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Page 15
Two steamboats soon had steam up, and by nine A.M., General Pillow,
with his brigade of three thousand five hundred men, was across the
river and in the fight.
Up to this time, the Federal force had driven the Confederates back
from their camps, and threatened their annihilation, but Pillow's
arrival stayed the retreat. By ten A.M., Cheatham's brigade of 2500
men, in which was my regiment, were also coming into the engagement.
By eleven A.M., both armies were fully employed. In the mean time
some of the guns on the fortifications at Columbus were trying their
range upon the Federal gunboats, which lay about three miles
distant, and replied fiercely to their challenges. But little
execution on either side was done by this firing. The carelessness
of the officers in our brigade nearly lost the day, early in the
contest. The men had but ten rounds of ammunition, which was soon
expended, and we were compelled to retire beneath the bank of the
river until more was supplied.
This incident developed a strange, and to me a very sad, trait of
human nature,--other illustrations of which I have observed
repeatedly since,--an unusual disposition to witticisms in the most
solemn circumstances, when it might be supposed that even the most
hardened would reflect upon the fearful fate sure to seize upon
some of them. One of the captains of our regiment, J.L. Saffarrens,
ran into the river waist-deep, in his desire for safety, when one of
his men called out, "Captain, dear, are ye off for Memphis? If ye
are, tell the ould woman the last ye saw ov me I was fighting, while
ye were runnin' away."
The gallant captain received a ball in the face, while stuck in the
mud into which he had sunk, and was taken to Memphis with the
wounded next day; but I never learned that he delivered the message
to the "_ould woman_." A curious little Irishman in our company,
nick-named "Dublin Tricks," who was extremely awkward, and scarcely
knew one end of his gun from the other, furnished the occasion of
another outburst of laughter, just when the bullets were flying like
hail around us. In his haste or ignorance, he did what is often done
in the excitement of rapid firing by older soldiers: he rammed down
his first cartridge without biting off the end, hence the gun did
not go off. He went through the motions, putting in another load
and snapping his lock, with the same result, and so on for several
minutes. Finally, he thought of a remedy, and sitting down, he
patiently picked some priming into the tube. This time the gun and
Dublin both went off. He picked himself up slowly, and called out in
a serio-comic tone of voice, committing the old Irish bull, "Hould,
asy with your laffin', boys; there is sivin more loads in her yit."
Another Hibernian called out to his men, "Illivate your guns a
little lower, boys, and ye'll do more execution."
Such jokes were common even amid the horrors of battle. However
unseemly, they served to keep up the spirits of the men, to which
end other spirits contained in canteens were also freely added. A
most reprehensible practice this, for men should go into battle free
from unnatural excitement, if they wish to serve the cause in which
they are engaged; and moreover, the instances of cruelty which
sometimes are perpetrated on the wounded and dying, are caused by
the drunkenness of such ruffians as are found in every army.
Our brigade, after receiving ammunition, executed a flank movement
on McClernand's left, next the river, while General Pillow was
holding their attention in front; this came very near surrounding
and capturing the Federal force. For five hours the battle raged
with varying success, the Rebel forces on the whole gaining upon the
Federals. Our regiment charged and took a part of the 7th Iowa.
A charge is a grand as well as terrible sight, and this one, to my
inexperienced eyes, was magnificent. I had often witnessed, with
wild delight, the meeting of thunder-clouds in our western storms,
the fierce encounter, the blinding lightning, the rolling thunder,
the swaying to and fro of the wind-driven and surging masses of
angry vapor, the stronger current at length gaining the victory, and
sweeping all before it. With an intenser interest and a wilder
excitement, did I watch these eight hundred men, as they gathered
themselves up for the charge. At the word, every man leaped forward
on the full run, yelling as if all the spirits of Tartarus were
loosed. In a moment comes the shock, the yells sink into muttered
curses, and soon groans are heard, and the bayonet thrusts are quick
and bloody. Brute strength and skill often meet, and skill and
agility usually win.
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