Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/354

 the assault, it was met by a deadly fire, which killed and wounded many. Colonel Stone was disabled and Lieutenant-Colonel Graham took command. Rallying about sixty around him, they pressed forward, reached the fort and planted the colors on the rampart. Sergeant Joseph E. Griffith and several others scaled the walls, entered the effort, and captured some prisoners. But assailed by a deadly fire all were killed or captured except Sergeant Griffith and David Trine, who managed to escape. Lieutenant-Colonel Graham and several of his men were captured in the ditch at the fort. The entire assault was most gallantly made on all parts of the bloody field and the defeat did not shake the confidence of the army or its commander in final success. In this assault Iowa furnished sixteen regiments of infantry and two batteries.

The regiments engaged were the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth, Sixteenth, Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Thirtieth, Thirty-first and Thirty-fifth. The First and Second Batteries were also in the engagement doing excellent service. In his report of the Vicksburg campaign General Grant said:

“No troops succeeded in entering any of the enemy’s works with the exception of Sergeant Griffith of the Twenty-second Iowa Volunteers and some eleven privates of the same regiment; of these none returned except the sergeant and one man.”

Those who participated with Griffith in this most heroic achievement of that day’s terrible battle were Alvin and Hezekiah Drummond, Ezra L. Anderson, Richard Arthur and William Griffin, who were killed in the fort, and John Robb, M. L. Clemmons, W. H. Needham, Hugh Sinclair, N. C. Messenger, Allen Cloud and David Jordan, who were taken prisoners. Griffith and David Trine alone escaped to our lines. The regiment lost one hundred sixty-four killed, wounded and captured in the assault. Finding the defenses of the city to strong to be taken