General Osterhaus. The Third Iowa Cavalry and other detachments of horse were in this opening charge, and assailed the enemy with great vigor, but after a desperate struggle were driven back with heavy loss of men and one battery. The sacrifice, however, enabled Curtis to place his army advantageously in the new position just as the heavy columns of the enemy swept down on Carr’s Division. And now the battle was on. One thousand Indians, under Pike, aided the Confederates with fierce war cries, tomahawks and scalping knives, adding to the horrors of one of the great battles of the war. On this part of the line the Dubuque Battery, under Captain Hayden, opened on the advancing enemy, doing great execution. The Confederates made a fierce charge upon the battery, captured one gun, but the Ninth Iowa poured a deadly volley into them, covering the ground with their dead. Dodge’s Brigade, on the right, was assailed and a section of the First Iowa Battery, under Lieutenant David, opened fire on the lines. The brigade for two hours held its position against greatly superior numbers. Colonel Vandever’s Brigade, after a stubborn fight and heavy loss, had been slowly driven back, Dodge firing his last round of ammunition into the confederate ranks, and General Curtis ordering the Fourth Iowa to charge bayonets, the enemy was driven back.
In this day’s battle the Iowa regiments suffered severely, nearly two hundred each had been the losses of the Fourth and Ninth regiments. The latter had not a field officer left on duty. Lieutenant-Colonel Herron was taken prisoner and promoted to Brigadier-General for gallant conduct. Major Coyle and Adjutant Scott were wounded. When darkness put an end to the conflict the situation of the army was serious. All day it had fought with heroic courage against the best Confederate army of the south-west, ably commanded and outnumbering Curtis’ men two to one. The losses had been heavy and the right wing, after a most desperate struggle, had been forced from its
