Sunday Drive: USS Cairo - Vicksburg, Mississippi

In the Spring of 2005 Bonnie and I drove through the Vicksburg National Military Park. Unfortunately it wasn't until several years later that I became aware that Dick Worden, one of my maternal great great grandfathers, had served in the 24th Iowa Infantry during the attack on the strongly defended city.  The USS Cairo Gunboat (the history of which you can read about here) is on display near the north end of the park.

[All photos from my personal collection]

If I'd known I could have sought out the marker for his regiment and taken my own photo of it.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: Willet Orlando "Richard" or "Dick" Worden (1843 - 1912), Soldier, U.S. - Part 7

After the fall of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, Dick Worden and his comrades of the 24th Iowa Infantry in General Hovey's Division formed part of General Sherman's forces at the Siege of Jackson* which took place from August 9th until the morning of the 17th when it was discovered that Confederate troops had abandoned the city.

[Map of the Siege of Jackson, Miss. Source: Library of Congress]

[From Personal memoirs of U. S. Grant by Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885. Source: Internet Archive]

After Jackson's second fall, according to its regimental history the 24th Iowa

"was transferred to the Department of the Gulf, and put in much of the fall and early winter in marches in various directions, without apparent aim or result."

The transfer entailed being transported downriver to New Orleans where on August 23, 1863, Dick Worden received a disability discharge from the Army and returned home to Iowa.**

For the moment at least, his war was over.



*Jeff T. Giambrone's blog Mississippians in the Confederate Army has an excellent detailed description of the two battles for Jackson here.
**To date I haven't been able to discover what disability my great great grandfather suffered that led to his discharge.




© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: Willet Orlando "Richard" or "Dick" Worden (1843 - 1912), Soldier, U.S. - Part 6

Vicksburg fell to Grant's besieging armies on July 4th 1863 and one of my direct ancestors was present.*

[The Surrender of Vicksburg / Theodore R. Davis. The rebels marching out and stacking arms, with Gen. Grant and staff on horseback meeting marching soldiers on left and Gen. Pemberton and staff on right; view of the city from the river bank, showing part of the river batteries, with soldiers standing and sitting near cannon in foreground. Illus. in: Harper's weekly, 1863 Aug. 1, p. 488-489.

Source: Library of Congress.]

[Cleveland Daily Leader - Cleveland, Ohio. Wednesday, July 8, 1863.

Source: Newspapers.com]

[The Appleton Motor - Appleton, Wisconsin, Thursday, July 9, 1863.

Source: Newspapers.com]

I'm sure that July 4th had an extra special meaning hereafter for my great great grandfather Dick Worden who was one of the Union soldiers at Vicksburg on that day.

He had survived a brutal campaign but his war wasn't over yet. He and his comrades must have wondered where they would be sent next.


*Although the 35th Mississippi Infantry Regiment Volunteers that my paternal great great grandfather John Warren Avery belonged to was at Vicksburg during the siege, John was on medical leave still recovering from the effects of his imprisonment at Alton, Illinois.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: Willet Orlando "Richard" or "Dick" Worden (1843 - 1912), Soldier, U.S. - Part 5

In my last post about Dick Worden I focused on his participation in the bloody battle at Champion Hill on May 16, 1863, where his regiment, the 24th Iowa Volunteer Infantry

"proved the equal of any regiment engaged. At one time it advanced unsupported charged a battery of 5 guns that was creating havoc, fairly ran over the men at the guns, and drove the supporting infantry in wild confusion, but was compelled by over-whelming numbers to fall back. Forty-three were killed, 40 mortally wounded and nearly 30 maimed for life, the total loss in killed, wounded and captured being 195 out of 417 engaged."*

[Big Black River, Miss. Battlefield of May 17, 1863.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

The day after their loss at Champion Hill as the main force of the Confederate army retreated back toward Vicksburg, they halted to await the arrival of the remainder of their troops at Big Black River** where the Federal army attacked and defeated them a second time in as many days. But Dick Worden as part of the 24th Iowa did not take part in this battle as it had

"marched with its brigade from the battlefield of Champion's Hill to Black River Bridge, but did not arrive there in time to participate in the battle in which the Twenty-first and Twenty-third Iowa regiments won such distinguished honor. Remaining at Black River for a few days, the regiment continued its march to Vicksburg, where it arrived on the 24th of May and at once took its position on the line of investment in the center of General Hovey's division, where for the succeeding forty days it endured the hardships, dangers and privations incident to the siege of the rebel stronghold."***

The Civil War Trust has an excellent web page about Vicksburg, including an animated battle map.

[The siege of Vicksburg - Major General U.S. Grant, commanding / sketched by A.E. Mathews, 31st O.V.I. ; Middleton Strobridge, & Co. Lith. Cin. O. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

[Confederate fortifications in rear of Vicksburg, Miss

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

[Approaches to Vicksburg, Miss. & Rebel defences.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

*From The Union Army: States and regiments, Volume IV; Federal Publishing Company, 1908. Page 162 (available as a free ebook here)
**They waited in vain--those forces, commanded by General William Loring, were on their way east to join Johnston's army near Jackson, Mississippi.
***Quoted from the History of the Twenty-Fourth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: Willet Orlando "Richard" or "Dick" Worden (1843 - 1912), Soldier, U.S. - Part 4

By May 25, 1863, the Army of the Tennessee,* two attacks having been repulsed by the Confederate forces defending Vicksburg, settled in for a siege of the city.** As General Grant explains in his memoirs:

"In the interval between the assaults of the 19th and 22d, roads had been completed from the Yazoo River and Chickasaw Bayou, around the rear of the army, to enable us to bring up supplies of food and ammunition; ground had been selected and cleared, on which the troops were to be encamped, and tents and cooking utensils were brought up. The troops had been without these from the time of crossing the Mississippi up to this time. All was now ready for the pick and spade."***

[Siege of Vicksburg, By Kurz and Allison - Source: Library of Congress, Public Domain.]

Since we left my great great grandfather Dick Worden and his 24th Iowa Infantry Regiment at the beginning of the month, just after the battle of Port Gibson, he and his comrades had marched to Jackson, Mississippi's state capitol which was captured by Generals Sherman and McPherson's troops on May 14th.

Two days later the 24th Iowa (Hovey's Division, Slack's Brigade) had taken a very active part in what was a key battle of the Vicksburg campaign at Champion Hill after federal forces turned west to attack the "Gibraltar of the Confederacy." From Timothy B. Smith's 2006 book on the battle**** we learn of the atmosphere in camp before the battle as remembered by Quartermaster Sergeant Charles A. Longley of the 24th Iowa.*****

"[T]he men passed the time that morning by horsing around and telling jokes. 'But the jokes were not able-bodied nor the laughter natural,' he wrote. some men prayed and other made 'mental promises of amendment.'...Those who did not think prayer would save them scribbled small notes for comrades to carry back to loved ones--just in case. While the men occupied their time in the multitude of ways men do in advance of combat, 'the imperturbable face of the great commander appear[ed],' recalled Longley. Seeing Grant was 'a welcome though brief diversion.' The general took a look around, asked a question Longley did not hear, and rode on."

For a description of the battle here's General Hovey recalling the events of that day for an inquiring reporter from the Indianapolis Journal in 1885:

“By the way,” Hovey said, “I think I can tell you something about Grant on another occasion. The battle of Champion Hills was one of the bloodiest of the war. The division I commanded belonged to McClernand’s corps. By a delay caused by my division being ordered to make a feint on the enemy’s lines near Baker’s Creek, while the main army passed round the west flank of the enemy toward Bolton Station, my division became detached from the main corps to which it belonged. We first came in sight of the enemy near what is now called Champion Hills. At that time, my division was on the extreme right – the main body of McClernand’s corps being something two or three miles to the left. 

“As soon as the enemy was perceived, scouts were sent out to ascertain as far as possible his real condition. Gen. James R. Slack commanded one brigade in my division and Gen. George F. McGinnis the other. Here we waited some 30 or 40 minutes with the enemy’s cannons on the hill in full view. Gen. Grant rode up and I pointed out to him the enemy’s position. His headquarters were at the Champion’s house. I asked him if I should advance. He said, ‘Not yet; wait till McPherson comes up on your right and takes position to support you.’ Gen. McPherson’s and Gen. John A. Logan’s forces soon arrived, and as soon as they got in position I again asked Gen. Grant if I should make the attack to which he laconically answered, ‘Yes.’ 

“Slack’s brigade bore off to the left, and McGinnis’s to the right. McGinnis struck the battery full, but Slack diverged a little to the left. It was a close hand-to-hand fight between McGinnis’ boys and the rebels over the battery and the guns were ours. Both brigades then advanced to a second battery, perhaps a quarter of a mile in the rear of the one we had captured, and after a fierce fight took that also. But the enemy, reinforced, returned in great numbers and drove us back to the location of the first battery. 

"We made a second charge and the second battery was again taken. Again with overwhelming force the enemy pressed my force back down from the brow of the hill beyond the first battery. This was a critical moment. My men were fighting stubbornly, but against almost overpowering odds. If the centre had been broken our army would have been divided into two parts. There were 28 [16 according to the Official Records] pieces of artillery under my command and again being reinforced I placed those 28 pieces on a mound in a graveyard, and with shot, shell, and canister poured an enfilading fire into the advancing hosts. The place was well timbered and thick with underbrush, but it was mowed almost as with a scythe. They couldn’t stand that fire and swung back. Logan came in on the right and took several thousand prisoners. The enemy gave way and Loring’s force broke off from the rebel line and rushed back to Jackson. This was as I said before, the bloodiest fight of the whole campaign."

 

[Battle of Champion Hill, Sketched by Mr. Theodore R. Davis. Harper's Weekly, Volume: 1863, Issue: 06/20, Page 393.

Source: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.]

General Grant's observations about Champion Hill, from his memoirs:******

"The battle of Champion's Hill lasted about four hours, hard fighting, preceded by two or three hours of skirmishing, some of which almost rose to the dignity of battle. Every man of Hovey's division and of McPherson's two divisions was engaged during the battle. No other part of my command was engaged at all, except that as described before. Osterhaus's and A. J. Smith's divisions had encountered the rebel advanced pickets as early as half-past seven. Their positions were admirable for advancing upon the enemy's line. McClernand, with two divisions, was within a few miles of the battle-field long before noon and in easy hearing. I sent him repeated orders by staff officers fully competent to explain to him the situation. These traversed the wood separating us, without escort, and directed him to push forward; but he did not come. It is true, in front of McClernand there was a small force of the enemy and posted in a good position behind a ravine obstructing his advance; but if he had moved to the right by the road my staff officers had followed the enemy must either have fallen back or been cut off. Instead of this he sent orders to Hovey, who belonged to his corps, to join on to his right flank. Hovey was bearing the brunt of the battle at the time. To obey the order he would have had to pull out from the front of the enemy and march back as far as McClernand had to advance to get into battle and substantially over the same ground. Of course I did not permit Hovey to obey the order of his intermediate superior. 

We had in this battle about 15,000 men absolutely engaged. This excludes those that did not get up, all of McClernand's command except Hovey. Our loss was 410 killed, 1,844 wounded and 187 missing. Hovey alone lost 1,200 killed, wounded and missing—more than one-third of his division."

The Civil War Trust has an excellent map of the Battle of Champion Hill here. At HistoryNet you can find a series of maps showing the progress of the battle. This site has photos of the historic markers relating to Champion Hill but we're a few days too late to attend this year's 153rd anniversary of the battle.

Having safely gotten my ancestor through the terrible events of this day, next week I'll examine what his experiences might have been before his regiment arrived in front of Vicksburg.


*According to Grant the Union army under his command now numbered 40,000 spread out along a line 15 miles long. The defenders' line was less than half that.
**Smithsonian Magazine has a video describing the siege here.
***From Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant; Chapter XXXVIII SIEGE OF VICKSBURG. here.
**** Smith, Timothy B. Champion Hill: Decisive Battle for Vicksburg. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2006. 978-1932714197. (paperback, page 171)
*****He was in Company G; Dick Worden in Company C.
******Chapter XXXV. As you can tell from the text, Grant didn't like McClernand, a "political" general who didn't hesitate to go over Grant's head when he wanted to complain about something.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: Willet Orlando "Richard" or "Dick" Worden (1843 - 1912), Soldier, U.S. - Part 2

On this day in 1863 General Grant's Union Army of the Tennessee had been concentrated at Hard Times Landing (in Louisiana) making final preparations to cross the Mississippi south of Vicksburg to attack the city from the rear. My maternal great great grandfather Dick Worden was there as a private in the 24th Iowa Regiment, now part of the Thirteenth Corps under General McClernand, Hovey’s Division.

[Map of the country between Millikens Bend, La. and Jackson, Miss. shewing the routes followed by the Army of the Tennessee under the command of Maj. Genl. U.S. Grant, U.S. Vols. in its march from Millikens Bend to the rear of Vicksburg in April and May 1863.

Source: Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C.]

[Detail of above map highlighting Hard Times; Port Gibson in shown toward the lower right hand side.]

Here's a disparaging comment about Hard Times from a regimental history of the 24th Iowa:*

Here the army...proceeded on its way down the river to a point about four miles above Grand Gulf, and which is well named Hard Times, it having the appearance of being able to maintain a very poor family in a very poor way during a favorable season. 

I found the following description of the 24th Iowa's movements leading up to April 28, 1863, in a 1910 historical sketch:

Upon the return of the regiment to Helena, in the early spring, the troops with which it was associated were transferred to the Thirteenth Army Corps and ordered to join General Grant's army, in its operations against Vicksburg, and were conveyed on transports to Milliken's Bend, where they disembarked and marched, over difficult and sometimes almost impassable roads, to Perkens' Landing. Here, on the 28th of April, they again embarked on transports and barges and moved down the river to a point about four miles above Grand Gulf, where, without disembarking, they witnessed the tremendous artillery combat between the gunboats and the rebel batteries at Grand Gulf, which lasted for several hours. The troops had, in the meantime, been awaiting orders to land and co-operate with the gunboats in their attack upon the enemy's works, but, after prolonged bombardment, without apparent effect, the gunboats withdrew, and the attack by land was also abandoned. The troops disembarked and marched down the levee to a point three miles below Grand Gulf, where they bivouacked until morning. 

Very soon Dick Worden would face his first enemy fire during the attack on Port Gibson on the east side of the Mississippi River.


*Iowa and the Rebellion: A History of the Troops Furnished by the State of Iowa to the Volunteer Armies of the Union, which Conquered the Great Southern Rebellion of 1861-5. Lurton Dunham Ingersoll, J.B. Lippincott and Company, 1866 - Iowa - page 504. Available as a free e-book here.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: Willet Orlando "Richard" or "Dick" Worden (1843 - 1912), Soldier, U.S. - Part 1

As I explained earlier, this maternal great great grandfather doesn't appear to have liked his given names so I'm going to honor that.

Dick Worden was born in Oswego Township in Oswego County, New York, on February 4, 1843. By the time Dick was 11 his parents had moved their family to Linn County, Iowa.

Dick was 19 when he enlisted as a private in Company G, of the 24th Iowa Infantry Regiment on September 3, 1862. The 24th was known as the "Temperance Regiment."

"They were composed of men of temperance principles and temperance habits--that is to say, of men who touched not, taste not, handle not spirituous or malt liquor, wine or cider. If the men have since adopted other principles or other habits, it has only been at such times as they were under the overruling power of military necessity."*

After mustering on September 18th and initial training at Camp Strong near Muscatine, Iowa, the 24th Iowa's active service began on October 20th at an army camp near Helena, Arkansas.

[Detail from County Map Of Louisiana, Mississippi, And Arkansas. Entered ... 1860, by S. Augustus Mitchell, Jr. ... Pennsylvania.

Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

[Interior of Fort Curtis, Helena, Ark. (photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed between 1880 and 1889).

No. 3158, Brady-Handy Collection. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

"There it arrived and disembarked on the 28th of October, going into camp just south of the city and joining the brigade commanded by Colonel McGinnis of the Eleventh Indiana. Many of the men had been attacked by sickness while upon the boat, and the unhealthy locality in which the regiment was now encamped added largely to the number upon the sick list. The privations and hardships endured by the Twenty-fourth Iowa, while at Helena and when engaged in the several expeditions in which it participated during the winter of 1862-3, were the most severe in its history. On the 17th of November the regiment formed part of the force under General Hovey which proceeded to the mouth of White River; upon its return it engaged in another expedition to Coldwater, Miss., to co-operate with the movement of General Grant against Vicksburg and, on the 11th of January, 1863, it again formed part of a force engaged in another expedition up the White River, this time under General Gorman. While no considerable body of the enemy was encountered upon any of these expeditions, and no practical results were accomplished by them, the troops suffered almost unendurable hardships from exposure to storms of rain and snow, and the fatalities which resulted were as great as those sustained in many of the hard-fought battles in which the regiment subsequently participated. The survivors of the regiment always remembered that winter campaign as the most discouraging of the many through which they passed in their long period of service. Upon its return from the last expedition the regiment found its camp ground flooded, compelling removal to higher ground, and the change in location resulted in a decrease of the sick list, but many had died and a still larger number had been incapacitated for further service and were discharged. A considerable number of those who were thus discharged for disability never fully recovered.

"On the 15th of February, 1863, the Twenty-fourth Iowa left Helena with its brigade, which formed part of the force under General Wasburn engaged in clearing out the obstructions in Yazoo Pass and opening the same to navigation. This duty, while arduous, gave the men active employment and relieved them from the depressing effects of witnessing the daily depletion of their ranks from disease, while lying idle in camp."**

When their regiment returned returned to Helena, order came transferring them to General U.S. Grant's army which was about to make another attempt at capturing Vicksburg, "the Gibralter of the Confederacy."

[View of Vicksburg and plan of the canal, fortifications & vicinity, 1863. Source

Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C.]

Since the 24th Iowa's participation in the Vicksburg Campaign began on April 28 (1863), I've decided to do a series of occasional posts highlighting the battles that Dick participated in 153 years ago.***


*From Iowa and the Rebellion, Lurton Dunham Ingersoll, 1867, J.B. Lippincott & Company, Philadelphia, p.501.
**From 1910 Historical Sketch--Twenty-Fourth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry.
***Last year I did the same for a paternal fifth great grandfather, Abraham Heath, who served in the Virginia line of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.




© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.