Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 5.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[485] my men, dead, wounded and dying, strewn along the line, and turned and hastened away down the ravine, amid a shower of balls, the last man of our regiment from the field.

I overtook a few of my men in the rear, rallied them, and marched them to an open field, in which our skirmishers had formed in line of battle, and was ordered to form on the left. It was now after dark, but the firing still pursued us. Now the Eleventh Missouri volunteers received the charge of the rebels, and the bullets intended for them came thick amidst our ranks. We were ordered to lie down under cover.

At this time I was ordered by Lieut.-Colonel Holman to go out, with the remnant of my company, consisting of my first lieutenant and about one dozen men, on a reconnoissance on the rising ground to our right, and ascertain and report to him whether the rebels were flanking us. This order was executed in pitch darkness, and with great danger of getting shot down as well by our own men as by the rebels. On my return I had to report that the Twenty-sixth Illinois was posted on the rising ground to our right, the Ohio brigade on our rear, ready to sustain us, and the Tenth Missouri regiment on our left and front. The bugle now sounded “cease firing,” and the Eleventh Missouri, which had sustained a heavy loss, fell back and took position on our left. In these positions we laid on our arms all night, expecting to renew the battle at daylight on the following morning, but when the dawn came the report also came that the rebels had gone.

We marched upon the field to bury our dead, and remove the wounded to the hospital. But, oh I what a scene! I do not think a single horse of the Eleventh Ohio battery escaped. Many of the men lay dead by the side of their guns and horses. I found two of my men lying down on their faces, just at the right of the battery. They were shot by a number of balls through the breast; one man shot through the centre of the forehead by a canister, his brains all out on the ground where he fell; one through the head by a Minie ball, entering just above the eyebrow. One torn in mangled parts by a shell; another — yet why relate these things. I can only believe it providential that we were any of us allowed to leave the field alive.

The loss of the Fifth Iowa and of the four left companies of the Twenty-sixth Missouri regiment was fifty per cent of the number taken Into the field, and the loss of our brigade thirty-three per cent of the number marched upon the field.

Eds. Com.: When last I wrote you it was from the quiet town of Iuka, where, without any fear of forced marches, scarcity of rations, etc., before our eyes, we were zealously performing garrison duty to the best of our ability; but scarcely had my letter been deposited in the mail-bag, ere the Second brigade of Gen. Stanley's division (then commanded by Col. Murphy, of the Eighth Wisconsin) entered the town, they having evacuated Tuscumbia the previous day. The next day, (eleventh,) we (the Ohio brigade) also received orders to move. Accordingly, that evening, tents were struck, wagons packed, and at three o'clock on the morning on the twelfth, we silently wended our way from Iuka, leaving the destinies of the town in the hands of Colonel Murphy's brigade. After a fatiguing march of eighteen miles under a scorching sun, we reached Clear Creek, about eight P. M., where we bivouacked for the night on the road-side, five miles from Corinth. The next morning the brigade moved a short distance further north, and selecting a pleasant site, we made preparations for an encampment. The same evening information was received by Gen. Rosecrans, that the rebel cavalry had dashed into Iuka after our departure, and after a slight skirmish, put Colonel Murphy and his brigade to flight, thereby capturing a considerable amount of commissary and medical stores, among which were six hundred and eighty barrels of flour, which Col. Murphy, through culpable neglect, failed to destroy before evacuating. As soon as Gen. Rosecrans ascertained the truth of the report, he placed Col. Murphy under arrest, and ordered the brigade back to Iuka, under command of Col. Mower, of the Eleventh Missouri. They failed, however, of getting further than Burnsville, when they were ordered to proceed to near Jacinto, and await orders. In the mean while our brigade (O.) remained in bivouac near Corinth, while preparations were evidently afoot for placing our army on an active campaign footing. Transportation and baggage was reduced, our supply of tents cut down, etc., so as to facilitate our progress through the country, when a move should become necessary.

This period proved not to be far distant, for about the same time, General Rosecrans became aware that Price had occupied Iuka in force, and was endeavoring to cross the Tennessee River, for the purpose of getting in the rear of Buell, in his movement against Bragg. In conjunction with Gen. Grant, he therefore prepared to “bag” the “Diarrhoetic General.” It was decided upon that a column of eighteen thousand men under Generals Grant and Ord, should move via Burnsville, and attack Price, while General Rosecrans would move with part of his corps via Jacinto, and attack the enemy on the flank, while the balance of his column would move on the Fulton road, and cut off his (Price's) retreat in case he should attempt it. With this understanding, on the morning of the eighteenth inst., our army was on the move. Generals Stanley's and Hamilton's divisions, under Gen. Rosecrans, amid a drenching rain left “Clear Creek,” and after a fatiguing march bivouacked that night at this place.

At early dawn on the morning of the nineteenth we were again on the march, and at about ten o'clock the advance of Gen. Hamilton's division encountered the pickets of the enemy at “Barnett's Corners,” with whom a sharp skirmish took place, resulting in their being driven six miles