Information from Civil War Military Records: Born Indiana. Residence in 1862 Albia, Iowa. Enlisted July 30, 1862 22nd Iowa Infantry Co D.
Wounded May 22, 1863 during ill-advised suicidal frontal assault of heavily fortified Ft Beauregard, Vicksburg,MS.
Ezra was one of a few men who were actually able to enter the fort. They did so by crossing a wide,deep trench. Then climbing upon each others shoulders to scale a 15 ft tall fence( they had no ladders)while being fired upon by cannon and muskets. Those who entered the fort were either wounded and fell back into the ditch or were killed.
Ezra died of his wounds May 22, 1863. Burial site not listed. Possibly an unknown in Vicksburg Nat. Cemetery.
Francis M Anderson, age 24, possibly a brother of Ezra, same residence, nativity enlisted Jul 28 1862 into same company of 22nd Iowa. Promoted Corporal Mar 13 1863. Mustered out Jul 25 1864 Savannnah,Georgia.
The following report is of 22nd Iowa adjutent concerning frontal assault of Fort Beauregard,Vicksburg, May 22 1863:
"The enemy were on the alert and, as our colors rose above the crest of the hill, a thousand bayonets glistened in the sunlight above the parapet at Fort Beauregard.
The strong work against which the main attack was directed covered about half an acre of ground, the walls being about fifteen feet high, surrounded by a ditch ten feet wide. A line of rifle pits connected it with others of the same kind, each of which was so arranged as to enfilade the approach to the other. The regiment succeeded in reaching—under a concentrated fire of grape and musketry—an almost impenetrable abatis, forty yards from. the works, where it
became necessary to reform the line, the men having become separated in crossing the obstructions. They promptly rallied to the flag and were again led to the charge. A few officers and about fifty men, succeeded in reaching the ditch surrounding the fort, but, having no scaling ladders, they were unable to enter the works. Sergeant Joseph E. Griffith of the 22nd, with some fifteen or twenty men,
succeeded—by raising one another up the wall—in gaining an entrance and capturing a number of prisoners, but the fire from the enemy's rifle pits in rear of the fort, and the lack of reinforcements coming to their aid, rendered the place untenable."
Only two men of the 22nd Iowa who entered the fort survived. This was the last frontal assault of Fort Beauregard ever attempted. Afterwards Vicksburg was defeated using long term siege tactics.
Almost none of the men killed outright or who died shortly afterward of wounds are listed in Vicksburg National Cemetery. Believe they were, in all probability, buried in a mass grave with many remains unidentified.
Wounded May 22, 1863 during ill-advised suicidal frontal assault of heavily fortified Ft Beauregard, Vicksburg,MS.
Ezra was one of a few men who were actually able to enter the fort. They did so by crossing a wide,deep trench. Then climbing upon each others shoulders to scale a 15 ft tall fence( they had no ladders)while being fired upon by cannon and muskets. Those who entered the fort were either wounded and fell back into the ditch or were killed.
Ezra died of his wounds May 22, 1863. Burial site not listed. Possibly an unknown in Vicksburg Nat. Cemetery.
Francis M Anderson, age 24, possibly a brother of Ezra, same residence, nativity enlisted Jul 28 1862 into same company of 22nd Iowa. Promoted Corporal Mar 13 1863. Mustered out Jul 25 1864 Savannnah,Georgia.
The following report is of 22nd Iowa adjutent concerning frontal assault of Fort Beauregard,Vicksburg, May 22 1863:
"The enemy were on the alert and, as our colors rose above the crest of the hill, a thousand bayonets glistened in the sunlight above the parapet at Fort Beauregard.
The strong work against which the main attack was directed covered about half an acre of ground, the walls being about fifteen feet high, surrounded by a ditch ten feet wide. A line of rifle pits connected it with others of the same kind, each of which was so arranged as to enfilade the approach to the other. The regiment succeeded in reaching—under a concentrated fire of grape and musketry—an almost impenetrable abatis, forty yards from. the works, where it
became necessary to reform the line, the men having become separated in crossing the obstructions. They promptly rallied to the flag and were again led to the charge. A few officers and about fifty men, succeeded in reaching the ditch surrounding the fort, but, having no scaling ladders, they were unable to enter the works. Sergeant Joseph E. Griffith of the 22nd, with some fifteen or twenty men,
succeeded—by raising one another up the wall—in gaining an entrance and capturing a number of prisoners, but the fire from the enemy's rifle pits in rear of the fort, and the lack of reinforcements coming to their aid, rendered the place untenable."
Only two men of the 22nd Iowa who entered the fort survived. This was the last frontal assault of Fort Beauregard ever attempted. Afterwards Vicksburg was defeated using long term siege tactics.
Almost none of the men killed outright or who died shortly afterward of wounds are listed in Vicksburg National Cemetery. Believe they were, in all probability, buried in a mass grave with many remains unidentified.
Information from Civil War Military Records: Born Indiana. Residence in 1862 Albia, Iowa. Enlisted July 30, 1862 22nd Iowa Infantry Co D.
Wounded May 22, 1863 during ill-advised suicidal frontal assault of heavily fortified Ft Beauregard, Vicksburg,MS.
Ezra was one of a few men who were actually able to enter the fort. They did so by crossing a wide,deep trench. Then climbing upon each others shoulders to scale a 15 ft tall fence( they had no ladders)while being fired upon by cannon and muskets. Those who entered the fort were either wounded and fell back into the ditch or were killed.
Ezra died of his wounds May 22, 1863. Burial site not listed. Possibly an unknown in Vicksburg Nat. Cemetery.
Francis M Anderson, age 24, possibly a brother of Ezra, same residence, nativity enlisted Jul 28 1862 into same company of 22nd Iowa. Promoted Corporal Mar 13 1863. Mustered out Jul 25 1864 Savannnah,Georgia.
The following report is of 22nd Iowa adjutent concerning frontal assault of Fort Beauregard,Vicksburg, May 22 1863:
"The enemy were on the alert and, as our colors rose above the crest of the hill, a thousand bayonets glistened in the sunlight above the parapet at Fort Beauregard.
The strong work against which the main attack was directed covered about half an acre of ground, the walls being about fifteen feet high, surrounded by a ditch ten feet wide. A line of rifle pits connected it with others of the same kind, each of which was so arranged as to enfilade the approach to the other. The regiment succeeded in reaching—under a concentrated fire of grape and musketry—an almost impenetrable abatis, forty yards from. the works, where it
became necessary to reform the line, the men having become separated in crossing the obstructions. They promptly rallied to the flag and were again led to the charge. A few officers and about fifty men, succeeded in reaching the ditch surrounding the fort, but, having no scaling ladders, they were unable to enter the works. Sergeant Joseph E. Griffith of the 22nd, with some fifteen or twenty men,
succeeded—by raising one another up the wall—in gaining an entrance and capturing a number of prisoners, but the fire from the enemy's rifle pits in rear of the fort, and the lack of reinforcements coming to their aid, rendered the place untenable."
Only two men of the 22nd Iowa who entered the fort survived. This was the last frontal assault of Fort Beauregard ever attempted. Afterwards Vicksburg was defeated using long term siege tactics.
Almost none of the men killed outright or who died shortly afterward of wounds are listed in Vicksburg National Cemetery. Believe they were, in all probability, buried in a mass grave with many remains unidentified.
Wounded May 22, 1863 during ill-advised suicidal frontal assault of heavily fortified Ft Beauregard, Vicksburg,MS.
Ezra was one of a few men who were actually able to enter the fort. They did so by crossing a wide,deep trench. Then climbing upon each others shoulders to scale a 15 ft tall fence( they had no ladders)while being fired upon by cannon and muskets. Those who entered the fort were either wounded and fell back into the ditch or were killed.
Ezra died of his wounds May 22, 1863. Burial site not listed. Possibly an unknown in Vicksburg Nat. Cemetery.
Francis M Anderson, age 24, possibly a brother of Ezra, same residence, nativity enlisted Jul 28 1862 into same company of 22nd Iowa. Promoted Corporal Mar 13 1863. Mustered out Jul 25 1864 Savannnah,Georgia.
The following report is of 22nd Iowa adjutent concerning frontal assault of Fort Beauregard,Vicksburg, May 22 1863:
"The enemy were on the alert and, as our colors rose above the crest of the hill, a thousand bayonets glistened in the sunlight above the parapet at Fort Beauregard.
The strong work against which the main attack was directed covered about half an acre of ground, the walls being about fifteen feet high, surrounded by a ditch ten feet wide. A line of rifle pits connected it with others of the same kind, each of which was so arranged as to enfilade the approach to the other. The regiment succeeded in reaching—under a concentrated fire of grape and musketry—an almost impenetrable abatis, forty yards from. the works, where it
became necessary to reform the line, the men having become separated in crossing the obstructions. They promptly rallied to the flag and were again led to the charge. A few officers and about fifty men, succeeded in reaching the ditch surrounding the fort, but, having no scaling ladders, they were unable to enter the works. Sergeant Joseph E. Griffith of the 22nd, with some fifteen or twenty men,
succeeded—by raising one another up the wall—in gaining an entrance and capturing a number of prisoners, but the fire from the enemy's rifle pits in rear of the fort, and the lack of reinforcements coming to their aid, rendered the place untenable."
Only two men of the 22nd Iowa who entered the fort survived. This was the last frontal assault of Fort Beauregard ever attempted. Afterwards Vicksburg was defeated using long term siege tactics.
Almost none of the men killed outright or who died shortly afterward of wounds are listed in Vicksburg National Cemetery. Believe they were, in all probability, buried in a mass grave with many remains unidentified.
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