Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/399

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

lost an arm, had been exchanged and was able to again take command.

On the 22d of July the regiment embarked on a steamer for Virginia, reaching Alexandria on the 2d of August. In camp, not far from the National Capital, it found the Twenty-second and Twenty-fourth Iowa regiments and with them was soon sent to join General Sheridan’s army then about to open the brilliant campaign which cleared the Shenandoah Valley of Confederate armies. In the Battle of Winchester the Twenty-eighth participated, doing gallant service and bringing additional honors to Iowa soldiers. This was the first battle in Virginia in which Iowa regiments were engaged and, side by side with the veterans of the eastern armies, they won additional fame for their State. No regiments engaged in this desperate conflict contributed more toward the brilliant victory won on this field than the three from Iowa. The Twenty-eighth lost nearly ninety men in killed and wounded. Captain John E. Palmer was slain and Captain Scott Houseworth mortally wounded. Adjutant J. G. Strong, Captains J. B. Wilson and J. W. Carr and Lieutenants C. E. Haverly, D. S. Dean, J. C. Summers and M. O’Hair were among the wounded. The regiment joined in the pursuit and on the 22d took part in the Battle of Fisher’s Hill where Sheridan won his second victory over General Early’s army. It captured six guns and many prisoners here, and lost but four men. There was little more fighting until the 18th of October, when General Early made the unexpected assault at Cedar Creek, where the Twenty-eighth lost nearly one hundred men. Ingersoll says of the Twenty-eighth in this battle:

“It was engaged early and late in the severe contests. By failure of a Maine regiment to connect on its right, it was left in an exposed position, but held it manfully until driven back by overwhelming numbers. Here it lost nearly fifty men killed and wounded. Falling back half a mile the regiment was rallied and again offered a stout resistance to the enemy. Here Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson was severely wounded and Captain Rei-