Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/202

Early in 1864, two hundred of its members reënlisted as veterans, and were, in March, granted a furlough to visit their homes. The remainder of the regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Tullis, was sent to join General Banks in his disastrous Red River expedition, after which it was discharged, as the term of service had expired. Upon the return of the veterans, the number was so reduced, that they were organized into a battalion of three companies. At the battle before Atlanta, July 22, this veteran battalion was nearly annihilated. It rallied around the color-bearer, fighting desperately, until surrounded and cut to pieces; the remnant at last was compelled to surrender. The survivors were consolidated with the Second regiment, and the gallant Third passed out of existence. Captain Jacob Abernethy, who had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel for gallant service, commanded the regiment on this bloody field and was killed. Captain Robert P. Griffith, who, as corporal, had bravely carried the colors on former battle-fields, fell mortally wounded. An eyewitness of this last fight of the Third wrote as follows to the Dubuque Times:

“As the battle grew raging hot and desperate, a handful of our undaunted men gathered amidst the pelting showers of shot and shell, and there around the flag they stood its guard in the most perilous moments. The color-bearer, the bravest of the brave, relinquished his hold by death alone. Still the men stood there madly fighting in its defense; their numbers fast decreasing by death their hopes began to fail. As the last of the little band were surrounded by overwhelming numbers, they were finally captured and disarmed. They were marched through Atlanta and their names reported to the provost-marshal. In passing through the city, whenever a shell fell in the streets from our batteries, they cheered and sang ‘Rally Round the Flag.’ Rebel officers ordered them to ‘shut up,’ as they were prisoners of war. They answered ‘We will always cheer a Yankee shell.’ A squad of Rebel cavalry was passing through the street with a flag of the Iowa Third captured after the color-bearer fell pierced with bullets. Some members of the regiment who were prisoners saw it, and making a rush upon its captors, wrested it from them, and