Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-05-03
The SIMPLE LIFE
OF A COMMONER
Continued from page u.

roII DonelSOH III purely military
value, and so it has ever been re-
garded among military men.
OF the part taken by the Second
Iowa in this great victory, Mr.. L. d.
Ingersoll, whom ! have quoted else
where, has this to say: LAS for the
Second Iowa, it here won a reputa-
ton which can never fade from the
minds of mankind so long as the
victory of Fort Donelson shall be
remembered. In the fine army of
western troops, whose wonderful
gallantry wrested the stronghold
from the insurgents, and caused
even rebel writer's and rebel officers
to admit that the volunteers of the
northwestern states and the terri
tory of Nebraska were more than
a match for the best troops of the
South; in all this fine array the
Second Iowa won the palm of the
duct. All the troops, with a sense
of justice which is ever character
istic of brave men, gladly admitted
it, and the lines of the army rang
with loud praises of Colonel Tuttle
and his regiment, as well as Of Gen.
eral Smith and Colonel Lauman, the
general officers who had charge of
the assault. More, the admirable
achievement of the regiment brought
forth enthusiasm from the imper-
turbable Halleck, a thing well nigh
as wonderful as the miracle of Moses
which brought forth living waters
from the barren rock of the wilder
ness. He telegraphed as follows:
st. Louis, Feb. 16, 1862 Adjutant
General n. B. Baker: THE Second
Iowa Infantry proved themselves the
bravest Of the brave. They had the
honor of leading the column which
entered Fort Donelson. H. w. Hal
leck, Major General" ] may add
that General Halleck was in COM
mand of the Department of the Mis-
souri,, which at that time included
the territory in which Fort Donelson
was located. Also that n. b. Baker
was Adjutant General of Iowa, un-
der Governor Kirkwood. Mr.. Inger-
soil goes on to say: 1T may well
be supposed that the fame of the
Second Iowa, borne on the swift
wings of the telegraph and the press,
soon penetrated every part of Iowa.
The General Assembly was in ses-
sion, and when a committee sent to
the field of battle to care for our
wounded, returned to the capital,
bearing with them the flag that had
been borne on the glorious field,
there was an outpouring of people
and of eloquence at Des Moines. The
flag was presented to the House, for
custody on the Speakers desk till
the close Of the session, then to be
turned over to the State Historical
Society. The Hon. Rush Clerk,
Speaker, received the flag and made
an address of which quote but lit
tle "The valorous deeds of the
Second Iowa are already part of
our national history, and make up
one of it's most brilliant pages. 1t
would be vain to rehearse them now.
The unfaltering onset of those gal
liant men is written in the sleepless
memory CT million freemen. Moth
ing can be abated, none OF their
achievements forgotten" 1t was
page of history, written in blood,
for of the six hundred and thirty
officers and men who formed the
storming party, (which were all of
the regiment fit for duty at the time,
forty-one were killed outright and
one hundred and hfty-seven wound
ed, many of them so severely that
they died soon afterward.
OF the events Immediately follow
ing the battle ! am wholly ignorant,
for the day after we marched into
the fort, my chum, Joseph Conway
and / went down to the river to
examine the water battery which
had played such havoc with Foote's
gunboats, and on our way back
was seized with a weakness for
which ] was unable to account. My
limbs refused to sustain the weight
of my body, and had it not been
for my friend | would have fallen
to the ground. AS ii was faintness
came over me and ! could go no
farther. Fortunately we were not
very far from the camp; so that
after resting awhile, l managed
with the help of my friend, upon
whom | leaned, to get back TO my
quarters. My illness proved 10 be
a severe case of pneumonia, brought
on by the exposure to the severe
weather from which so many suffer-
ed. and especially that of the night