'I tell you that the Iowa 33rd fought bravely'

Jul. 4—In the time between February and April 1863, the Iowa 33rd Infantry was part of a military campaign known as the Yazoo Pass Expedition.

"General [Union Gen. Ulysses S.] Grant, finding it necessary to use all means for the reduction of Vicksburg, had determined to attempt to open a communication to the Yazoo River, through this Pass; and for this purpose an expedition was organized," recalled Marion County resident Andrew F. Sperry. "Raftsmen and lumbermen were in demand, and Colonel [Samuel A.] Rice's previous experience on the river came in excellent play."

The goal of the expedition was to use the Yazoo Pass to bypass the Confederate defenses around Vicksburg. That's how a band of soldiers from Pella, Oskaloosa and surrounding communities found themselves part of a force traveling at about three miles per hour on a river in the swamplands of Arkansas, deep into enemy territory.

The Confederate Army wasn't the only danger the group faced as they made their home on the decks of a riverboat.

"One of them [tree branches] tore off a good part of the guard where Company B was stationed; and soon afterward another one come near 'cleaning out' Company G, on the other side. Hats, knapsacks, guns and accouterments were left hanging in the tree as we passed. It seems almost miraculous that no injury was done to life or limb by these tremendous collisions; but the men soon learned to jump and dodge quite nimbly," Sperry recounted of the campaign, a world away from his Marion County home.

Disease was also prevalent, and they skirmished with small bands of Confederate soldiers on the banks of the river as they passed.

Preparation

After the expedition was completed, the 33rd was ordered back to Helena, where they prepared for a long stay. Colonel Rice reported to Union Gen. Benjamin Prentiss. Little skirmishes with the enemy occurred, but more than anything, they were drilled for battle readiness. Months before, they had received standing orders to be ready to move against Vicksburg should General Grant have need of them. Now, 200 miles north of the fortress, they waited.

"About the 1st of June, there began to come rumors of an approaching attack by the rebels," Sperry recounted. "Occasionally we would have to stand 'at arms' from an early reveille till after sun-rise. One effect of all this was, that at last we grew to believe there would never be any attack on the place, and that all the long days of work on the fortifications, and the false alarms and every thing of the kind, were but the means adopted by our commanding officers to keep us from rusting in rest. The fact was, however, the rebels had even then commenced moving from Little Rock against us."

A host of about 7,600 Confederates led by Lt. Gen. Theophilus Holmes were, at last, marching to relieve Vicksburg, which had been under siege by Grant since May. Only the camp at Helena, comprised of about 4,000 soldiers from various parts of Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Kansas, Wisconsin and Arkansas, stood between the Confederates and their goal. The Iowa 33rd had already been called to action for so many false alarms, they didn't know what to believe.

July 4, 1863

The battle finally took place on July 4, 1863. Sgt. John Morgan, a Marion County resident who served as a volunteer soldier, wrote an account of it in his diary at the end of the day.

"Reveille at 2 A.M. [...] At 4 heard firing on the picket line. In 10 minutes the big gun at Fort Curtis opened the signal as previously arranged that a battle had begun. Every man in camp able to stand sprang to his feet and made haste to get ready for the fray."

"As we left our camp," Morgan wrote, "[We] could see the hills above town literally covered with rebs."

The Union forces were outnumbered nearly two to one, but they met the Confederate Army at Helena with a fierce determination to win.

"On the morning about daylight of the fourth the great slaughter began," wrote Pvt. John Eckroate, of Mahaska County, to his mother the day after the battle. "It was awful to see and our soldiers suffered considerably but we have gain a glorious victory on our part. [...] I tell you that the 33rd Iowa fought bravely."

By all accounts, Eckroate was right. Faced with a much larger enemy force than their own, the Union soldiers held their ground, and the Battle of Helena was recorded in history as a decisive Union victory. They held off the Confederate attempt to aid Vicksburg and in spite of the odds, the Union Army suffered remarkably few losses. The Confederate Army suffered nearly eight times as many casualties as the Union Army did.

"I don't know that it looks very Humane to boast of killing men," wrote Capt. Riley Jessup, a citizen of Oskaloosa and a carpenter before the war, in a letter to his wife and daughter on July 19, "but that is our business down here and we have had but one opportunity and we have made use of it." After his return home in 1865, Jessup became the Deputy Sheriff of Mahaska County.

Aftermath

The Battle of Helena proved an important victory for the Union forces. Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg to Grant the very same day, a victory that is considered a main turning point of the war. The estimated total casualties of the siege were 37,273. Helena served as the base for the successful Union campaign against Little Rock later that year.

The Iowa 33rd went on to fight at the Union victories of Little Rock and Jenkins Ferry, as well as other battles.

Rice, an Oskaloosa attorney, was promoted to Brigadier General after his outstanding service at the Battle of Helena. He was mortally wounded at Jenkins Ferry and died at his home in Mahaska County on July 6, 1864.

The Iowa 33rd Infantry Volunteer Regiment was mustered out of service in New Orleans, Louisiana on July 17, 1865, two months after the end of the war.

Sperry wrote in his memoir of the war, "We would not wish the scene to be repeated; but now it has passed, there is no 'celebration of the 4th' to which we look back with so much pride as our 4th of July at Helena."

Channing Rucks can be reached at crucks@oskyherald.com.