Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/425

 little fleet was attacked by three hundred Confederates who directed their principal fire on the prize “Kaskaskia,” which was manned by half of Company D, under command of Lieutenant W. D. Templin. The crew made a gallant defense driving the assailants off with heavy loss.

A large quantity of public property was destroyed and some prisoners captured by this expedition. At a heavy skirmish at Bayou Metou on the 27th the detachment of the Thirty-second Iowa lost one killed and two wounded. Returning to Duvall’s Bluff it had charge for a time of more than 1,200 sick soldiers and on the 10th and 11th of September moved on to Little Rock, having the care of more than a regiment of sick and wounded. Remaining there until the last of January, 1864, it was sent to Memphis and from there taken down the river and attached to the Division of General A. J. Smith. On the 27th of February it marched out to Black River to await the return of the army operating in the interior.

Returning now to that portion of the regiment under the command of Colonel Scott, which had been sent to New Madrid, we find that it was kept here to garrison the post and prevent contraband trade with Arkansas. On the 17th of December, 1862, Colonel Scott sent out a party of one hundred men under Captain Peebles as far as St. Francis River which gathered up valuable public property and brought in several prisoners. On the 28th of December upon order of Brigadier-General Thomas A. Davies, Colonel Scott spiked the siege guns, destroyed the other public property and evacuated the post at New Madrid. He was very reluctant to execute the order as he felt confident of his ability to hold the place against any force likely to be sent against it. But the order was peremptory and General Fisk whom he consulted, assured Colonel Scott that Davies had authority from General Curtis who had command of the Department. Under these circumstances Scott obeyed the order and moved the garrison to Fort