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Pvt David Bair

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Pvt David Bair

Birth
Ohio, USA
Death
14 Aug 1863 (aged 22–23)
Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, USA
Burial
Burial Details Unknown. Specifically: Burial site unknown Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Civil War Veteran. From Military Records:
David Bair age 22 of Newton,Iowa nativity Ohio enlisted Aug 2 1862 into Co C 22nd Iowa Infantry.

Taken prisoner May 22 1863 during ill-advised suicidal frontal assault of heavily fortified Ft Beauregard, Vicksburg,MS.

Paroled by Confederates.

Died of disease Aug 14 1863 on hospital steamer
"R C Woods" somewhere near Vicksburg.
No burial site listed. Possibly in Vicksburg or Memphis Nat Cemetery.

Emanual Bair age 21, possibly a brother, enlisted same day into same company, same residence and nativity. Wounded May 22 1863. Died of wounds June 24 Vicksburg,MS. See his entry.

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.

Civil War Veteran. From Military Records:
David Bair age 22 of Newton,Iowa nativity Ohio enlisted Aug 2 1862 into Co C 22nd Iowa Infantry.

Taken prisoner May 22 1863 during ill-advised suicidal frontal assault of heavily fortified Ft Beauregard, Vicksburg,MS.

Paroled by Confederates.

Died of disease Aug 14 1863 on hospital steamer
"R C Woods" somewhere near Vicksburg.
No burial site listed. Possibly in Vicksburg or Memphis Nat Cemetery.

Emanual Bair age 21, possibly a brother, enlisted same day into same company, same residence and nativity. Wounded May 22 1863. Died of wounds June 24 Vicksburg,MS. See his entry.

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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