Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/221

 army followed some distance on the line of retreat of General Beauregard, without approaching that wily General. By the 11th of June the Fifth was back with the army in camp, near Corinth. In August the regiment was at Jacinto, where it remained until the day before the Battle of Iuka. Major Robertson had resigned and Captain E. S. Sampson had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and Captain Jabez Banbury had become major.

THE BATTLE OF IUKA

General Pope had been called to the command of the Army of the Potomac and was succeeded by General Rosecrans, General Grant commanding the Department. General Price, with a large Confederate army, had seized Iuka and captured a large amount of stores. General Grant, who was at Corinth threatened by a large army under Van Dorn, determined to attack and destroy Price’s army at Iuka. He ordered General Ord, with 6,000 men, to move on Price by roads north of the railroad, while Rosecrans with 9,000, should move south by Jacinto and assail him from that direction. Price did not wait to be caught in the trap laid for him but marched out to overwhelm Rosecrans before Ord appeared. Two miles from Iuka, Price found a strong position protected by swamps and hills. As Rosecrans approached the head of his column was fiercely attacked. The Eleventh Ohio Battery took position on the crest of a hill commanding the road in front. The Fifth Iowa was posted on the right and the Forty-eight Indiana on the left. The Twenty-sixth Missouri was in the rear of the battery. This was the entire front opposed to the Confederate army, 10,000 strong, moving against Rosecrans’ advance. This line was hastily formed under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry from Price’s army in its strong position. A sharp fire was opened by the Union line as other regiments were brought up to positions on the flanks. The Tenth and Sixteenth Iowa were among the regiments warmly engaged.