Tramps and Triumphs of the 2nd Iowa: Part I- Fort Donelson

In the spring of 1885, the Omaha Bee newspaper in Nebraska ran a 12-part series of articles written by John T. Bell of the 2nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry covering the entirety of his service with that regiment. 

    A resident of Omaha at the time of his enlistment, he joined the ranks of Co. C on December 2, 1861, at the tender age of 19. He would survive the war with the rank of second lieutenant and 20 years after his discharge penned these reminiscences. The following year, these articles were published in book form as Tramps and Triumphs of the 2nd Iowa Infantry.

    Bell’s reminiscences are simply superb, really giving the reader an intimate look at life in the ranks of the famous 2nd Iowa. Three of his articles will be featured in this series; the first, covers the regiment’s baptism of fire at Fort Donelson in February 1862. Part 2 will cover the regiment’s role at the Battle of Shiloh and the third covers the Second Battle of Corinth in October 1862. Bell’s rank at Fort Donelson and Shiloh was that of a private; by the time of Corinth, he had gained his first stripes as a corporal.

 

This evocative Kurz & Allison print from the 1880s depicts the charge of the 2nd Iowa at Fort Donelson. "The zip of the rifle balls have a peculiar stinging sound and the shriek of bursting shells causes one to dodge instinctively but I think that each soldier is impressed with the belief that he will not be struck," John T. Bell wrote of this charge. "The dominant desire of his mind is to rush forward and carry the place by assault."


          Leaving the steamer at 3 o’clock in the morning of February 14, 1862, we marched four miles over villainous roads and came to the Union forces investing the fort, stacking arms near General Charles F. Smith’s campfire and while waiting orders listened for the first time to the firing of contending forces, then confined entirely to the skirmish line. Occasionally a man would be brought back to the rear with blood upon his clothing showing that he had been struck by some Rebel sharpshooter within the line of yellow clay works which we caught glimpses of through the woods. While here we saw General Grant for the first time as he rode up and held a conference with General Smith, then mounted the yellow horse we became so familiar with afterwards and passed off to the extreme left of the line.

          A 2 o’clock our regiment deployed as skirmishers and remained on this duty until dark when we were withdrawn to the rear where we built fires in a sheltered ravine and tried to make out supper with such supplies as we had with us, though we were traveling light at that time with the exception of extra weight in the way of cartridges. We had left our blankets on the boat and as we had no tents we suffered greatly with the cold during the night, the ground being covered with snow. As our rations consisted wholly of hard bread, some of us started off foraging early the next morning and raised a few chickens and some pork which we boiled in a pot we borrowed from the people who furnished the provender.

          We lounged around during the forenoon awaiting orders and some of the boys amused themselves cutting down the young hickory saplings around about us. As George Howell handed to a comrade the axe he had just used he said, “that is the first tree I ever cut down in my life and it will be the last.” Someone asked what he meant. “I will be a dead man before the sun sets this evening,” he replied.

          At 2 o’clock, General Smith, to whose division we had been assigned, rode down to our position on the extreme left of the line and held a short conversation with Colonel Tuttle; then the order “fall in!” is heard. The regiment is formed behind our stacked muskets and the command “take arms!” is given; the line dresses right and left on the colors. The colonel explains that we are to charge the enemy’s breastworks and take them at the point of the bayonet, particular instructions being given that not a shot is to be fired until we are inside the works. The left wing of the regiment would go in advance under the command of Colonel Tuttle, the right to follow as support under Lieutenant Colonel Baker.

General Charles F. Smith

          Our first line of battle thus formed, the left wing which includes my company (C) and the colors moves forward with the right a short distance to the rear. We crossed an open meadow, then a gully, tore down and clambered over a rail fence and commenced the ascent of a hill covered with abatis or fallen trees. The line is well preserved considering the nature of the obstructions and thus far not a shot has been fired by the enemy. On we go when suddenly we reach a point on the hill where a full view is obtained of the Rebel rifle pits in front and as far as we can see to the right and left of us.

“Crash!” and the yellow clay of the pits is covered by a flame of fire which leaps from the rifles of the Mississippians and Tennesseans by whom they are manned and who are evidently anticipating an assault. The volley passes over our heads, cutting twigs and limbs off the trees. We give a hearty cheer and rush forward; then the shots of the enemy begin to tell.

I feel myself crowded to the right and hear my comrade on the left exclaim, “Howell, what are you doing here?” He turned to find that George Howell is crowding forward into the front rank. For an instant I see him, a round spot in his forehead, and he falls dead as the bullet crashes through his brain. Our captain [Captain Jonathan S. Slaymaker] falls and as some of the boys stop to help him he cries, “Go on! Go on! Don’t stop for me,” and never speaks again. The first lieutenant drops with a dreadful wound in the leg; the second lieutenant is wounded; Harry Doolittle, the color bearer, receives four wounds instantaneously and the flag is stretched upon the ground. Corporal S.G. Page raises it but is shot dead; Corporal Henry Churchill then takes the colors and has his arm broken and is succeeded by Corporal Voltaire Twombley who is knocked down by a spent ball but jumps up and carries the colors to the close of the engagement.

Colonel Tuttle is severely injured; Lieutenant Colonel Baker has his hand grazed by a bullet; Major Chipman is dangerously wounded and Captains Slaymaker and Clotman are killed, as is Lieutenant Harper. We had but 200 yards to go after receiving the first fire of the enemy before we reach their works and capture them at the point of the bayonet and this distance is made at double quick time. Yet in doing it our company of not over 75 men incurs a loss of 26 killed and wounded.



We have passed through the dreadful ordeal without firing a shot but when the earthworks are gained and the enemy is in full retreat to a second line of entrenchments, our balls fall thick and fast and do great execution. We continued the advance a considerable distance but the Rebels rally in force behind the second line of works which are supplied with artillery and much heavier than those we have captured and we are ordered to return and hold what we have gained at such fearful cost.

There had been firing on the right for two days before this with no advantage to either side, ours being the only successful assault during the entire siege. Reinforcements rushed up the hill; batteries placed in position and orders given us to hold that line at all hazards. It was a bitter cold night; we had no blankets and we tried to build up fires but as the light flashed up it drew the attention of the Rebel artillery to our exact locality and they rattled shells in among us so that we preferred to risk freezing to death and extinguished the fires. Some of us stole quietly in towards the main line of fortifications and could hear the cries and screams of the Rebel wounded as they were being picked up and conveyed to the hospitals.

Towards daylight we heard the sounding of bugle calls and the movement of Rebel artillery and fully expected an attempt would be made to regain the line we then occupied. As the light became clearer, we saw a group of men standing on the main line of works who were seen to come towards us with a white flag. Colonel Baker, accompanied by two or three officers, went out to meet them. The flag was carried by a Negro, the other person being a white officer who brought from General Buckner a note proposing the appointment of commissioners to agree upon the terms for the surrender of Rebel forces and suggesting an armistice until noon for that purpose. This note was sent by Colonel Baker to General Grant to which the latter replied with his famous “unconditional surrender” proposition which was soon accepted. And so, Fort Donelson, with 13,000 prisoners, 40 pieces of siege artillery, and about 20,000 stand of small arms was ours. Glory enough for one day!

As the first lodgment in the enemy’s works was made by our regiment, by order of General Smith, we marched into the main fortifications at the head of the Union forces and the flag of the 2nd Iowa Infantry, riddled with bullets and stained with the blood of the men who had carried it on the preceding day, was the first to float from the Rebel flagstaff. The following dispatch was sent to Adjutant General N.B. Baker at Des Moines by our department commander General Henry Halleck on February 19: “The 2nd Iowa Infantry proved themselves the bravest of the brave. They had the honor of heading the column which entered Fort Donelson.”

How one feels under fire has been the subject of many articles. There is no doubt that in making a charge there is less strain on the soldier’s nerves, though his comrades are being shot down all around him, than in an engagement where he is compelled to lie still and suffer the enemy’s fire as was the case with our regiment at Shiloh where we had 97 men killed and wounded as we lay without firing a shot in the ‘Old Road’ at the point designated by the Confederates as the Hornet’s Nest.



I remember the most important impression made upon my mind in the intense excitement of the charge at Donelson was a feeling of personal degradation on seeing our flag spread out on the ground. It was no longer a combination of stripes and stars in silken texture, but the vital personification of human liberty battling for its own life. It downfall, though but temporary, seemed the triumph of wrong, injustice, and oppression.

The zip of the rifle balls have a peculiar stinging sound and the shriek of bursting shells cause one to dodge instinctively, but I think that each soldier is impressed with the belief that he will not be struck. The dominant desire of his mind is to rush forward and carry the place by assault. It is a remarkable fact that in nearly every instance when a man is struck he impulsively exclaims, “Oh, my Lord! Oh, my God!” or in some similar language addresses his maker, especially if the wound is mortal. A feeling of intense hatred of the enemy possesses him as the charge is made and he sees his comrades falling about him and he is carried away with a wild desire to kill and slay in turn. For a moment, those opposing him are not human beings but devils and demons whom it is his duty to slaughter without mercy.

Source:

“War Recollections: The Campaigns of the Second Iowa Infantry- Baptizing the Flag at Donelson,” Private John Thomas Bell, Co. C, 2nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Omaha Evening Bee (Omaha, Nebraska), March 7, 1885, pg. 7

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