Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/407

 wall between the retreating army and destruction by a superior foe. Nothing could move the gallant command of General Rice from its position, and about noon the enemy withdrew defeated. At two o’clock the last regiment had crossed and the bridge been destroyed, while the army resumed its march toward Little Rock. The army was saved by a fearful sacrifice of noble men; eight hundred had fallen in the battle including the gallant General Rice, who was mortally wounded. Captain George S. Bacon of Company C and fifty-nine men of the Twenty-ninth Iowa were left wounded on the field and fell into the hands of the enemy.

The regiment remained at Little Rock nearly a year. On the 9th of February, 1865, it was sent down the river to New Orleans and soon after joined the expedition being fitted out for the capture of Mobile. It took an active part in that campaign and won additional honors in the siege and battles which resulted in the surrender of the city and defensive works. The losses were one killed, seventeen wounded and four captured. On the 13th of April the regiment was sent to Mount Vernon Arsenal and on the way engaged in a running fight with a party of the enemy, one of the last combats of war. On the 1st of June it was sent to Brazos Santiago, in Texas, and remained until, on the 10th of August, 1865, it was mustered out of the service. When the regiment reached Davenport on the 19th it numbered seven hundred sixty-five officers and men, of whom four hundred fifteen only had been originally attached to it. The others were recruits of regiments which had been previously disbanded. The efficiency of the Twenty-ninth was largely due to thorough drill an discipline bestowed upon it by Lieutenant-Colonel Patterson, who had few superiors as an accomplished soldier and commander. Colonel Benton was not a brilliant military man but he was intelligent, brave and highly esteemed by his regiment.