Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-12-08
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
THE HELENA ENGAeEMANT.
One of the Last and EIoodiest Battles of
the Civil War.


One of the Last and Bloodiest Battles of
the Civil War.
OF all the battles that were fought in
the southwest during the war that at
Helena, Ark, on July 4. 1868, ranks as
high a. any, every thing considered.
Not simply because Helena, with all its
government property was saved but
because the eonfederacy on that day re-
ceived its death blow. The main at
tack Of the enemy was made on the Lit
tie Rock road, where they stalIed every
thing on enforcing an entrance. They
captured Battery and drove the gall
liant Thirty-third Iowa from its SIP
port; but when our other batteries ana
infantry got a cross-fire on them they
had to abandon their dearlY-won prize,
for at this point they left the most of
their men on the field Our picl1ets
were driven in at $50 a. N. and the
fight lasted til II q. m, when the enemy
retired, wiser and considerable less in
numbers. With our little band of only
three thousand five hundred actually
engaged Oh the field. we killed, wound-
ed and captured almost our equal in
numbers and drove the enemy pell-
nell from the field. and saved those
eommissaries from falling into the
hands of the enemy; and all with a
small loss in comparison to that Of the
foe.
We were not caught mapping, for we
were in line, with stacked arms, three
mornings previous, at $3.50 o'clock, and
when the pickets We're fired on the
-,urth morning, we were up and ready
for the fray, with eighty rounds to the
man to start in with, and it did not
take us long to get from camp to the
front line. From the best information
we could get from intelligent prisoners
land afterward as a prisoner MYSELF /
learned that we had six times our num-
Der to contend with: at least we had
the entire trans-NIississippi department
to fight. They admitted that Holmes
left one-fifth of his entire division dead
and wounded on the field About $50
our gallant commander came galloping
mp to his headquarters on his almost eX-
hausted steed, to exchange for fresh
one that was standing ready. The
prisoners we had captured We're going
aboard the only steamer that was at
Helena that day, when the captain of
the boat informed our commander that
he could not put all those prisoners on
his vessel. The general replied:
Store them in the hull!'
When the vessel was stocked full,
from the hull to the top of the pilot
house, she steamed up and started for
Memphis, while the cannon were yet
looming.
When we turned our eyes toward the
river and beheld the prize, a mighty
yell went up from the Yanks that could
be heard above the roar of the heavy
siege guns at Fort Curtis, gunbo Tyler,
mortars and field pieces. helped to
bury the dead and some of those ravines
were so full of dead bodies we just dug
trenches and rolled them in. Every
canteen we examined contained whisky
and gunpowder, and she dead confed-
crates were as black as Negroes, and
very much decomposed- 1t was a hor-
rible task One thing was very much
in our favor-we lad for a commander
a man who was in the army for pure
patriotism; one who had the entire re-
spect OF every soldier under his come
mand, and after the wounded and dead
We're cared for he called AROUND him his
little band Of soldiers, and with n smile
on his countenancc for those around
him, and tears in his eyes for thedead
and wounded, ne told as he hoped soon
to lead us across the state and drive
the enemy therefrom; bat IL was not to
De- fer in q short time he was relieved
.,f Jig -,l ~ (.C..45-, s45 rgO1CT7e,