Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/454

 fighting of the battle. The Twelfth, Lieutenant-Colonel John H. Stibbs, and the Thirty-fifth, Major Dill commanding, were in the brigade commanded by Colonel Hill of the latter regiment. An eye witness thus describes a charge made by Hill’s Brigade:

“Meanwhile Hill’s men, who had borne the brunt of the battle of Tupelo and had now witnessed the splendid charges of their comrades, were eager to emulate their heroism and storm the formidable redoubts far in their front. As the corps continued wheeling to the left, an opportunity was soon presented. About six hundred yards in advance of the brigade, near the Hillsboro Pike, on a high and bastion-like ridge, was another strong redoubt where the Rebel guns redoubled their fire and seemed striving to make good the loss of the two first redoubts and hurl back our advancing columns. Shot and fragments of shell filled the air. The roar of artillery was incessant and the flashes of exploding shells quickly followed each other like vivid flashes of lightning. The guns must be silenced and the redoubt captured without delay. Colonel Hill saw that it could only be carried by direct assault in front and immediately ordered a charge. The boys welcomed the order with a battle cheer and fixed bayonets and under a terrific fire of shot and shell, with uniform step and steady columns, they descended a gentle slope, crossed a ravine and, on the double quick, moved in front of the enemy’s fire, up the hill to their works.

“Sergeants Clark and Grannis of the Twelfth Iowa in advance of the charging line, first planted the regimental banner and the National colors upon the Rebel battlements. The brave Colonel Hill, mounted on horseback and gallantly leading his brigade to the assault, fell from his horse, shot through he head, just as the troops were carrying the breastworks of the enemy. The men rushed forward to avenge the death of their lamented commander. The enemy had hastily limbered up the guns of the fort, withdrawn them to a redoubt, distant about three hundred yards, and again opened grape, canister and musketry upon our men just as they entered the first redoubt. Continuing to advance, the brigade charged across the Hillsboro Pike, in the face of another torrent of fire up to the second redoubt, captured its guns, caissons, horses, one headquarters, thirteen baggage wagons and two hundred and fifty prisoners. The wings of the brigade in storming the redoubts had wheeled in toward the central point of attack, thus creating some confusion. Lieutenant-Colonel Stibbs, of the Twelfth Iowa, mounting a captured artillery horse, quickly reformed the brigade in line of battle and dispatched Sergeant-Major Burch forward to inform Colonel Marshall of the Seventh Minnesota, of the death of Colonel Hill. Colonel Marshall not stopping to look