Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/446

 ” within the bay was constant and terrible, while the mortars and heavy guns on land poured in a steady storm of missiles. Solid shot went crashing through earth and masonry, followed by shell bursting open and tearing wide the fractures they had made; the terrible work continued all day with unabated fury. At night the fleet retired but the army kept up a continuous fire. About ten o’clock flames burst from the citadel which had been fired by our shells. At midnight on the 23d a signal of surrender appeared on the fort and the firing at once ceased. Negotiations were opened with the commander of the fort and at two o’clock in the afternoon the formal surrender took place, in the presence of the Thirty-fourth Iowa. This regiment under Colonel Clark marched up to the front of the fort, the band playing “Hail Columbia,” formed in line of battle, as the Confederates marched out, stacked arms, the officers surrendering their swords. The Confederate flag was hauled down and the Stars and Stripes run up. It was just three weeks from the time the army had first landed on Dauphin Island that the fort surrendered. In that time it had with the aid of the navy captured three forts, nearly a hundred heavy guns, 1,500 prisoners and destroyed a formidable fleet of the enemy. On the 16th of September the Thirty-fourth regiment was sent to New Orleans and from there to Morganza, where it remained for about three weeks. Colonel Clark and Lieutenant-Colonel Dungan being absent on other duties, Major Kern was left in command of the regiment. During a skirmish with the enemy in this vicinity Lieutenant Walton was severely wounded. On the 12th of November, 1864, an order was issued reducing the regiment, now numbering less than half the maximum, to a battalion of five companies. The major, adjutant, and several other officers were consequently mustered out. On the 12th of December this battalion was consolidated with the Thirty-eighth and the regiment thus formed was called the Thirty-fourth, Colonel Clark and Lieutenant-Colonel