Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/392

 men of the Twenty-seventh, hurried off some fifteen miles and paroled them. The surrender of Holly Springs with its army stores, by Colonel Murphy, compelled the abandonment of the expedition against Vicksburg and the regiment was sent to Jackson, Tennessee. Soon after it joined General Lawler’s command to reënforce General Sullivan’s army beyond Lexington, making a hard march the first week in January amid mud and cold winds, camping at night in freezing weather without shelter. Early in the morning without breakfast and shivering with cold the army started in pursuit of the retreating enemy, but the Confederates escaped, and our troops returned toward Jackson. The weather was very severe, the army was without tents and many of the men had no blankets. To add to the suffering the command was without rations and had to subsist on corn meal obtained from the farmers along the line of march. The hardships and suffering of this midwinter march brought to the regiment an amount of sickness and death that surpassed its losses in any battle in which it was engaged. Each company buried many members and several officers were compelled to resign to escape a similar fate. The winter was a gloomy one, almost every day of which was saddened by the death of a comrade.

The second campaign under General Grant against Vicksburg was now under way and many Iowa regiments were sharing in the marches, battles and victories which marked its onward progress. Others were performing important but less brilliant service in guarding lines of communication, and holding captured territory wrested from the enemy. Among these was the Twenty-seventh, now posted in detachments at points on the railroad in the vicinity of Jackson, where Colonel Gilbert was in command of the post. Early in June the regiment was sent to Moscow where it remained for two months guarding railroads and posts, occasionally having a brush with guerrilla bands to vary the monotony of camp life. As the news of