Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/267

 advancing to the attack on the hill. The artillery fire was terrible. Solid shot, shell, grape and canister at short range from forty pieces of artillery, smote their ranks, mowing down the men by scores. No troops could stand against it and a retreat was ordered. General Matthies fell severely wounded; it was next to Champion’s Hill the most terrific artillery fire the Tenth ever encountered. After the close of the Chattanooga campaign the regiment went into winter quarters at Huntsville, Alabama, and, during the months of January and February, 1864, nearly three hundred of the men reënlisted, converting it into a veteran regiment.

Colonel Small had left the service in August, 1863, and was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel P. C. Henderson; Major McCalla became lieutenant-colonel and Captain Robert Lusby was promoted to major. The Tenth was sent with General Thomas in a movement against Johnston in Tennessee and in April was ordered to Decatur, Alabama. In June the veterans were granted a furlough, retuning to duty in the latter part of July, and were stationed along the Chattanooga and Atlantic Railroad, having headquarters at Kingston, Georgia. The Tenth was next in the expedition under Generals Steadman and Rousseau against Wheeler, and in the march to the sea, taking part in the battles around Savannah. In the campaign through the Carolinas it made a gallant passage of the Salkahatchie River, crossing waist deep under a heavy fire from the enemy posted behind earthworks and, with another regiment, dislodging the Confederates. The Tenth was with the advance upon Columbia, and was warmly engaged at Cox Bridge on the Neuse River in North Carolina at the opening of the Battle of Bentonsville. It moved with the army to Goldsboro and Raleigh, and was at the surrender