Losing Iuka, Taking Iuka: Adventures of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry

Less than a week after being driven out of Iuka by General Sterling Price's army, the 8th Wisconsin marched back into town with General William S. Rosecrans' army in pursuit of Price. 

    "In the morning, we moved cautiously into Iuka, finding the Rebels gone with most of their baggage," recalled Captain James O. Bartlett of Co. K. "They had made an awful scattering of knapsacks. We were ordered in pursuit and chased them about eight miles south, finding wagons burned and guns scattered along the road. Finding that they could run better or with more success than fight, we abandoned the pursuit."

    But the trouble was just beginning for the regiment, specifically for its colonel Robert C. Murphy. Within days, General Rosecrans had the colonel arrested for abandoning Iuka without a fight as is explained in "Losing Iuka, Taking Iuka."


The color guard of the 8th Wisconsin pose with the regimental mascot, Old Abe the war eagle in this image from the collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Old Abe, once fully grown, had a six-foot wingspan and weighed more than 11 pounds. "The regiment very seldom went into battle without the eagle being with the colors, although in one or two instances when the regiment double-quicked into action as at Iuka, the bearer of the eagle could not keep up owing to the encumbrance of the shield and bird," remembered Captain William D. Britton. 

Camp at Rienzi, Mississippi

September 27, 1862

Editors Advocate,

          I thought perhaps you might feel somewhat interested in the doings and whereabouts of Co. K, so I seat myself down by a log about two miles from the outskirts of the little town of Rienzi where we are doing duty as grand guard or outposts.

          Our regiment has seen considerable service since the 18th of August when we left Camp Clear Creek. We had a very hard march and were constantly on duty in one capacity or another. We marched to 15 miles beyond Tuscumbia, Alabama, a distance of 75 miles when orders arrived to countermarch. We immediately commenced retracing our steps.

          The 8th Wisconsin was selected to act as rear guard to the movement of this division of the Army of the Mississippi. We moved along under the direction of Colonel Robert Murphy, commanding the brigade, and sending forward stores, cotton, and a host of Negroes, everything went off in good shape until we arrived at Iuka, Mississippi on September 12th. We intended to remain here until we could ship forward what stores and cotton were there, but the morning of the 13th we were greeted with the cheering words, “The Rebels are inside camp.” And sure enough, they were, if not in camp, very close to it.

          The 8th Wisconsin got into line in double quick time and a party of skirmishers were sent out who engaged the enemy and drove them from their position. About this time a few shells were thrown by our guns, which warned them that it would be necessary to fight in order to get possession. The enemy retired.

          We had with us a part of the 5th Minnesota and part of the 7th Illinois Cavalry. In this dash of the Rebels, about 3,000 cavalrymen strong, we lost from 20-25 men in prisoners and one of these was wounded. Our forces took three or four prisoners, one being a captain from whom we learned that a large force was moving on Iuka which was a very strong hint to us that it was best to retire in good order. Colonel Murphy, after looking the matter over, came to the conclusion to leave the place quite early in the morning.

          Accordingly, preparations were commenced to put everything to rights so as to leave in the safest manner. Co. K was selected as outposts and were on duty all night until called in at 4 o’clock in the morning. Our train had been gone for some time and the regiment moved on about the time we were relieved. Cos. K and G of our regiment were the last infantry that left the town and only a small squadron of cavalry left at about the same time.

          I saw a sight that day that my pen cannot describe. About one mile from the town, a large field or clearing over a mile across was a living mass of Negroes- old men and women, middle-aged and children, without number in all the habiliments peculiar to the race. But the most novel feature was almost everyone had a bundle of old clothes not worth carrying on top of their heads and one or two under each arm. One man had a small tub on his head with a child in it. Children were carried in every possible way which could be conceived. Their number, as near as I could calculate, was from 1,200-1,500. A little farther on we were overtaken by some Rebel scouts who exchanged a few shots with our rear guard. Someone shouted, “Darkies, the Rebels are coming!” and that ocean of bundles flew in every direction and the Negroes traveled in a way that was hard to beat.

          That day we marched 22 miles to Farmington, pretty well jaded and hungry. At 12 o’clock that same night, we were reinforced and ordered back, arriving at Burnsville about 10 o’clock the next day, a distance of 15 miles. There we remained until the next morning when we conceived the plan and undertook to execute it, of attacking Price at Iuka with his 20,000 men with about 2,500 men all told. We marched to Iuka and drove in their pickets and came so near the town that we could see that the place was alive with soldiers, and that the best plan was to retire while we could with credit to ourselves to avoid being “gobbled up.”

          A force was ordered forward from Corinth and two divisions, one under General Rosecrans, moved on Iuka from the southwest while another under General Ord moved in from the west. The Rebels obstructed the road so that the force under General Ord was delayed in getting through and then threw the main force on our division, thinking to annihilate us and make good their defense against the other force.

They attacked us with a determination hardly ever overcome, but were met with the same determination which made it one of the most sanguinary and desperate battles. You can judge something of it; the battle lasted two hours and ten minutes. The enemy’s loss in killed, wounded, and missing was about 1,000, while ours will not exceed 500. It was a terrible fight. The firing was incessant for over two hours until darkness prevented distinguishing for from friend, leaving our forces occupying the battlefield. During the night, the enemy withdrew to make a hasty retreat which was their only chance to escape being captured.

The night was devoted to taking care of the wounded. In the morning, we moved cautiously into Iuka, finding the Rebels gone with most of their baggage. They had made an awful scattering of knapsacks. We were ordered in pursuit and chased them about eight miles south, finding wagons burned and guns scattered along the road. Finding that they could run better or with more success than fight, we abandoned the pursuit and our division marched to Jacinto, and from came here to Rienzi.

Colonel Robert C. Murphy
8th Wisconsin Infantry

Colonel Murphy’s decision to abandon Iuka without a fight did not sit well with his commanding officer General William S. Rosecrans and by the end of the month Murphy was under arrest and court martialed. Captain William B. Britton of Co. G (who would later succeed Murphy as colonel of the 8th Wisconsin) defended his commander, stating that “no man who saw him in the skirmishes at Iuka could ever accuse him of cowardice, for he could seen in every part of the field directing the artillery and infantry.”

“With the small force of 800 men, he drove 2,600 Rebel cavalry three times from entering the town and with the prisoners he took, managed to find out the position and strength of Price’s army, as well as his intention to attack us the following morning,” Britton continued. “He could get no communications from Corinth as the wire had been cut and the railroad destroyed. He acted on his own responsibility and rather than let his little force of 800 men be cut to pieces by 30,000 Rebels and finally have to surrender, he ordered the place to be evacuated on the morning of September 14th which was done with little loss.”

The court apparently agreed with Britton’s arguments and Murphy was exonerated. Rosecrans, however, disapproved of the findings of the court, but as he was on his way out to assume command of the Army of the Cumberland, let the court’s findings stand.

However, on December 20, 1862, Colonel Murphy found himself in command of General U.S. Grant’s supply depot in Holly Springs, Mississippi when General Earl Van Dorn delivered a surprise dawn attack with a determined force of cavalrymen. It was a Union disaster and it was claimed that Van Dorn’s troopers pulled a mortified Murphy out from beneath his bed still clad in his pajamas. The subsequent destruction of Holly Springs (and its millions of dollars of army stores) put the brakes on Grant’s Mississippi campaign and led to a second court martial for the hapless Colonel Murphy. At his court martial, Murphy stated, “My fate is most mortifying. I have wished a hundred times today that I had been killed.”

Colonel Murphy was dismissed from the service January 10, 1863.

To learn more about the 8th Wisconsin's mascot, click here:

Old Abe, The Magnificent War Eagle of the 8th Wisconsin

Sources:

Letters from Captain James O. Bartlett, Co. K, 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, also Captain William B. Britton, Co. B, 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, Quiner Scrapbooks, Volume 4, Wisconsin Historical Society

Lowry, Thomas P. Tarnished Eagles: The Courts-martial of Fifty Union Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 1997, pgs. 176-181

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