A Perfect Picture of Hell: Eyewitness Accounts by Civil War Prisoners from the 12th Iowa

notes

notes prologue 1. Clark and Bowen 1991: 7–8. 2. Descriptions of the histories of Civil War prisons and exchange cartels are drawn from Hesseltine 1930, Long 1971, and Speer, 1997. 3. Speer 1997: 10–11. 4. Hattaway and Jones 1983: 178. 5. Ransom 1963: 247 6. Schamel et al. 1989: 53. 7. Ransom 1963: 246–247. 8. Cooper 1888: 246–247. 9. Reed 1903: ii. 10. Reed 1903: ii. 11. Hesseltine 1930: 1. 12. Official Records, series 2, vol. 4, 232. captured at shiloh, april 6, 1862 1. Zediker, unpublished diary. 2. Reed 1903: 28–29. 3. Throne 1958a: 174. 4. Reed 1903: 29. 5. Throne 1958a: 174. 6. Throne 1958a: 176. 7. Throne 1958a: 175. 8. Rich 1918: 12. 9. Throne 1955: 310. 10. Zediker, unpublished diary. 11. Throne 1958a: 177. 12. Throne 1958a: 177–178. 13. See Sumbardo’s account. 14. Throne 1958a: 178. 15. Clark and Bowen 1991: 101. 16. The long roll drum call meant to assemble troops hastily for battle. 17. The 12th Iowa was camped in Chambers’s Field just to the west of Pittsburg Landing. They marched south via the Hamburg-Savannah Road, veered { 311 } off to the southwest on the Pittsburg-Corinth Road, and took up positions along an eroded wagon trace, which was the remains of the Purdy-Hamburg stage road, along the northeast edge of Duncan Field. The wagon trace crossed the Eastern Corinth Road before reaching its eastern end at the Hamburg-Savannah Road. After the war this wagon trace became known as the Sunken Road. The 12th Iowa’s position straddled the Eastern Corinth Road (Daniel 1997). 18. These units in the Sunken Road caused so many casualties that ‘‘the Confederates coined their own name for the place — the ‘Hornet’s Nest’’’ (Daniel 1997: 209; Sword 1974: 253). Union troops in this sector were from the 2nd Division under Brigadier General W. H. L. Wallace, including the 2nd, 7th, 8th, 12th, and 14th Iowa and 58th Illinois. Also present were remnants of the 6th Division of Brigadier General Benjamin Prentiss, including the 18th, 21st, and 23rd Missouri, 12th Michigan, and 18th Wisconsin. After examining the Union lines in this area, Grant’s orders to Prentiss stated that he must ‘‘maintain that position at all hazards’’ (Sword 1974: 250). 19. Brigadier General Benjamin M. Prentiss commanded the 6th Division of the Army of the Tennessee under Major General U.S. Grant (Daniel 1997: 319–320). 20. At this point in the war, the 12th Iowa along with the 2nd, 7th, and 14th Iowa composed the 1st Brigade, Colonel James M. Tuttle commanding; of the 2nd Division, Brigadier General William H. L. Wallace commanding; of the Army of the Tennessee, Major General U.S. Grant commanding (Sword 1974: 447–448; Daniel 1997: 319). 21. Although many of the units in the Hornet’s Nest were captured, their valiant stand at the Sunken Road saved the Union army and clearly turned the tide of the Battle of Shiloh in Grant’s favor so that the Union army swept the Confederate army from the field on April 7 (McFeely 1981: 113; Daniel 1997: 237; Sword 1974: 307). 22. Foote (1958: 340) places the number of ‘‘separate full-scale assaults’’ on the Sunken Road at ‘‘a dozen,’’ whereas Daniel (1997: 214) places the number at eight. Daniels estimates that ‘‘in the range of 10,000 or so Confederates had been thrown into the Hornet’s Nest fight.’’ Some place the casualties at around 2,400, or 24 percent of the combatants. 23. The right and left flanks of these units did collapse and fall back, and the Sunken Road units were captured between 4:15 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. (Daniel 1997: 230–237; Sword 1974: 297–299). 24. The 12th Iowa was captured about 5:30 p.m. near Hell’s Hollow, an area east of the Pittsburg-Corinth Road and just north of its junction with the Eastern Corinth Road (Daniel 1997: 234–235). 25. The 3rd Iowa was part of the 1st Brigade of the 4th Division under the command of Brigadier General Stephen A. Hurlbut in the Army of Tennessee. The 3rd Iowa had been camped in Stacy Field just to the north and west of the junction of the Pittsburg-Corinth Road and the Eastern Corinth Road (Daniel 1997: 187, 232, 319). 312 { notes to pages 25–27 } 26. The number of prisoners taken was probably near 2,200 according to some authorities (Daniel...