Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/519

 ranks to the number of 1,350 men. The Fourth was in the army under General Sturgis in his disastrous Mississippi campaign that marched in June to find General Forrest’s army. Lieutenant W. F. Scott gives the following graphic description of the Battle of Guntown:

“General Sturgis’ army consisted of about twelve thousand men. The cavalry, numbering three thousand, was under command of General B. H. Grierson. Colonel Winslow, of Iowa, had command of a brigade consisting of the Third and Fourth Iowa, and the Tenth Missouri. The cavalry kept in advance of the army, and on the morning of the 10th of June became engaged with the enemy’s cavalry near Guntown, a small station on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The Rebels fell back until they gained the protection of their main body, which was soon found to be posted in force and ready for battle. Our infantry was over five or six miles in the rear. General Sturgis ordered it up on the double-quick, on learning the disposition of the enemy, and directed the cavalry to engage him until the infantry should arrive. The enemy, under Forrest, was about equal to our force, and was strongly posted on the crest of a semi-circular hill or ridge, in front of which ran a small creek with but one bridge and otherwise impassable, except in a very few places for footmen. The day was very warm and when the infantry regiments came up they were exhausted and disordered, having double-quicked the whole distance from where they were ordered forward. By another great blunder close up with them came the train of more than two hundred wagons, which was hurried across the bridge and parked in a field within easy range and sight of the enemy’s batteries. If there was a time when the attacking force should be well organized and disposed with particular skill it should be when the enemy has so great advantage in position. But in this instance the infantry, tired and disordered, was hurried into the fight, already opened by the cavalry, and was soon and completely beaten. The division, brigade and subordinate officers made strenuous efforts to check the tide of defeat, but without avail, and the whole army was soon in full retreat, the greater part in utter confusion. The Rebels rejoicing in their easy victory pursued with unrelenting vigor, capturing the entire wagon train and cutting off our weary infantry men in large numbers. It was some time before an attempt at order in the retreat was made, and then Colonel Winslow’s brigade was ordered to act as rear guard, it being the only organized force in the whole command. Of the First Brigade of cavalry a large part had been taken as an escort for the commanding general, while several detachments had been used for other purposes. No attempt was made to restore order in the infantry, and it was hurried along, a fleeing mob. Back toward Memphis fled the disordered army, its retreat