Rowett's Redoubt

An earthen redoubt about 200 yards behind this site protected the Federal defenses and the Star Fort under Colonel Richard Rowett. It was manned by the 39th Iowa, 7th Illinois, five companies of the 93rd Illinois Regiment, and one 12 lb. Napoleon cannon, and many of the troops, including the entire 7th Illinois Regiment, carried Henry Repeating rifles. At 10:20 a.m., Confederate Brigadier General Francis M. Cockrell's Missouri Brigade and Brigadier General William H. Young's Brigade of Texas, along with some North Carolinians, stormed the position. The fighting quickly became furious, with solid shot and shells, grape and canister from double-shotted cannon, and heavy rifle fire striking the attacking Confederates as they advanced. The struggle then turned into fierce hand-to-hand combat with clubbed muskets, fists, swords, and even rocks as the Confederate assault swept over the works. About 200 surviving Federal troops fled to the Star Fort, dragging the Napoleon with them. After the battle, Lieutenant William Ludlow found the trench crowded with dead from both sides, and Private B.F. Murdock of the 6th Missouri Regiment recalled going over the works in the only bayonet fight his company experienced during the war. William H. Young had been educated at Washington College in Tennessee, McKenzie College in Texas, and the University of Virginia, recruited his own company for Confederate service, rose from captain to colonel after the Battle of Shiloh, fought gallantly at Perryville, Mufreesboro, Vicksburg, and Chickamauga, was wounded at the latter three battles, lost most of his foot at Allatoona, spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at Johnnson's Island, and later became a prominent lawyer and real estate operator before dying in 1901. Francis M. Cockrell, a Missouri native admitted to the bar in 1855, fought with the Missouri militia, rose to colonel, commanded the Missouri brigade at Vicksburg where he was captured and paroled, was appointed brigadier general on July 18, 1863, suffered severe wounds at Franklin, Tennessee, on November 30, 1864, was captured in Mobile in the spring of 1865, later was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to the Interstate Commerce Commission, and died in 1915.

Georgia · United States