Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/211

 more devoted gallantry than the Fourth in the assault of the 29th of December. Every officer and man did his whole duty and only regretted that they could not accomplish more.” *

The regiment went into action with five hundred and eighty men and officers, of which one hundred and twelve were killed and wounded. Colonel Williamson and Captain Still were wounded, Lieutenant J. M. Miller and Leander Pitzer were killed. General Grant, long afterward learning of the gallant conduct of the regiment, commanded by general order that the Fourth Iowa Infantry have inscribed on its colors, “First at Chickasaw Bayou.” All the brave fighting and sacrifices of that bloody battle were in vain, as it was not possible for the gallant army and its able commander to take that strongly fortified city by assault, and it was an undeserved humiliation for the President to remove General Sherman from command, by placing over him General McClernand.

The Fourth Iowa was in the campaign led by McClernand against Arkansas Post and was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Burton, Colonel Williamson being disabled by wounds, and sickness. In January, 1863, the Fourth was again in the army before Vicksburg, where, for two months, were spent the darkest days of its service in the cypress swamps, under that frowning batteries of the enemy. Toiling on the famous canal, struggling in mud and rain, lying in camp through that dreary winter, while Grant was working out the great problem of how to subdue the Rebel stronghold and open the Mississippi River. With Steele’s Division, the Fourth embarked on steamers, early in April and, ascending the river to Greenville, thence marched eastward, threatening Vicksburg in the rear and collecting great quantities of provisions for the army, while Grant was drawing his lines around the doomed city. Returning towards Vicksburg, this division of the army rejoined the main body at Grand Gulf and

* “Iowa and The Rebellion.”