USA > Iowa > Polk County > Des Moines > Des Moines, the pioneer of municipal progress and reform of the middle West, together with the history of Polk County, Iowa, the largest, most populous and most prosperous county in the state of Iowa; Volume I > Part 31
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2 The signers to this call were: F. W. Palmer, Mills & Co., Newman & Hatch, Childs & Howell, Luse & Sandford, Wesley Redhead, J. & I. Kuhn & Co., John H. Given, Butler & Terry, Skinner & Bro., Otis & Rollins, Rollins & Winters, S. A. Robertson, Manning & Miller, Keyes & Knight, Rawson & Osgood, Laird Bros. & Co., E. F. Hooker, for the Western Stage Company.
3 The published list of subscribers is: B. F. Allen, $100; the following $50 each : T. F. Withrow, H. M. Hoxie, F. W. Palmer, E. M. Davis, M. P. Turner, A. Y. Rawson, J. J. Williams, Harry Stephenson, W. Redhead, Thos. Carpenter. G. W. Savery, C. C. Cole, F. M. Mills. The following $30 each: W. S. Bennett, Wm. Shepard, No. 5. Ex. Block. The following $25 each : Mrs. J. C. Warner, Dyer H. Young, Jas. A. Bailey, G. R. Osgood, A. G. Field. W. H. Leas, J. C. Benedict, Lew Coulter. W. W. Patchen and H. G. Pease subscribed $10 each.
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
An Episode of the War-Des Moines Women at the Front.
The loyalty of Des Moines women had from the first been demonstrated in various ways; but in May, 1864, it took on a new and decidedly novel phase. Governor Stone had issued a call for hundred-day recruits. Several business houses had signed a card agreeing to hold till their return the places then held by employes who would enlist for the hundred days. Still there was hesitancy. Then the ladies sprang into the breach. The Register of Saturday, May 14, published a card signed by forty-one married ladies of the city-most of them already represented in the Union army, and all of them prominent socially- offering "to take the places in business," as far as they were capable, "of all patriotic men who will enlist and hasten to the support of our glorious hus- bands, sons and brothers in arms." 4
Next day, the young men of the city found in their Sunday morning paper a card signed by forty-six unmarried ladies of Des Moines, in which they agreed and bound themselves severally to fill, as far as possible, the places temporarily made vacant by the enlistment of clerks for the hundred-day term. They further agreed to render such service for the compensation which should be received by the hundred-day men, and to continue the pay of such enlisted men, "the same as if they remained during their term of service, less the amount received for their military service," and they further agreed to retain the places of such until the expiration of their term of service.5
4 Following is the list of signers as published :
Mrs. S. P. Davis,
Mrs. G. McGuier, Mrs. John Mitchell,
Mrs. Nannie Hoxie,
Mrs. A. S. Dunkle,
Mrs. A. Rawson,
Mrs. H. M. Hoxie,
Mrs. G. Holland,
Mrs. R. P. Hoxie,
Mrs. Washburn,
Mrs. John Thompson,
Mrs. B. F. Allen,
Mrs. J. Smith,
Mrs. F. R. West,
Mrs. N. W. Mills,
Miss A. Bonner,
Mrs. E. J. Ingersoll,
Mrs. J. H. Gray,
Mrs. Geo. Crawford,
Mrs. E. Jones,
Mrs. C. Corning,
Miss Alice Campfield,
Mrs. W. L. Getchell,
Mrs. C. McGlothlin,
Mrs. G. C. Tichenor,
Mrs. Armelia Lewis,
Miss Helen Getchell,
Mrs. G. S. Greene,
Mrs. W. D. Wilson,
Mrs. Laird,
Mrs. M. A. McCain,
Mrs. E. E. Allen,
Mrs. Teesdale,
Mrs. J. Lyon,
Miss Pearson,
Mrs. E. Chester,
Mrs. Ira Cook, Mrs. R. Christy.
Mrs. S. E. Bates, 5 Following is the list of young ladies published :
Miss Lida Bausman,
Miss Mary Lewis,
Miss Sue Davis,
Miss Helen Getchell,
Miss Sadie Shriner,
Miss Ruth Webster,
Miss Vic Dicks,
Miss Sarah J. Wright,
Miss Carrie Corning,
Miss Jennie Johnson,
Miss Ella Mitchell,
Miss A. E. Hemingway,
Miss Lottie Webster,
Miss Lizzie Woods,
Miss Cornie Brown. Miss Dora Bausman,
Miss Iola E. Scott,
Miss Helen F. Reed,
Miss E. Strathern, Miss S. C. Scott,
Miss Etta H. Blodgett,
Miss S. A. Washburn,
Miss A. E. Jordan.
Miss Maria Holland,
Miss Libbie Jordan, Miss Loretta Inscho,
Miss Maria Hepburn, Miss Emma Hatch,
Miss Belle Gregg, Miss Jo. Robinson, Miss Arvilla Trask,
Miss Nettie Rhodes,
. Miss Mary Backus, Miss Ferrier,
Miss Marie Phillips,
Miss Carrie Hatton,
Miss Frank Ensign,
Miss Kate Webster,
Miss Chandler, Miss Alvira Price, Miss Wylie, Miss Anna Raling.
Miss Belle Milligan,
Miss Lottie Woods,
Miss Ella Holland,
Miss Loretta Barnes,
Mrs. D. O. Finch,
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But the end was not yet! In the same paper appeared a card signed "Clerks Attention!" In this card, the "misses" whose names were signed to this announcement, in no spirit of banter, but with a serious purpose to serve the cause that lacked assistance, announced that they were "in earnest," and would wait until the following Tuesday morning for invitations to take their places, adding : "We prefer to be invited to come, but, for the sake of country and precious lives at stake," they would meet Tuesday morning and in a body proceed to their places of business to say to them, "GO!"
The young ladies were not compelled to make that call! A few days later appeared another card from them stating they were spared that task by the prompt response of patriotic young men who had filled the vacant places in Captain North's company.
The death of Captain A. B. Miller, of Company B, Thirty-second Iowa, at the battle of Pleasant Hill, La., was on May 12, announced to Auditor Cattell by Orderly Sergeant Brockway of Company B, Third Iowa. The captain fell mortally wounded and was left on the field. Brockway and others carried him a short distance but his agony was so great that he begged them "to lay him down and return to duty." He gave Private Rhoades his watch, sword and revolver, but his money could not be reached without causing additional pain. The enemy were not ten rods distant and their balls were whizzing past. The Union army retreated at night leaving the Captain and all the killed and wounded in the enemy's hands.
All this while terrific fighting was in progress in Virginia, with varying re- sults, and with fearful losses on both sides. The excitement at the State capital was intense. It became apparent that every able-bodied man would be needed to close the great gaps caused by death and disabilities.
On the 15th, Captain North called the newly enlisted men together for daily drill. On the 17th and 18th, the company departed for Davenport.6
Governor Stone appointed his sister-in-law, Miss Augusta Matthews, to fill the place of military secretary made vacant by the resignation of Captain North.
The tide of emigration to the gold fields of Idaho was at its flood in May. Many emigrants stopped over in Des Moines to replenish their supplies.
About this time a number of Des Moines ladies were actively circulating petitions praying for the abolition of slavery.
Captain Ed. Marsh, of Company D, Second Iowa, writing from Georgia, reported the enemy in full retreat and our army in pursuit.
The Iowa Sanitary Commission met. in Des Moines, June I, with a large at- tendance from all parts of the State. The commission officially recognized the Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Home as a project worthy of support, and organized a campaign for funds.
General Crocker arrived in Des Moines June 7, having left the front of Sher- man's Georgia campaign because of continued ill-health.
Captain Marsh, Lieutenant Lynde and others of Company D, Second Iowa, returned on the same day, having served their three-year term.
6 Josiah M. Vale, Ed. A. Lewis, Samuel S. Etheridge, Welden England. Horace B. Banker, Ripley N. Baylies, J. M. Barlow, Geo. W. Benedict. Lewis E. Bolton, Henry S. Coleman, Thomas L. Collins, Edward Crow, David Edmondson, Robert F. Fleak, Edwin S. Fleming, Johnson S. Goodrell, Solomon B. Holliday, Alvin Mccrary, Rev. John Kim- mons, John L. McClelland, Andrew McCurdy. Oscar McConnell, M. McDonnell, Robert Meyerhoff, John W. Nicholas, Geo. J. North, David J. Pattee, M. F. Rutherford, L. J. F. Shoup, John Sleckman, Scott Smith, Wm. M. Crow, Wm. H. Smith, David Thrailkill, W. H. Turner, Theo. F. Vestal. Wm. H. Ward, Chas. F. Whitney, John Wilshire. C. W. Blodgett, Geo. T. Stone, John E. O'Neal, Josephus Landaker, Irwin Averill, B. I. McCon- nell, joseph Hague, Cyrus Curny, James W. Davidson, W. C. Sampson, Chas. W. Jeffries, David Hunter, Jr., Samuel H. Bryan, Chester S. Bennett, Geo. M. Little, W. C. Geer, Henry S. Mitchell, Lorenzo L. Robinson, Frank P. Morgan, Justus M. Rhoads, Simon M. Chenoweth, Michael Wright, William Sampson, Edmund Hyland, John P. Wallace, M. F: Rollins
CAPT. C. L. WATROUS Taken in March, 1862
CAPT. J. S. CLARK At time of his enlistment
MAJ. RICHARD L. HOXIE
GEN. JOHN H. LOOBY
CAPT. V. P. TWOMBLY Company K. Second Iowa Volunteer Infantry
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Stewart Goodrell returned on the 9th, after a losing six months' experiment on an abandoned plantation in Louisiana. Just as an abundant crop of cotton seemed assured, a band of confederates "gobbled up about fifty negroes and about sixty mules and disappeared." Mr. Goodrell, himself, had a narrow escape.
Another tragedy of the war had its setting in the far-off Red River valley, with a humble home in Des Moines in the background. In June, the wife of a private soldier received a letter from an officer, in the ill-fated Red River cam- paign, which reads: "It gives me pain to inform you that your husband fell mor- tally wounded in the battle of Pleasant Hill, La., on the 9th of May. I was at his side when he was struck down, and supported him in his last moments. It will be a melancholy pleasure to you to know that the few words which he ut- tered after his fall were devoted to his family. His wife and children were in all his thoughts."
In June, Adjutant G. L. Godfrey, late of the Second Iowa, was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the First Alabama Cavalry, a regiment raised by George E. Spencer, chief of General Dodge's staff. Of the new colonel the Register says : "He hails from this city and was for a time a law student in the office of Judge Cole. He was also a Democrat. He is now a Lincoln Abolitionist." A large number of the reënlisted veterans of the Tenth Iowa were in Des Moines on the 21st, enjoying their thirty days' furlough. A long list of battles were items in their honorable record.
The Chicago Tribune in June explains the resignation of General Crocker- the increasing seriousness of a throat trouble from which he had long been a suf- ferer. Instead, however, of accepting his resignation, the Administration ten- dered him the appointment of Military Governor of Arizona, in the hope that the bracing climate of Arizona might restore his health.
At the Congressional Convention in Winterset on July 5 General Crocker pre- sided, M. B. Hoxie was chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, and John A. Kasson was unanimously nominated for Congress.
A long list of packages for the relatives and friends of deceased Iowa sol- diers published in the Register tells its own sad story.
The hundred-day men began to be heard from in July. Lieut. J. M. Vale of the 47th, writing the Register from Helena, Ark., July I, says : "There may be poetry in the Sunny South, but as yet I have failed to see it. Were we not camped near the river, we would suffer much from the excessive heat and bad water. Many are sick, it is true, but none seriously." He thinks that many, at the expiration of the hundred days, would like to enlist in cavalry.
The death of James Sherman, a resident of Des Moines since 1846, occurred July 21. The deceased was a brother of the famous Shermans of Ohio, and of Des Moines.
On the 22d of June, occurred the death of George C., son of Stewart Good- rell, of Des Moines. George was killed at Marietta, Ga., having been shot twice during the battle, -- the second time, the ball piercing his breast, killing him instantly. He was at the time a member of the Ninety-seventh Ohio.
"Killed by a rebel shell" is the brief explanation accompanying the an- nouncement of the death of Quartermaster Sergeant John W. Dewey who en- listed from Des Moines in the Sixteenth Iowa. His death occurred in July at the crossing of the Chattahoochie river.
The extent to which the war took possession of the press in '64 is explained in a single sentence in the Register of July 29: "War is the present business of this country, and it will remain such business until all armed resistance to fed- eral authority shall be ground to powder."
In response to the proclamation of President Lincoln, Mayor Leas issued a proclamation, calling on all business men of Des Moines to close their places of business August 4, that they, and all others in the city might attend places of public worship, and there to supplicate the Almighty for a return of peace.
Rumors of an invasion of the southern border of Iowa continued to circu- Vol. 1-15
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late and two meetings were held in Des Moines for the purpose of resisting invasion from that source. At the second meeting, August I, W. H. McHenry, B. F. Randall, H. Monroe and F. Butler were appointed a committee to arrange for military companies to that end.
General Crocker, accompanied by Captain Robert Lusby, started, August 8, for Arizona, to enter upon his duties as Governor of the territory.
The Des Moines Valley railroad, headed for Des Moines was in August opened from Keokuk to Oskaloosa.
The Des Moines Union Guards organized on the 15th, with John Lynde, captain ; E. C. Blackmar, second lieutenant. Both these officers were veterans of the Union army.
On the 16th of August, Governor Stone returned to Des Moines from a visit to the camps, hospitals and battlefields of the south. He expressed him- self gratified to find the Iowa soldiers in good spirits and sanguine of success.
The provost marshal published a statement, on the 17th, showing the status of the counties of his district, by townships as to recruits in response to the Governor's call of July 18. From this statement it is learned that under former calls, Des Moines had furnished a surplus of 95 men; Des Moines and Lee township together, a surplus of 121 men. Des Moines' quota under the last call was 124, Des Moines and Lee township together, 188. The city's deficiency at the time was reported as 32; that of Des Moines and Lee township together, 70. The slight discrepancy between the quota and the previous supply was doubtless due to failure of some to pass examinations.
The deficiency in the first ward was 19; in the third ward, 13. The quota of the second ward was filled, and the fourth ward showed a surplus. Lee township's deficiency was 38.
Will Porter, recruiting officer, followed up the provost marshal's statement with an advertisement for substitutes, also for "a few representative recruits."
The Register proudly chronicled the thrashing given the post chaplain at Helena, Ark., by Capt. J. P. Roach, chaplain of the Forty-seventh Iowa, because said post chaplain had stigmatized the boys of the 47th as "a gang of thieves."
Capt. H. H. Griffiths, after three years of service, returned to Des Moines, August 20, having earned a reputation as "a brave, patriotic and accomplished officer."
Lieutenant Colonel Nichols who commanded Colonel Williamson's old reg- iment, the Fourth Iowa, at Atlanta,7 returned to Des Moines August 31, severely wounded and still suffering from his wound, his condition, however, somewhat improved.
The nomination of General McClellan for the presidency by the democratic party "caused a variety of sensations" at Iowa's Capital. The "War Democrats" were jubilant ; the "Peace Democrats" were cheerfully acquiescent. A Mc- Clellan rally was held in Des Moines on Saturday evening, September 3, Judge McHenry making the principal speech.
M. D. McHenry, of Des Moines, was, on the 6th, nominated for Congress by the democrats of the Fifth district.
Notwithstanding the fierce wind blowing, large numbers gathered in front of the Savery House on the evening of September 5, to hold a jollification over the fall of Atlanta. The veteran army surgeon, Dr. W. P. Davis, presided, and brief and enthusiastic speeches were made by T. F. Withrow, C. C. Cole and I. N. Thomas.
The organization of militia companies was in progress in the city during the month of September.
General Dodge, still suffering from a wound received at Atlanta, was wel- comed by many at the Savery House, on the 12th.
Colonel Hooker fitted up an extra coach to take General Dodge and his fam- ily from Des Moines to Council Bluffs.
7 Colonel Williamson having been placed in command of a brigade.
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
A militia company was organized at the courthouse on the 16th, with fifty-two names on the roll, and was officered as follows: Captain, Edwin C. Blackmar ; Ist lieut., William Merrill; 2nd lieut., M. M. Choate; sergeants, J. H. Cox, R. H. Allen, George A. McVicker, William Deford; corporals, C. C. Howell, Jesse B. Curl, J. H. McClelland, D. P. Kenyon.
Sheridan's victory in the Shenandoah valley raised drooping spirits and stim- ulated enlistments.
Late in September and early in October, many of the hundred-day men re- turned, singly and in groups, from their brief but severe experience in camp.
Col. J. A. Williamson returned to Des Moines October 7. He had previously tendered his resignation, but it had not been accepted. He brought cheering news from the front.
A battery was organized on the 10th of October, with Harry Griffiths cap- tain, William England, first lieutenant, and Lewis J. Coulter, second lieutenant, -- all veterans.
On the 15th, at a county demonstration in courthouse square, in response to reports of Missouri raiders on their way to Iowa's Capital, Des Moines was rep- resented by the battery, the Light Guards, the Governor's Fusileers and the Capitol Guards.
A "Union Meeting" of large proportions was held in courthouse square, Des Moines, Saturday afternoon, October 22. The orator of the occasion was the Hon. John Sherman, of Ohio. Col. J. A. Williamson presided. Mr. Sherman, then in the plentitude of his power as a reasoner, made an effective speech. Never eloquent, he was convincing, and he found about 2,500 interested followers of his argument.
Another political event of this memorable campaign was the joint discus- sion between the two candidates for Congress from the Fifth district, John A. Kasson and M. D. McHenry. The courthouse was crowded. J. C. Jordan of Walnut township was chosen "moderator," for the "Union" candidate and W. W. Williamson for the democratic. Mr. McHenry opened the debate in an hour's speech, urging an armistice as the best road to peace, and censuring the administration for its sins of omission and commission. He denied a previous charge that he had been a slave-owner. Mr. Kasson denied a similar charge, de- claring the only slave he ever owned he bought that he might make her free. He then proceeded to discuss the issues of the campaign, with all his well-known tact and eloquence. The meeting closed a series of debates in the district, which resulted in the return of Mr. Kasson to Congress.
A severe snow-storm on election night, November 8, continuing over into the following day, left the result in the county temporarily in doubt; but the gen- eral result, the success of the "Union" ticket in nation and State, was a source of much relief and the cause of general rejoicing among those who felt that the only way to much-desired peace was through a vigorous prosecution of the war.
War prices generally prevailed at this time. On October 29, '64, flour was quoted in the Des Moines press, at $5.50 per hundred, potatoes, $1.25 per bushel, butter, 35 and 40 cents a pound, eggs "not to be had at any price," apples $2.50 to $3 a bushel. Beefsteaks were only 10 cents a pound, and pork and mutton 1212 cents.
Stage-loads of drafted men passed through Des Moines in November on their way from the western counties to Davenport. Instead of conducting them- selves like galley slaves, the men were acquiescent and even jolly, believing that the war would soon be over.
Capt. J. P. Roach, the belligerent chaplain of the Forty-seventh Iowa, had re- ceived an appointment as Sanitary and Military Agent for Iowa at Chattanooga. On the 21st, just before starting south, at a public meeting in the old courthouse, the Captain was presented, by the members of Company F, with a valuable pho-
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
tograph album as a mark of appreciation of his fatherly kindness and consider- ation.
Des Moines was evidently settling down to the old ways of peace. A lec- ture association was organized in November with G. W. Cleveland president ; John Mitchell, vice president; J. R. Cary, secretary ; F. W. Palmer, treasurer ; and R. G. Orwig, G. J. North, and C. H. Rawson, executive committee.
A supplementary draft filling the places of men who had been rejected, was made November 26, resulting in the drafting of Michael Flynn, of the first ward, with Michael Cavanagh, reserve; also John P. Saylor of Saylor township, with Marion Ramage, reserve. This closed the draft episode, so far as Polk county was concerned.
In response to the Governor's proclamation, a public meeting in aid of soldiers' families was held at the Central Presbyterian church on the 13th of December. Capt. F. R. West presided and W. D. Wilson acted as secretary. Hon. James Wright, Major North and Dr. Shaw presented the subject. A com- mittee of three from each ward was appointed to collect and distribute funds, provisions, etc.
A "Girls' Soldiers' Relief Society" gave a festival at Sherman Hall, De- cember 19, which netted $177.50.
Des Moines gave a general hurrah for Sherman on the 27th, over the grand achievement of the General in Georgia, "including his capture of the city of Savannah, with all its munitions of war, treasure and provisions." In accord- ance with the request of Mayor Leas and the City Council, Captain Griffiths, of the Des Moines Light Artillery, fired a salute of thirty-six guns. The salute was fired at the historic point on which Captain Allen and his dragoons had landed a little more than a score of years before.
The last full year of the war went out, locally, with a "grand festival," at Sherman's Hall, for the benefit of soldiers' families. The festival continued from 2 until 8 p. m. A free dinner was given all out-of-town contributors. The festival surpassed the most sanguine expectations. The gross receipts were over $2,000. As a "side line," the Artemus Ward "wacks figgers" was "remunerative and interesting."
The year now closed found the patriotic people of Des Moines and Polk county patiently waiting developments at Petersburg and with intense eager- ness watching for the denouement of the military drama known in history as Sherman's March to the Sea. '"Surely," they reasoned along the line of their hopes, "the end of the war is in sight!" The spirit of dogged persistency with which the year had opened had given place to a great hope-that Peace would soon be proclaimed; and, after that, the glad home-coming.
CHAPTER V.
THE CLOSING SCENES-THE GLAD AND SAD HOME-COMING-THE RETURN OF PEACE, I865.
Still no end in sight! Still the great hope,-but following in its wake the fear that, after all, our dead might possibly have died in vain!
On the 17th of January, two coach-loads of recruits left Des Moines for the front. Others soon followed.
In January, Lieut. B. F. Blair, adjutant of the 123d Ohio, formerly a resi- dent of Des Moines, wrote home an account of his escape from captivity at Columbia, S. C. For eighteen months he had been a prisoner, in Macon, Sa- vannah, Charleston and Columbia. After a variety of adventures and hair- breadth escapes, he and a comrade, with four federal officers, met on the route, and twenty-one southerners escaping from conscription, reached Knoxville, and gained their freedom.
Col. J. A. Williamson finally, in January, received his well-earned promotion as brigadier-general.
In January, Governor Stone gave the gratifying announcement that Iowa would be relieved of the final draft, General Fry having decided that the State's excess of three-year men would be given due weight in the quota.
Plucky "Uncle Tommy" Elliott, over sixty years old, wrote to Peter Myers in January, from a hospital in Nashville, that he would "accept a furlough but not a discharge." He was sick of talk about peace. "There can be no peace," he said, "until the rebels lay down their arms."
On February I, there were eight or nine deserters in jail in Des Moines, all from other parts of the State.
Through the instrumentality of Representative Kasson a pension was se- cured for the widow of Alfred M. Lyon, killed at Black River Bridge.
"Flag on the Capitol! Flags on business houses! Flags here and flags there!"-Thus did the Register show the spirit which prevailed at the State Capital early in February, when it was learned that Congress had passed the Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery. Salutes were fired in courthouse square, rattling out several panes of glass. The guns were then taken down to "the Point" where the firing was continued.
At the city election in Des Moines, March 6, Mayor Cleveland was elected on the "Union ticket," and a "Union" council was elected, by small majorities.
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