Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/237

 Union gunboats opened a steady fire upon the enemy. At last the steamers were reached, and the army safely embarked. The object of the expedition had been attained, but at heavy cost, as our losses amounted to five hundred and forty-six in killed, wounded and missing. The Confederate loss in men was nearly 1,000, while a large amount of property was destroyed. It was near the beginning of the war and very few of the Union soldiers engaged had ever seen a battle, so that this conflict with superior numbers gave them great confidence in themselves, and proved again that there was no better material in either army than the volunteers from Iowa and Illinois. General Grant said in his order congratulating the men upon their coolness and courage in the battle:

“It has been my fortune to have taken part in all the battles fought in Mexico by Generals Scott and Taylor, save Buena Vista, and I never saw one more hotly contested, or where troops behaved with more gallantry.”

The Seventh Iowa was in the thickest of the fight all through the battle and General Grant said, in his report, that “it behaved with great gallantry and suffered more severely than any other of the troops.” Among the killed were Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz and Lieutenants Dodge, Ream and Gardner, while Colonel Lauman, Captains Gardner, Harper, Parrott and Kittrege were wounded. The total loss of the regiment in killed, wounded and missing was two hundred and twenty-seven. Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz was a promising officer, and his loss was greatly regretted. It was generally believed that he would have won high rank had he lived through the war. The Seventh went to St. Louis soon after, where Captain Parrott was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. Early in February, 1862, the regiment was with General Grant’s army in the expedition against the forts on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. After the capture of Fort Henry it proceeded with the army against Donelson. The Seventh