Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/483

 who was barely able to mount his horse. The march had been a hard one and of the seven hundred and fifty men in the regiment less than two hundred and fifty were able to keep their places in the ranks. Before General Steele’s army had marched half the distance from Helena to Little Rock, more than 1,000 men had been sent to the hospital at Duvall’s Bluff. The Fortieth Regiment was with General Steele in his disastrous Camden expedition and suffered all the hardships of that badly managed campaign. The army moved from Little Rock on the 22d of March, 1864, the Fortieth forming a part of the Third Brigade of the Third Division. On the 3d of April the regiment was in a heavy skirmish near Okolona, in which Lieutenant Roberts was wounded. In the running engagement at Prairie d’Anne on the 10th of April the regiment was conspicuous, losing eight men wounded. On the 27th General Steele began his disastrous retreat, the enemy pursuing. On the 29th the main body of the Union army was in camp on the bottom lands of the Saline River at Jenkins’ Ferry. Heavy skirmishing at once began which was continued at intervals until after dark.

BATTLE OF JENKINS’ FERRY

Rain had been falling all day and came down in torrents during the entire night. Wet to the skin and covered with mud, the soldiers worked with desperate energy to save the army, but morning came before the passage was completed and with the first rays of light the enemy opened the attack. The situation was perilous in the extreme. A battle must be fought against greatly superior numbers or the army must surrender. The Thirty-third Iowa under Colonel Mackay held the extreme rear near the bluff. At daylight this regiment was fiercely attacked. It was hastily reënforced by the Fiftieth Indiana, but the line was gradually forced back by superior numbers. The Ninth Wisconsin and Twenty-ninth Iowa were posted in a strong position about half a mile to the rear of the line