Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-06-12


The following interesting letter, written by
leo. Greenhow, Orderly Sergeant of company
}, 35th Iowa regiment, TO his sister in this
,ity, gives detailed account of all the &C
ions in which the 35th has taken part
rom the time Of leaving Duckport up to the
operations before Vicksburg. The writer has
'eceived several severe wounds during the
at Wilson's Cretk, while CALAMITY
ing with his comrades Of the glorious
First" the other at Shiloh, (where he was
with the 18th regiment,) the ball entering
ust below the eye, and coming out of the
neck. He is a brave soldier and true patriot.
His letter furnishes the most gratifying evil
dence of the grit and enthusiasm ofour latest
Muscatine regiment:
CAMP OF THE THIRTY FIFTH Iowa.
VIcKsBuRG, Tuesday, May 25th, 1868
My DEAR SISTER Il had made up my
mind that | would not write until we were
in Vicksburg, that was when we left Duck
port, but it is now over three weeks since we
left there, during which time we have
marched nearly two hundred miles and taken
the capital of Mississippi, (Jackson,) and this
is the ninth days fighting here l think
my luck getting shot has changed for the
better.
The fight at Jackson only lasted about
four hours, but our division did it all. Brig
Gen. Tuttle commands this division, and
Gen. Matthias our brigade. The latter was
Captain of company d, LIST Iowa. He is a
Dutchman, and one of the spunkiest "cusses"
l ever saw. The day we arrived here we
formed our line of battle about half mile
from the enemy's works, and "our Dutch
man" rode up in front to make his boys a
speech to get them in good humor will
give you his speech, word for word 'Now,
poys, shust let 'em come out dere, so many
as dey wants to; and, poys, if you have to
sha'ge, just yell Iowa. and den dey runs
like hip AS you are aware, we have an
Iowa brigade, and all our Generals are Iowa
men. But to return to jackson. That morn.
ing we made a forced march of eleven miles,
during one of the hardest rains ever saw;
the roads We're perfect "sloughs," knee-deep
in mud and water all the time. When about
three miles from jackson the fighting COM
menced, and although 1t was mostly done by
artillery, yet we had to support our batteries.
The shells and solid shot whstled around us
quite lively. We drove the rebels before
us in fine style until we got about half a
mile from town, when the enemy retired
into their breastworks. Our brigade laid on
hill in full view of them, and they threw
shell at us as fast as they could, but their
range was poor and they all passed over us
except one, which took off the leg of mar
in company G. They began to lower the
range of their guns. We were then ordered
to take the battery at the point of the bayo
net. They run, however, before our arrange.
ments could be completed, as the I'd brigade
had thanked them and got into their rifle pits
before they were aware of it. We then went
into the town on the double-quick, yelling al
every jump. Stacking arms, we broke for &
chicken-coo which we saw near by. You
must understand that we had done all oul
marching on half rations, and sometimes MOI
even that amount was allowed US and now
after fighting for it, we were determined t.
our labors.
| forgot to mention in it's proper place thai
Sieve kennon was shot through the brain
accidentally, killing him instantly, lat jackson
during the attack, by one Of his own com
rades, who fell down, causing his gun tt
go off.
In our "raid" on Jackson, l secured abou
dozen pounds of sugar, some tea two chick
ems, onions, green peas, new potatoes, three
pounds Of chewing tobacco, two pounds o
smoking tobacco, and lot of Confederat,
money, which, by the way, is worth exactly
as much as waste paper. Before night VIZ
found lot of hams and bacon, and barre
Of whisky. The latter article was rea
blessing, 1 tell you, for besides marching il
the rain, we sometimes laid down in the mut
for an hour at time, to escape the fire o
the enemy's batteries, so that when night
came you had better believe we we're tret
and wet. There was not single drunken
man in our regiment, however
We remained in jackson three days, tear
ing up TAI roads and destroying military
stores, and then started on our march again
The distance from jackson to Vicksburg i
fifty miles. We made it in three days, cross
ing the Black river on a pontoon bridge
We are having good times now. We are ly
ing behind the brow of hill, about foul
hundred yards from the enemy breastworks
On the summit of the hill we have abou
thirty pieces of artillery planted before oul
brigade. We are opposite their principa
fort, and it is rumored that they intend te
make their escape from this fort But if they
undertake that they will run against some
thing, for besides our cannon we have rifle
pits to fight in, so that nothing will be exposed
except our heads.
Last Friday our division charged the
breastworks. There are three brigades in a
division. Ours is the third brigade, so that
we are on the extreme left of the division
We went in on the doub e-quick, by the right
flank, in four ranks. Our brigade lay per.
fectly exposed on the summit of hill, only
four hundred yards from the enemy, while
the list and I'd brigades passed US. There was
the heaviest fire of shell, grape and canister
ever saw or heard, but the range of their
artillery was little too high. Their mus
kerry, however was even more terrific. We
were ordered to lie down. You may rest
me and the ground. The boys took it very
cool-not one Of them finched. Just as l
was lying down rifle ball raised my hat off
my head. The charge was unsuccessful,
and wes'were obliged to retreat. The LIST
and I'd brigades suffered terribly. Our loss
was slight, as we did not charge. 1t is no
use to charge their breastworks. They are
on hill nearly perpendicular. 1 expect
Grant will make regular siege of it now.
We have got them completely surrounded
gunboats in front, and our army in the rear
Yesterday there was truce for three hours,
to bury the dead, during which time Secesh
and Federals commingled together and talked
freely. They have large army in Vicks-
burg.
There is not much fighting now, except
between sharpshooters. Once in while
volley of rifle balls or charge of grape shot
whistle, through the timber over our heads,
but we Just laugh at them. Yesterday I was
out half way to the enemy's lines, just to
get sight of the Mississippi river. You can
believe it did me good, for water is very
scarce with us. | have not washed nv face