Wilder Grew the Cheers: With the 35th Iowa at Pleasant Hill

A setting sun silhouetted the charging Confederates as they broke the first line of Federals at Pleasant Hill on the evening of April 9, 1864. Chaplain Francis Evans of the 35th Iowa observed their approach from the second line and marveled at the response of his fellow Iowans.

    "While the Rebels were charging up the field and the troops in our second line were sitting and lying on the ground waiting for orders, a shell from a Rebel gun struck Peter Harrison of Co. A on the head, knocking one side of it entirely off, and then passed through the breast of Captain Henry Blanck of the same company, killing them both instantly," Evans wrote. "The Rebels continued to advance until within about 200 yards of our main line when our boys, receiving orders to charge, sprang up with a wild cheer and poured into the Rebels such a deadly volley that they paused in their defiant advance to anticipated triumph and began gradually to fall back. Our brave boys advanced rapidly upon them, pouring in upon them volley after volley of the most terrific musketry I ever heard. Wilder and wilder grew the cheers as, with irresistible impetuosity, they pressed down upon their faltering foes, cutting them down like grass before the mower’s scythe until the Rebels, broken and disheartened, precipitately fled, leaving our noble boys masters of the field."

Chaplain Evans’ description of the Battle of Pleasant Hill first saw publication in the May 20, 1864, edition of the Muscatine Journal.

 

When mustered into service in September 1862, the 35th Iowa was equipped with .69 caliber M1842 rifled muskets but by the spring of 1864 was equipped with .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets that they would carry for the balance of the war. 

Grand Ecore, Louisiana

April 14, 1864

          I propose, if not objectionable to you, to transmit to your readers through the columns of your paper some accounts of the Battle of Pleasant Hill which for the time employed was one of the most hotly contested battles of the war.

          About 4 o’clock on the afternoon of the second day after we left Grand Ecore, we heard heavy firing apparently several miles in advance of us which we supposed proceeded from the gunboats on Red River, distant from the road on which we were marching from 7-10 miles. We then moved on with increased rapidity and went into camp about dark within a mile of Pleasant Hill, a little village 36 miles in a westerly direction from Grand Ecore. Before we arrived at our place for camping, we learned that General Banks, with a part of the 13th and 19th Army Corps, had met the Rebel forces and that a hard battle had taken place but with what result we could not ascertain.

          We were ordered that night to be prepared to move the following morning at 5 o’clock. The next morning we were aroused from our slumbers by the beating of the drums at half past 1 o’clock. An order was issued from headquarters to extinguish the camp fires. Various rumors then spread through the different regiments and long before daylight we learned that Banks had been severely repulsed at Walnut Hills, 16 miles from where we were camped with the loss of 22 guns, over 100 wagons loaded with provisions and ammunition, and a large number of killed, wounded, and prisoners.

          It was thought, from appearances, that a retreat was in contemplation. To this our brave boys were strongly opposed as they were anxious to meet their exultant foes in mortal combat and snatch from them the laurels they had won the day before. General A.J. Smith, commander of that portion of the 16th Army Corps to which we belong, and General Joseph Mower, commander of our division, were both desirous of making a stand and awaiting an attack from the Rebels at Pleasant Hill. This was agreed upon and about 3 p.m., we moved on to that place and formed a line of battle in an open field surrounded by timber and lying on the side of a hill.

          The village consisted of about a dozen houses in the woods which were situated along the upper part of the field and down a short distance on either side. The field sloped gradually down from a line of woods on the top of the hill about half or three-quarters of a mile where it was met by a heavy body of timber and underbrush and was about half a mile wide. About halfway down the field was a ditch covered with a thin growth of cane running directly across the field and then winding down to nearly the foot of the hill.

          

Chaplain Francis W. Evans, 35th Iowa Infantry 

    Our forces were formed into two lines of battle. The first was composed of a part of the 13th Army Corps and was stationed at the lower end of the field, just in the edge of the timber; the second and main line, composed of a portion of the 16th Army Corps on which the generals chiefly relied upon for the repulse of the Rebels, was formed on the upper part of the field about 100 yards from the timber. A regiment was thrown forward from the second line and placed along the lower side of the ditch referred to for the purpose of supporting an Indiana battery down in the timber to the right which had been engaged in an artillery duel with a Rebel battery for some time before we went on the field.

          Immediately on the left of the 35th Iowa, which formed part of the main line, was stationed a Vermont battery of four guns, to be opened on the Rebels should they succeed in advancing through the line in the edge of the timber. About 4 o’clock a dropping fire of musketry in the timber indicated that skirmishing had commenced. This continued, increasing all the time in the number and nearness of the shots. At 5:15, the Rebels made a combined and furious attack upon our first line, breaking, scattering, and driving it before them.

          With the most unbounded confidence of ultimate success, they advanced rapidly and defiantly up the hill, cheering and yelling like so many demons exulting over some hellish conquest. When the horsemen and footmen, who had come upon the field not so much to engage in as to be spectators of the contest, saw our men falling back and the Rebels triumphantly advancing gave up all for lost. Panic-stricken, they began to hurry away in disorder from the field. Some of the teamsters and ambulance drivers partook of the same spirit and began to whip up their horses and jostle against each other, apparently unconscious of anything but the desire to get away from the scene of danger where shells were flying and bullets whistling made such unpleasant music.

16th Army Corps badge

          A general stampede among horsemen, footmen, and teamsters would have taken place had not some ambulance drivers with great presence of mind blocked up the road and made it impassable. This checked their headlong career while a guard stationed along the road interposed, making them pass along in regular succession, thus restoring order and compelling system. While looking on our broken line, the falling back of our scattered regiments, the bold, daring advance of the Rebels, and the confused panic of the horsemen referred to, I did not doubt for a moment that when the enemy came upon our main line of battle, they would be compelled to pause in their mad career and “about face” go back fleeing over the ground upon which they were so confidently advancing for I knew the courage, perseverance, energy, and enthusiasm of the boys who composed that line.

          While the Rebels were charging up the field and the troops in our second line were sitting and lying on the ground waiting for orders, a shell from a Rebel gun struck Peter Harrison of Co. A on the head, knocking one side of it entirely off, and then passed through the breast of Captain Henry Blanck of the same company, killing them both instantly.

          The Rebels continued to advance until within about 200 yards of our main line when our boys, receiving orders to charge, sprang up with a wild cheer and poured into the Rebels such a deadly volley that they paused in their defiant advance to anticipated triumph and began gradually to fall back. Our brave boys advanced rapidly upon them, pouring in upon them volley after volley of the most terrific musketry I ever heard. Wilder and wilder grew the cheers as, with irresistible impetuosity, they pressed down upon their faltering foes, cutting them down like grass before the mower’s scythe until the Rebels, broken and disheartened, precipitately fled, leaving our noble boys masters of the field.

          As the Rebels fled from the field and disappeared in the woods, a volley that almost shook the field was sent after them and a multitude of deafening cheers proclaimed the victory won. The musketry during the battle was vastly heavier than the heaviest volleys fired at the siege of either Jackson or Vicksburg. Men who were at Shiloh and other battles says the volleys at Pleasant Hill were the heaviest they ever heard. Others who were in the Battle of Iuka affirm that there was but little if any difference in the firing of the two battles.

          

Major General Joseph A. Mower 

But what shall I say of the glorious old 35th Iowa? No language is sufficient to afford here a mead of praise. Well may the fathers, mothers, wives, brothers, sisters, and children of the noble boys who compose this gallant regiment be proud of them. When they were ordered to charge, they sprang forward and fought with an energy and heroism which could have sprung only from hearts inspired with the purest patriotism and nerved with an unfaltering trust in the righteousness of their cause. Each one appeared anxious to be the foremost in the front and seemed to vie in courage with the bravest of the brave.

          The regiment was in that part of the field where the shots, shells, and bullets fell thickest and the battle raged the fiercest. The 47th Illinois of the Second Brigade, 7 companies of the 35th Iowa, and the same number from the 33rd Missouri were all the troops of our division that were in the field. The loss in killed and wounded of the division totaled 88, of which the 35th Iowa lost 64. Out of the color guard of sic men, four were wounded. James Dunn, the color sergeant, when shot through the thigh, placed the end of the color staff in the ground and held the staff perpendicular so that the colors floated over him. Calling Lieutenant Lucas to him, he said “Lieutenant, I am badly wounded, take the flag!” One of the only two guards who remained unwounded assisted him to return back of the line, leaving his comrade Thomas Purcell to carry both the colors and the banner until his return. While carrying the flag, he said to Lieutenant Lucas, “Lieutenant, wherever you go, I will follow with the colors.”

          The death of Captain Blanck left Co. A without a commissioned officer. While pressing victoriously on in the charge they called for a leader and Lieutenant Colonel Keeler, who was in command of the regiment, send them his acting adjutant, Lieutenant Lucas of Co. F, who led them, gallantly through the fight. Colonel Hill, who commanded the brigade, won the admiration of all, both in his own and other brigades, by his coolness and courage in the very thickest of the fight; little Fred Hill was not behind his father a whit in this respect.


Lieutenant Colonel Keeler had the scabbard of his sword broken by a shell it is supposed. He received great praise from all quarters for his manly daring in leading the regiment where danger seemed to thicken most. An officer in one of the other brigades remarked to me, “I was struck with the appearance of Colonel Keeler when I saw him in front of his regiment. Keeler is a noble, brave man.” Major John exhibited all the cool courage, presence of mind, and resolute attention to duty that any man could exhibit.

          Near the close of the battle, General Mower while passing the regiment inquired, “What regiment boys?” They replied, “The 35th Iowa.” Mower said, “You are brave boys, nobly have you done your duty.” They responded with three deafening cheers for old fighting Joe Mower which seemed to please the general very much. Gallantly have the officers and men of the 35th Iowa sustained the reputation of their noble state.

          The battle lasted two and a quarter hours, commencing at 5:15 and closing at 7:30. The next morning, notwithstanding our glorious victory, General Banks ordered an inglorious retreat, leaving our dead unburied and some of the wounded on the field. General Smith and General Mower remonstrated, but Banks was inflexible. The boys were very much exasperated, yet they had the satisfaction that they had done their duty nobly. Cos. F, G, and H were on picket at the time of the battle and did not therefore get to participate in it.


Chaplain Evans, a pioneer settler of Iowa, served with the 35th Iowa from its mustering in the summer of 1862 until August 27, 1864, when he resigned his commission.  

Source:

Letter from Chaplain Francis Wesley Evans, 35th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Muscatine Journal (Iowa), May 20, 1864, pg. 1


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