Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/406

 order would be resumed and continued until the next attack. Just at dark the Confederates made a most determined assault in an effort to capture the artillery. Our men held their fire until the cavalry had come within thirty yards of the line, when artillery and musketry opened with such a terrible hail of lead and iron that the troopers were driven back in confusion, leaving scores of men and horses on the field. The battle had continued for a distance of eight miles and at nine o’clock the rear guard marched into Okolona with drums beating and colors flying to find the long train parked with not a wagon missing. The Union loss was sixty killed and wounded, twenty-seven of whom belonged to the Twenty-ninth Iowa.

The regiment was under fire three hours at the Battle of Little Missouri at Elkin’s Ferry. It was in the front during the march of the 15th when our army entered Camden, where it remained until the 26th, when the retreat toward Little Rock began. On the evening of April 29th the army reached the Saline River. The rear guard was attacked by the combined armies of Price and Kirby Smith. The battle was sure to be renewed in the morning. The night was stormy and dismal, the rain was falling in torrents and with full banks the river was flooding the low lands. Behind was a confident enemy, in front a river that must be bridged by pontoons to enable our army to cross. But few slept that night as the preparations went on to meet the emergencies of the critical situation. General Rice with the Twenty-ninth and Thirty-third Iowa, the Fiftieth Indiana, the Ninth and Twenty-eighth Wisconsin, was in command to protect the army as it crossed the swollen river on a single pontoon bridge. With the dawn of day the attack began, and hour after hour the conflict went on. Assault after assault was hurled against the Union lines which stood like a granite