Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/404

 capturing many prisoners and losing thirty-one men, killed and wounded. The regiment was in a division under command of General Samuel A. Rice of Iowa, while Colonel Benton commanded the brigade to which it belonged during the march under General Steele from Helena to Little Rock. The start was made on the 11th of August, when the weather was very hot and dry. From Duvall’s Bluff to Brownsville the route was over a beautiful prairie country at that time entirely destitute of water. Each man had to carry a supply in his canteen. The heat was so great that many were prostrated by sun-stroke. There were not enough ambulances to carry all who were stricken and they were obliged to travel on a few miles, leave the sick by the wayside and return for others. This was repeated for two days while the disabled and sick had to suffer for hours unsheltered from the broiling sun. As the army approached Little Rock General Steele caused a pontoon bridge to be thrown across the river, over which General Davidson’s Division of Cavalry and artillery passed to the south side, where his march was stubbornly resisted. Btu soon after dark his cavalry entered the city and found that the main body of General Price’s army had retreated in haste, leaving the arsenal and much public property unharmed. The Union army went into camp around the city.

General Marmaduke made an attack upon our army at Pine Bluff, sixty miles below Little Rock, but was defeated with heavy loss. General Rice was sent with two brigades to intercept him. The Twenty-ninth Iowa was in one of the brigades but did not succeed in overtaking the Confederates. This ended the active service of the regiment for the year 1863 and it remained at Little Rock until near the last of March. The year had been one of hard service in the long marches through mud, swamps and bayous, amid cold storms and excessive heat, often on short rations, frequent skirmishing by day and night; heavy labor in removing obstructions, building bridges and making