Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/316

 give the appearance of a formidable army. Hood began to attack with artillery and musketry on three sides. The garrison opened upon his army with a rapid fire, running guns from one embrasure to another in quick succession, while a steady and deadly fire of musketry was belching from the forts. For hours the roar of cannon and rattle of musketry was kept up and no progress was made by Hood. At four o’clock he sent a flag of truce to the fort demanding immediate and unconditional surrender. Colonel Wever refused and the combat opened again with renewed vigor and was kept up until long after dark. In the meantime Colonel Watkins, with five hundred cavalry, had come up from below, crossed the river and gone into the fight to reënforce the garrison. Other reënforcements came during the morning and the battle went on until afternoon, when, upon the approach of General Sherman’s army, Hood made a hasty retreat. All but about forty members of the Seventeenth had been made prisoners at the surrender of Tilton. The remnant of the regiment took part in the campaign in Georgia and the Carolinas. Colonel Wever joined Sherman’s army at Savannah and commanded a brigade through the campaign, serving with great efficiency. The few men left of the Seventeenth remained with the Army of the Tennessee until the regiment was disbanded in August, 1865.

The companies making up the Eighteenth Infantry were recruited from the following counties: Company A from Linn, Clinton, Jones, Dubuque and Winneshiek; B from Clarke; C from Lucas and Monroe; D from Iowa, Keokuk and Mahaska; E from Muscatine, Louisa and Linn; F from Wapello and Appanoose; G from Marion, Warren and Polk; H from Fayette, Benton and Clinton; I from Washington, Polk and others; K from Muscatine and Mahaska. The regiment numbered eight