed Sherman to the sea, and Company H furnished its full quota of able and accomplished "bummers." From Savannah the company marched through the Carolinas, taking part in any "little unpleasantness" that came in the way, and actively participating in the closing fight at Bentonville. After resting a few days at Raleigh, the regiment marched to Washington and took part in the "Grand Review," and was shortly after mustered out of the service at Louisville, Ky. That Company H did its whole duty, the following figures, taken from the Adjutant General's Report, prove: Company H, 9th Iowa-Total killed and wounded.. Total killed and died of wounds. Company D, 3d Iowa-Total killed and wounded... Total killed and died of wounds.. Company G, 12th Iowa-Total killed and wounded... Total killed and died of wounds. Company E, 38th Iowa-Total killed and wounded... Total killed and died of wounds.. Company D, 38th Iowa-Total killed and wounded.. Total killed and died of wounds... 53 19 33 9 9 4 0 The above table shows the extent of the loss sustained by Company Hin battle, as compared with the reported losses of the other companies organized in this county from the same cause. do not think the above figures do full justice to Companies E, K I and D, Thirty-Eighth Iowa, for no regiment organized in the country suffered to such an extent by disease. Stationed in localities where to breathe the air was to inhale death, the boys of Company E, D and K performed their allotted duty, sustained by naught save the feeling of patriotism, and faced death uncheered by "the shout of victory, the rapture of the strife." Died of disease: Company D, 3d Iowa, 10; Company H, 9th Iowa, 15; Company G. 12th lowa, 17; Company É, 38th Iowa, 34; Company D, 38th Iowa, 37; Company K, 38th Iowa, 37. Company H, at the time it was mustered in, was commanded by M. A. Moore, who achieved no particular distinction. He resigned in the spring of 1863, and was succeeded by O. M. Bliss, who enlisted as a private and secured promotion by meritorious services. Capt. Bliss was as true a soldier as ever drew a sword. Brave, earnest and patriotic, he "dared to lead where any dared to follow." After facing death on twenty fields he died from injuries received by a fall from his horse while acting as Major, after the capture of Atlanta. J. H. Phillips succeeded to the captaincy, and commanded the company until its service was ended. In writing this brief sketch of the career of Company H, embracing a period of nearly four years, and services performed in eight States, from the Ozark Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, a hundred incidents and memories crowd on the mind that space will not permit me to relate. Nearly sixteen years have elapsed since "we took the oath of muster with right hand raised to heaven," and in looking back, the boys of Company H will instinctively date their memory of army life from the bitter, persistent struggle in the wild ravines of the Ozark, where their first blood was shed. And during all subsequent campaigning, Pea Ridge was the standard whereby to measure the severity of the conflict. And the boys of the Ninth will ever remember, with proud gratification, the tribute their valor received from the ladies of Bostona stand of colors emblazoned with the name of their fiercest battle. COMPANY G, TWELFTH IOWA. The third company raised in the county was one that became Company G, Twelfth Iowa. It was enrolled at Decorah in September, 1861, ordered into quarters at Dubuque, September 30, and mustered into the United States service November 5, 1861. It was officered as follows: Captain C. C. Tupper. First Lieutenant-L. D. Townsley. Second Lieutenant-J. F. Nickerson. Orderly Sergeant-J. E. Simpson. The company became a portion of the regiment from the date of its muster in, and from that time on until disbanded always acted well its part. Company G was noted in its regiment for its excellent moral status and soldierly efficiency. It saw hard service, and took an active part in the following hotly-contected battles: Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, siege of Corinth, Corinth, Jackson, Vicksburg, Jackson siege and capture, Brandon, Tupelo, Nashville, and Brentwood Hill. Besides these battles, the company did excellent service as skirmishers. The company early met with a severe loss in the death of its first captain, C. C. Tupper. Captain C. C. Tupper was born at Auburn, New York, December 24, 1832, and came to Decorah in May, 1857. He had received a liberal education, and prior to taking a residence in Iowa had served as agent of the Associated Press and local manager of the telegraph offices at Buffalo and St. Louis. He was admitted to the bar soon after his arrival, but for a brief time edited the Decorah Journal, a Democratic newspaper. When the war broke out he took an active and intensely patriotic interest in every movement. Military life was always attractive to him, and he was unusually well versed in the manual of arms. He assisted in organizing the two companies from Winneshiek County that found place in the Third and Ninth regiments, and helped prepare them for the field. When it became evident that a third company must be drawn from the county, all eyes turned toward Captain Tupper to take its lead. Although of a frail constitution, and physically unfitted for the severe trials of army life, his patriotism overrode all prudence, and he consented. The company was rapidly recruited, and assigned to the Twelfth Regiment of lowa Volunteers. But Capt. Tupper's association with the company was only a brief one. He was idolized by his men, beloved by all his associate officers, and thoroughly respected by his superiors. But these could not protect and defend him from disease and death. While going from Dubuque to St. Louis with the regiment he caught a severe cold, and in six weeks died at Benton Barracks, in St. Louis, a victim of capilliary bronchitis. In his death the terrible evils of war was first brought directly home to the community of which he had been a member. He had been the leader in the best social circles, the active abettor of every public enterprise, and his death carried sadness and mourning to almost every household in the county. Of friends who mourned his death there were scores upon scores; of enemies, none. The sad event narrated above necessitated the promotion of Lieut. L. D. Townsley to the captaincy of the company, which office he held until mustered out of the service, November 25, 1864. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Shiloh, in which engagement he sustained a severe wound in the left arm, and suffered with the rest of his brother officers the hardships of prison life. After his exchange he was often employed in important detached duties, which he always filled with credit to himself and country. He served out his entire term of service, and is now residing in Chicago. |