The National tribune., 1897-07-22
MATCHED AGHIEST TWO uILY FOES
Experiences of a 47th Ill. Man in the Eagle
Brigade.


EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: The first
real fight that the 47th III. was engaged IN
was at Pennington, H., May 9, 1862, on the
advance towards Cornth. Halleck had been
moving along slowly, at every stopping place
throwing up works sufficient to sustain
protracted siege. The pickets were con-
tinnally skirmishing.
The night before the fight some 40 men of
CO. G, 47th Ill. eagle Brigade), were de-
tailed on picket about mile in front of our
immediate command. Early next morning
the enemy appeared in strong force under
Van Dorm. We held them two hours, then
fell ack. Half mile back we met rein
forcements. Lively fighting followed; but
we retired under orders from Halleck, who
did not wish to bring On general engage
ment Lieut. Col. David Miles was killed
by solid shot. Several of our regiment
were wounded.
Col. Plummer was transferred to another
command, and Col. Joseph A. Mower, 11th
Mo-, succeeded him in command OF the Eagle
Brigade. Col. Mower was West Pointer.
and remained in command until the Spring
of 1864, when he was advanced to the head
of our division as Major-General.
We reached the front of the Confederate
| works May %. The glad news came next
| morning that the enemy had evacuated. We
followed them. had to 90 to a convalescent
| camp on Clear Creek, being too i'll to do
active duty, and with others Of my regiment
remained there until the organization came
back from following Beauregard.
On the morning OF Sept. 10 General Orders
from the Army Of the Potomac were listened
to. The statement was made that it was on
the point of entering Richmond, Va, and
| that in few months the rebellion would be
ended.
| We started for Iuka, on the Memphis &
Charleston Railroad, where Price had capt
ured large amount of Government stores
collected there. Gen. Grant sent two col
umus under Rosecrans and Ord to dislodge
the rebel General. Ord's instructions were
to wait until he heard Rosecrans engaged
then 90 to his support All through the
10Th Ord was within four miles of Iuka and
| did not hear the sounds of battle, SO Old
Rosey" had an uphill fight. But we de-
fea,ed Price, who lost 800 in killed and
wounded and 1000 taken prisoners. Over
| 1000 stands of arms and much ammunition
| fell into our hands
Price moved southwark and formed juno
ton with Van Dorm on Sept. %. Meantime
we took the inside track around to Corinih,
for which point the Johnnies were making
Rosecrans took post at Corinth, and Grant,
with the remanderiOf the Federals, had
moved toward Jackson, Tenn. Perceiving
an apparent opportunity to profit by di-
vision Of the army, Price and Van Dorm
moved on Corinth Oct. 3. Our division,
under Stanley, did not arrive on the. field
until afternoon, but the battle had been
raging since early morning on the Chewalla
| road The advance of the rebels was
checked. There were about $50 men lost
in our regiment, among them Col. Thrush
and Capt Duford, Co. X, killed Capt. An
drews, wounded and taken prisoner; Lieut..
E. Z. Toby, Co. G.; Capt. Mills, Go. B, and
others wounded.
| By the middle of the afternoon Of the
second day the enemy was in full retreat
southwark.
We started in pursuit next morning, but
gave up the chase at Ripley.
The next main objective point of Grant
was Vicksburg. He moved his Headquar-
tiers Nov. a to La Grange. Mcpherson was
sent forward, and the rebels were pushed
to Holly Springs, Miss. depot of sup
plies was established here. The command
was intrusted TO Col. X. G. Murphy, 9th
Wis, but the 9Th itself was not under his
command at that point. The main army
| mOVeu OIL 10 OXiOTu, LaiaJ QUO NouHCy.
Van Dorn's cavalry on Dec. 70 dashed
upon Holly Springs, capturing about 5000
600 worth of stores. Grant was forced 10 fall
back to Grand Junction, and Pemberton con-
centrated his troops at Vicksburg in time to
repulse Sherman.
We began the retrograde movement from
Oxford Dec. Is. At Grand Junction the
Second Brigade was scattered to several
points along the railroad. Our regiment
wintered at Ridgeway Station.
In the early spring Grant collected his
forces for an attempt 10 reduce Vlcksburg
We went to Milliken's Bend, and began t.
dig the famous "Vicksburg Canal" which
finally failed.
After the successful passage of the flee
past the rebel batteries, we moved dowr
the right bank of the river to Hard Tim e:
Landing, and crossed at Bruinsburg or
April 30
Our corps Fifteenth, under Sherman
had no engagements until May IA at Jack
son, Miss, whence We drove Joe Johnston
Our regiment was quartered about the
Capitol building until the evening of th'
10th, when we moved towards Champions
Hill, to assist the troops engaged there
But Pemberton had Withdrawn before W.
reached it. We assisted in the charge OF
the ODD.
Later we found ourselves at Young
Point, opposite Vicksburg, remaining there
until after Pemberton surrendered.-SAM
UEL KLEFFMAN, Cos. B and G, 47th Ill.
. Hlldreth, Neb.