Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-04-19

west. / think nearly all were anx,
ious to get there as soon as pos
sible, the easy capture of Fort
Henry caused, us to fear that like
result might be reached at Donelson
before we could get there to have
a hand in it, Indeed, most of our
boys seemed to be in much the same
frame of mind as was a member of
the Twelfth Iowa, of whom the late
Capt. E. !. Weiser of the Third
Iowa once told me. The Twelfth
man was overheard by comrade
just on the eve of the battle, pray
ing with great apparent fervency,
that the enemy might give them "a
stout fight. 1t is needless to say
that his prayer was fully answered.
The Captain of the boat on which
we were being carried to the Fort
was rank rebel sympathizer,
whose affinities came to the surface
at time when the troops were in
no mood to condone them. On some
pretext he permitted the steam to
run low, unnoticed by the officers of
the regiment, and when his atten-
tfon was called to it, he began to
make excuses, saying that the fuel
was nearly gone and wood was hard
to get, though we had passed sew
eral wood piles on the river banks.
Col. Tuttle said very little; he had
noticed a large pile short dis
tance ahead of us, so he quietly
drew his revolver and pointing it
at the head of the Captain, inquir-
ed of him: do you see that pile
of wood yonder on the right bank
of the river? Well, you get to that
wood and have it on board in short
order or your carcass feeds the
| fishes in this river" We were soon
at the wood pile and the deck hands
and. roustabouts had the help of all
the soldiers that could be used to
advantage in getting it aboard, and
we had no further trouble after
that.
Fort Donelson was formidable
Fashioned work, we'll calculated for
defensive position, built on hill
about 100 feet above the waters of
the Cumberland and containing
nearly hundred acres of land, To-
Gated on the west bank of the river.
On the south there is small stream
called Indian Creek, which was fill
ed and overfiowing with back water
from the river; between Indian
creek and Dover little town near
the Fort, there is now national
cemetery containing large number
of Union and Confederate graves.
To the north there is another stream
called Hickman's creek, which was
also filled with back water. The
ground was very rough, broken and
full of deep crevices or assures, 1T
was nearly all covered with trees
which had been cut down so that
| the tops lay outward from the
works and facing the Union army,
| the limbs had been trimmed
and sharpened to point, forming
a very dangerous abattis over which
it was necessary to charge to reach
the intrenchments which extended
along a ridge about two miles long
and back from the river. The fort
was garrisoned by about 21,000
men under command of Floyd,
tPillow, Johnson, Buckner and
Forrest. Grants army was divided
into three divisions. The first un-
der McClernand, occupying our
right, the second under Lew Wal
lace, holding the center, and the
left under C. F. Smith. The army
was made up Of western men, chief
ly from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and
Iowa with one regiment, one from
i Nebraska and one from Missouri
In one particular Fort Donelson was
unlike almost all the other great
battles of the war, four states fur
nished nearly all the troops. Tc
} illustrate the heterogeneity of tht
Union army the composition of my
own company will serve as sample
Of the whole, we had nineteen diff
ferent states and nationalities in it
} The Second Iowa which had dis
embarked from the steamer McGil
about three miles below the for
was assigned to Lauman's brigade
of Smiths division and occupied the
extreme left of the Union line. The
other regiments in the brigade wer'
the Seventh and Fourteenth Iowa
the Twenty-ffth and Forty-secont
Indiana and Birges sharpshooters
, A short distance in the rear of th'
brigade was Mrs. Crisp's house.
one story log structure with an ad
dition on one side, and a ston'
, chimney on the other. 1t wa