Raynor HCA 2013-07
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/18/2013
A rare manuscript Union regimental battle report for the battle of Shiloh, 2pp. folio, written by Capt. John G. Fowler as commander of the 12th Iowa Vols., "Pittsburg, Tenn., April 22, 1862", to Nathaniel B. Baker, Adjutant General State of Iowa.Captain Fowler's report begins as a chronicle of the ill-fated regiment's actions in the war to date but ends as a plea for help to Adjutant General Baker to allow the regiment time to regroup. Captain Fowler writes of the 12th Iowa at Shiloh: "At the late Battle of Pitsburg [sic] the 12th, 14th Iowa fought side by side till 4 o'ck P.M. on Sunday. Where the troops on their right and left fell back in confusion while they held their ground with heroic tenacity . While other regiments on their right and left were falling back they actually gained eighty rods on the enemy, actually mowing down the rebels. Col Tuttle said that in one place the 12th alone could not have killed less than ninty [sic]of the enemy...While thus bravely holding their ground thus preventing a general rout, the enemy closed in on them and after desperate fighting were compelled to surrender...Every able man in our Regt. Was in the fight and were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner." To illustrate the regiment's losses, Captain Fowler provides the current morning's report of able-bodied men which included 4 officers and 181 men (138 of which were listed as sick). The last paragraph finds Capt. Fowler entreating Baker to let the regiment get back to strength before being committed to battle again. He writes, in part: "We were daily expecting that our sick and worn out fragment of a Regt. Would be sent to some healthy locality to recuperate but to night [sic] the accompanying order was sent to us which speaks too plainly for itself what an insult is offered us and through us our State. We ask will the State of Iowa allow it? Or will she look after the welfare of her sons who have stood or fallen by her flag on every Battle Field?" With some toning to the paper and a few old taped repairs; but legible and in very good condition.
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