During the winter the Twenty-first, thinly clad and with insufficient food, endured hard marches over roads almost impassable. The men suffered greatly from disease contracted from exposure and hardships until death carried off scores of them. In March the regiment was sent to Milliken’s Bend, in Louisiana, and was assigned to the Second Brigade, Fourteenth Division of the Thirteenth Army Corps, under command of General McClernand. After a toilsome march through a swampy country, the army was embarked on transports which ran the frowning batteries of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf, landing fifteen miles below, to unite with General Grant’s brilliant movement which resulted in the fall of Vicksburg. On the 30th of April the Twenty-first was one of the regiments that made up the advance guard which followed the retreating enemy and opened
THE BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON
Detachments of the Twenty-first under Lieutenant-Colonel Dunlap led the advance, supporting the First Iowa Battery, Captain Harry Griffith, in a night march on Port Gibson. An old negro slave acted as guide. The road led through a dense forest, over ridges and through deep ravines lined with a heavy growth of underbrush. As the skirmishers approached the forks of the roads, four miles from Port Gibson, they came upon Magnolia Church, where a detachment of the enemy was posted, who opened fire upon them. Colonel Stone, in command of the brigade, ordered up support and the Iowa Battery opened on the enemy, aided by Klaus’ Indiana Battery. The Confederate batteries replied and for two hours the rapid discharge lighted up the darkness of the night, the screeching shells were hurled through the air, bursting with fearful explosions as the artillery duel went on. Early in the morning of May 1st, the artillery firing was renewed while the troops came up and deployed into line. Soon after sunrise, General Osterhaus made a vigorous
