The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1863-01-29
"a CORRESPONDENTS to the State Register.
letter from Col. Williamson.
Col. j. A. Williamson, who I'D th


Col. j. A. William son, who I'D the
Iowa Fonrt:, Infantry at the Battle of
Vicksburg, has written his family in
this City an account of the engage
ment, from which we are permitted to
make the foil l,wing extracts
OK BOARD STEAMER NEBRASKA,
ra December 80, lse2
The Fourth was not actively engag.
ed until half past three O'Clock, when
Gen. Thayer's Brigade Was ordered
to storm q line of intrenchmen,s at
the foot of the hill, about half mile
in advance of us. The 4th being the
Oldest Regiment, and / the Oldest Col
onel, and having the right or advance
Of the brigade, j. became my. duty TO
lead the charge; which onght to be
denomnated forlorn ho le. L was
going ron horseback, but was order
ed by Gen. Thayer to dismount,
and like brave man as he is, hewent
by my side to the first line of intrench-
ments from which we drove the enemy
and followed them to the second,
when the General saw fatal error
had been made. The other Regi.
ments (the 9th, 26tl, Both and 34th)
had not followed us; and we We're
alone in the intrenchmsnts with ten
Enflading Batteries moving down,m
men. To stay in,such a place with
out support, seemed certain destruc-
ton ant to m ike the attempt to re-
treat seemed aim ,st as bad. I told
the General taat [ thougat | could
hold it until he, could bring all but
alas the regiments that were to have
supported us were by some mistake or.
dered in another direction / held
the place until all hope OF aid was lost,
when | gave the orde;' to fall back,
which was more difficult than the ap-
proach, as we had to fall back through
fallen timber and deep swamp
Many of my men fell down from sheer
exhaustion,
do not think that we were in the
intrenchments more than 80 minutes,
and during That time | lost more than
one hundred men, killed and wound.
ed, including some of the best officers
Of the regiment. i was slightly wound
ed in the leg and IN the thigh, though
not SO bad as to disable me. though
the wonnd in the thigh is quite pain
ifdl to lay. Ny coat and pants were
riddled with bullets and fragments of
Shells. Iii f.ct they were shot all
over. When coming out of the fight
I mel Gen Ste ,le (who at the time
thought had fallen back without hav
ing been in the, fight, much less inside
the intrenehments)who said to me-
IL heard that you were falling back
but did not believe it. Why are you
doug so? ?" 1t was no time for ex-
PLANTATION. l referred him to Gen.
Thayer for the reasons. A moment
after l met Gen. 'rhayer, who came
and took me by the hand and said,
.ssGod bless you, Colonel, God bless
.onr Regiment" and he wept like a
child in the presence of Gen. Steele
and Gen. Morgan. Fortunately, Gen
eral Morgan had seen lbe Charge we
made, though he was on another
point Of the field. Hen came forward
and took me by the, hand and said,
s'yon did nobly, sir; YOU did nobly." "
Itrained all night and made all the
dead AMI wounded lay on the field,
and some are there yet, the enemy re-
fusing to let me come for them with a
flag Of truce. Some 60 or 10 of the
wounded have been sent to st. Louis
to-day on the Hospital boat.