Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/475

 to Corinth. Company H in April being sent a few miles from Corinth to guard a corral, was surrounded by several hundred of the enemy’s cavalry, the captain and most of his men captured. During the remainder of the year the regiment was employed in Tennessee guarding lines of railroad and similar duties. In the spring of 1864, the Thirty-ninth joined Sherman’s army at Gordon’s Mills, and from this time until it reached Kingston our regiment marched and fought on the right wing. It led the army in the flanking movement by Calhoun, which caused the evacuation of Resaca by the Confederates. Here it was engaged with superior numbers and was extricated form a position of great peril by the arrival of reënforcements. The regiment remained at Rome doing garrison duty until October when, joining the forces under General John M. Corse, it participated in the

BRILLIANT DEFENSE OF ALLATOONA

General Hood in command of the Confederate army was now moving northward and sent a force of cavalry to cut Sherman’s communication near Marietta, while with the main army he crossed the Chattahoochee and marched on Dallas. A large force of the enemy, after destroying the railroad at Big Shanty, moved against Allatoona Pass, where there were immense stores of rations for Sherman’s army guarded by the Ninety-third Illinois under Lieutenant-Colonel Tourtelotte. General John M. Corse was at Rome with his division. General Sherman signaled him to reënforce Allatoona Pass and hold it at all hazards. Early on the morning of October 5th Corse was there with 2,000 men, including the Thirty-ninth Iowa under Lieutenant-Colonel Redfield. Soon after daylight General French had the works completely invested and sent Corse a summons to surrender, which was promptly declined. An assault was then ordered and the Confederate army rushed upon the outer works with the utmost fury. A deadly fire was opened upon them by the garrison making