Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1904-09-15
REUNION TUESDAY
GENERAL cRockER's BRIGADE
SURVIVORS ARE MEETING
IN MT. VERNON.

Nine Members of One Of owa's Most
Famous Brigades Reside in Wapello
County = Brigade Formed After
Great Battle of Shiloh.
| From Tuesdays Daily
| The survivors of General NJ. M.
| Crocker's brigade are meeting at Mt.
| vernon today for two days reunion.
lhe present meeting will form the
t"elith biennial reunion of that fam
Gus brigade, the valor and steadfast-
ness of which brought victory to the
Union arms in the great civil conflict
on many bloody and hard fought
battle field.
! But nine of the survivors of this
brigade reside in Wapello county and
only few of these will be able to at
tend the reunion. Among the Wapello
county members are, Thomas Brown,
company D, Fifteenth regiment, Law
renee Mott, company e, Thirteenth reg
iment, M. V. Leonard. company d, Fiji
teenth regiment, j. D. Wallace, COM
pany e, Fifteenth regiment, j. H.
Evans, company l. Thirteenth regi-
ment. Stephen Wilkins and Squire
Martz, both of whom reside south Of
the city. were members and w. Fl.
Niccdemus, of Eldon, member of the
brigade, was member of Company G,
Eleventh regiment.
The croeker Brigade.
The Crocker brigade was composed
of the Eleventh, Thirteenth. Fifteenth
and Sixteenth regiments of Iowa in
fantry.After the terrible battle of Shi-
lob April 6-71862,when the great serv,
ice Of the four regiments did much
to finally win that awful battle for
| General Grant and the union army
these regiments brigaded together un-
til the end of the war under the COM
mand of General Crocker. AS it was
in the great battle of Shiloh that these
regiments became associated and la
prove of interest to read Of the part
played in this battle by these regi-
ments. The account is taken from the
volume entitled iowa in War Times"
prepared by s. NJ. H. Byers, now ad-
jutant general of the Iowa National
guard and located at Des Moines The
story is as follows:
| Amid the fierce fighting of that Sun
| day, no troops were more conspicuous
than the Thirteenth Iowa under Col
NJ. NJ. Crocker. His regm ent, with the
Eleventh Iowa, was in Ogeby's brig
ade Of McClerand's division. AS Ogles-
Iby was absent, Col. Abram Ware, of
L the Iowa Eleventh, lead the brigade
! till he was wounded at 4:30 O'Clock,
! when Col. Crocker took command
Lieutenant Colonel William Hall lead
| Hare's Eleventh regiment. The two
I regim ants We're separated some dis
tance on the line and did not fight to-
/ gether.
The thirteenth Iowa regiment en-
tered the fight with TIT men, rank and
| file, and they were among the best
drilled and disciplined men at Shiloh.
| The command sprang to the front
when the alarm sounded that morning
/ but owing to the giving away of other
troops they were flanked by the enemy
early in the engegem ment and compell-
ed to fall back in disorder. A new
line was formed, and fronting to the
| foe, the regiment with two Illinois
regiments held it's ground under a
heavy fire of cannon and muslietry till
noon. Again. by orders, the line fell
back and again turned and fought in
cessantly till 4:30 o'clock, turning back
| repeated charges Of the enemy and in
! f1icting on them severe loss. Col. Hare,
! the leader Of the brigade, fell wound
ed, and was carried from the field and
Col Crocker took command Once
more by orders the line fell back and
once more aroused by Crocker the men
maintained their position until the
constant and calling fire of the enemy's
artillery till darkness ended the con,
flict
The regiment had been under fire
for ten consecutive hours and had lost
162 men, nearly all killed or wounded
Among the killed were Lieutenants
Erasmus D. Duncan, and John H. Wat
son. Lieutenant Colonel Price was
wounded as was Major Shane. Captain
T. H. Miller and Lieutenants Elliot
Shuriz and George S. Hampton. Jr
Lieutenant Buren r. Sherman. after
ward governor of Iowa. was most con
spicuous for his gallantry and wa:
NCly SSNSlSls .WOuliuSl wi. SloShCi
made honorable mention of Lieutenant
Colonel Price, of Major Shane and hi:
adjutant, Lieutenant Wilson, whom
Col. Hare called in his report 'tht
bravest of the brave Col. Crockel
himself made on that day the founda
tion for his military fame by extraor
: dinary courage and proved skill mani
) tested under trial and danger.
While the Thirteenth Iowa was fight
) ing so gallantly in the line, its sistel
regiment, the Eleventh Iowa, was en-
gagel as bitterly in contest some dis
tance to the right. There with it's righ
Y resting on pond and supporting Dres
: ser's battery, the regiment fought he
roically against overpowering mum
) bers for over two hours. when it. too
was ordered to retire. In front of it.
own parade ground the line abou
faced and poured a hot fire into thu
enemy causing them to fly, leaving
one Of their flags in the enemies hand
as trophy of it's heroism.
Out of ammunition, later, the regi
mont foil hank bpt on tho ordpr n