Chapter 20: Helena

    Co I, 3d Iowa Vol Cav 

    Camp Curtis, Ark 

    July 15, 1862 

Dear Margaret, 

Sorry I haven’t written. We have been on the march through hostile territory since April. We arrived at Helena, Ark on the 11th. We can now receive and send mail by steamboat, since Helena is on the Mississippi. 

Tell Ma and Pa that Willis is hale and hearty. He is itching to put some more Rebs out of the War. John and Will are also doing fine. There isn’t much that can stop a DeLay. I wish I could say the same for Captain Taylor. He is very sick with the typhoid fever. He’ll be sent north on the next steamer. Bussey left the regiment to become a brigadier. Major Drake has taken his place as our commander. 

 I sure do miss you and the little ones. Can you get a picture taken of the baby? Perhaps you could hold him to get a good exposure. I’m eager to meet him for the first time. When that might happen, I cannot say.  

I am sending you $3 I won at Poker. It is all I have until the Paymaster catches up with us. I know you will put it to good use. I have four months pay due. That is over $50. I need to spend some with the Quartermaster for a new pair of trousers. The Sutler, who has been traveling with us, will get his pound of flesh from each of us for the overpriced goods he sold us on the march. I should have about $40, left to send home by express. I trust you are making good use of all the money I am able to send. I hope you can pay some toward our planting expenses and use some for clothes and nice things for you and the kids. I hear that the New York troops are getting allotments deducted from their pay to send home to their families.  I will sign up for one as soon as it becomes available to us.

It is good that you sew. Socks are in great demand here. Mine have been holding up well, but the Infantry can use all they can get. They will gladly trade coffee and sugar for them.  

Could you please tell me how the crops are doing? Are you getting enough help from the neighbors? If all goes well with the harvest, you should be able to get a hired hand, assuming all the useful men are not already in the Army.  

I don’t know how much news is getting back to you, but the 3^d Iowa has been doing the country proud. We rejoined Col Bussey’s command at Forsyth, Mo in early April. We are  now part of Sam Curtis’s Army of Southwest Missouri which fought so valiantly at Pea Ridge. His Army left Springfield in late March and picked up our 2 detached companies along the way. You may remember General Curtis as our district’s representative in the US Congress. He was a good congressman and is an even better general. After joining Curtis, we marched back into Arkansas, going through West Plains, where Willis lost his horse back in February. 

At first, we were headed for Little Rock, but that would have stretched our supply lines too far. Instead, we turned toward Batesville following the White River east. The 3d led the Army for much of the way.

Major Drake, who was our commander at Salem, had a big dust up with the Rebs at Kickapoo Bottoms, near Sylamore, Ark. He took 25 prisoners, suffering 1 dead and 2 wounded. He also came back with 25 Negroes, who had been hidden in the Boston Mountains by Union men. Unfortunately, the Rebs caught and abused the Union men badly. Three of them who refused to join the Rebel Army were hanged.  

As the Army approached Batesville, Ark, we expected to find our old adversary, Col Coleman. We were determined to surround him with an overwhelming force. We arrived at Batesville on the 3d^t of May, only to be greeted by a handful of Rebs who soon fled across the river. We captured some much-needed stores of sugar and rice. Coleman was holed up on the other side of the river, but we couldn’t get across. He tried to shoot at us from his side, but the range was too far. The whole town turned out when we brought up our howitzers to return the fire. A couple of well-aimed rounds drove them off. Four Rebs were seen to fall to the fire. The locals later said that one of them was a Lt Col.  

We stayed at Batesville a while trying to get resupplied by steamer. Alas, that was not to be. We resorted to foraging to feed ourselves and our animals. Then we marched east toward Helena. 

Though General Van Dorn took his Army and left Arkansas, there are still plenty of small bands of Rebs that harassed us on the march. As always, the cavalry leads the march, so we encountered these bushwhackers regularly. I Company ran into a roadblock of fallen timbers at a place called Bayou Cache. Twelve of us went into the woods to see if the Rebs were fixing to ambush us. We flushed out 18 Rebs, killing or wounding half of them. The rest escaped across the river. A funny thing happened there. As the firing commenced, I felt a big thump in my side. It was a hot fight, so I kept on firing. When things slowed down, I reached down to see how badly I was hit. I touched what felt like blood. Then I noticed my canteen, which was full of molasses, was gone. My bloody owie turned out to be molasses from a ball that had taken my canteen clear off. An inch closer, I would have come home on convalescent leave. 

As we crossed Arkansas, we lived off the land. The Army split into separate columns, and we scavenged the countryside for anything we needed. What we didn’t take, we often burned to keep it from helping the Rebs. Because all the forage along our path was used up, we had to send a foraging party before us. I knew many of the men because the party was mostly drawn from Company K. On the way back, they got ambushed by a large force. They had a hot fight, with Lt Griswold and 2 troopers I knew well being killed. We were dispatched to save them, but the 9^th Illinois beat us to the rescue.

The lower delta of the White River is cotton country. We had many runaway slaves follow us to Helena. Their masters won’t need them since we burned all the cotton fields we came across. Curtis is requisitioning food to feed them from the local citizenry. It bothers none of us that these secessionists are not happy about feeding their former slaves.

Helena is a pretty important place to occupy. It’s on a bluff overlooking the big river. It’s easy to defend and has a good port. We are getting boatloads of rations and ammunition and can send our sick and wounded upriver. The new leader of the Confederates in Arkansas is Gen Hindman. I’m not sure he’s happy that Gen Curtis is now headquartered in the Hindman Mansion here in Helena. Hindman is busy trying to organize the various outlaw Rebel bands of Ark into a real army. The Union men and runaways coming here are telling us that Hindman is abusing Arkansas’s citizens at least as much as we did. He’s taking everything he wants from them and offering potential recruits the choice of a rifle or a noose. Once we get fully resupplied, we’ll be going after him. 

 Speculation holds that Grant has his eye on Vicksburg as his next prize. With New Orleans now in Union hands, the Mississippi River could be ours again. That would surely help Iowa farmers. 

Kiss my babies for me and tell them Daddy loves them. 

Your Loving Husband, 

Reuben 

P.S. The Adjutant says it’s OK to share the details in this letter, except for the part about Grant’s plans to take Vicksburg. 

Centerville Iowa 

July 28, 1862 

My Dearest Husband, 

Thank God, my brave and noble husband is safe! We worried so much while you were on the march. We had no word for nearly 3 months. I prayed constantly for your safety. A vigil at church went on for weeks. There was great rejoicing when the papers reported that the 3d Iowa had reached Helena. We were still worried that some of our soldiers might not have made it. 

We are fine. The kids are growing like weeds. I spend most of my evenings making new clothes for them. Rosellen says she misses her Papa. I’m teaching her to cook and sew. The kids found a rattler under the porch, and I killed it with a shovel. Hopefully, you can dispatch the next one. My family is fine, as is yours. Uncle Jacob is still here, but looking for a posting as a regimental chaplain.  

Your Pa and the neighbors are helping with crops. If conditions hold, it will be a good harvest this year. I hope to hire someone, perhaps an invalid from the Army, to help next year. I hear that freed slaves are arriving in Keokuk. They are supposed to be good workers. The farmers are saying, “Keep sending them our way.” 

I’m afraid I have some bad news to report. Captain Taylor died on his way home. He is to be buried in Illinois, but we are having a memorial service here. Everyone is stunned by his loss. 

I hope you are getting some news of the War now. While you were in the field. President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. Think of it! We can now get a farm free and clear just for working it 5 years. Let’s do Nebraska next time. I really hated Kansas with all its troubles. I am so glad you missed that horrible battle at Shiloh. I can’t imagine how many families are grieving. Did you hear about the Union men who stole a locomotive in Georgia and almost made it to Tennessee while tearing up the tracks? They were caught and, I fear, executed. Don’t you go trying any such foolishness!

It is time to put the children to bed. You will be in our prayers as always. 

                                                Love,

                                                Margaret

Index- Unbowed: The saga of a Civil War Cavalryman- Unbowed: The Saga of a Civil War Cavalryman-Index – Outlaws, Outrages and Outright Lies