USA > Iowa > Adair County > History of Adair County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 4
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However, Judge Cole granted the injunction asked for, but an appeal was taken from his decision to the Supreme Court. The appeal was argued before the court in December, 1874, and the deci- sion rendered on March 18, 1875. At the time the argument on the injunction was heard, it was the opinion of some that an action of injunction was not the proper proceeding to test the merits of the case, but that the proceeding should have been certiorari. Accord- ingly a writ of that nature, accompanied by an injunction, was applied for before Judge Mitchell and granted by him.
As stated above a decision was rendered on the 18th of March by the Supreme Court, reversing the decision of Judge Cole. The decision closed as follows: "But what we decide is, that since the petition shows that an election ordered by the board of supervisors, made upon a petition and notice therefor and a vote thereupon adverse to plaintiff, they have no cause for equitable relief, justifying an injunction, and the order for the vote being conclusive until set aside by certiorari."
As an injunction of certiorari had already been started, it would not be legal, of course, to remove the records, etc., as ordered by the board of supervisors, until the matter was entirely settled and out of the courts. A special messenger was sent to Council Bluffs to obtain the decision and it was received in Greenfield March 20th. The people understood that this authorized them to move the county seat and accordingly, on the morning of March 22d, about two hundred fifty men in seventy-five wagons made the overland trip to Fontanelle with the intention of hauling the county records and furniture back to Greenfield. When the organization reached the courthouse there the sheriff ordered them to cease their efforts to remove the material, but they paid no attention to him, and in a short time the records of the courtroom, the clerk's office and also the sheriff's, including the
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
furniture, were loaded onto wagons. The Greenfield delegation then went to the jail, where were the offices of the recorder, treasurer and auditor, and here repeated their loading up process. The Fontanelle people were bitter at the invasion of the Greenfield men, but they were so completely taken by surprise that resistance was impossible. They claimed that damage was done by the Greenfield people in their excite- ment to remove the offices. The following paragraph is from a local paper at the time: "Where it was necessary to remove doors, in no case were the hinges unscrewed, but the door was forced off, tearing the door facings off also; which is but an illustration of the needless destruction done to counters, platforms and other fixtures." Whether much damage was done or not is a matter of two viewpoints.
There is no doubt that this action by the Greenfield people was a little hasty. Proper confirmation had not yet been received. A party of the citizens went to Judge Mitchell and told him to come to Green- field to hold the Circuit Court, but he informed them that the county seat was yet at Fontanelle and consequently proceeded to that place. Arriving about three o'clock, he at once opened court and gave the sheriff an order, directing the Greenfield people to bring back the county records, etc. Several persons accompanied the sheriff to Greenfield. On presenting his order to the chairman of the board of supervisors the sheriff was told that he, the chairman, had not ordered their removal, hence could not direct them to be taken back. During the discussion that arose some person of Greenfield snatched the order from Judge Mitchell and tore it up, denouncing him at the same time.
On Tuesday morning the sheriff and posse were instructed to go after the records and were given a warrant for that purpose. On his arrival in Greenfield, however, he found he could do nothing so returned to the court and reported that he had been resisted by a mob. A messenger was sent to Des Moines on Tuesday evening and returned the following day with General N. B. Baker, the state adju- tant general, who came with the authority to put down any hostile demonstrations. He went to Greenfield and explained the situation to the people and advised them to return the records, and finally, after much discussion, succeeded in getting their consent to do so, although they would not consent to return the records themselves. The records were accordingly taken back to Fontanelle.
On June 24, 1875, the war came to an end, when a decision of the Supreme Court was had, announcing that the election had been
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
sufficient and that Greenfield was the legal county seat. On June 22d, 1875, the board of supervisors ordered that the records, furniture and all supplies pertaining to the county seat should be removed to Greenfield, the new seat of justice. This terminated the county seat war.
CHAPTER IV
MILITARY HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
Although the number of men enlisting from Adair County in the Civil war was very small, the county is justly proud of the part played by her few sons in the great drama of the '60s. Enshrined in the hearts of the people, these men who resolutely faced the terrors of the South, risking life, home, health and everything that was dear to them, in order that the Union might be preserved, truly deserve more than a few scattering words to their memory. It is true that monuments may be erected, the deeds of the brave sung in immortal verse and ennobled in the national literature, but the true memorial the sanctity of the heart will enfold and by word of mouth from generation to generation will the courage, fortitude and sublime self- sacrifice of the "boys in blue" be transmitted in enduring form. History has a purpose; it is to preserve fairly and justly the records of the past, so that a guide may be supplied to the thoughts and con- ceptions of future men and women when these white pages have grown sear and yellow. There are many men living in Adair County in 1915 who fought for their country in the troop ranks of other states-New Hampshire, Indiana, New York, the Carolinas and Ohio and other states. It is the least that Adair County can do, to accord them the same honor and homage which she pays her own sons.
When the war first broke over the country there were but 984 people living in Adair County. With this small population it was impossible for the county to muster a large number of soldiers for the Union. There were exactly eighty-eight soldiers who went to the war from this county that were accredited to it and several others went outside of the county and were enrolled. Bounties were liberally offered by the county for volunteers.
The general reader of today does not appreciate the scope of the word "slavery," just what it meant in those days. The true mean- ing has either been mercifully expurgated from the pages of modern literature; or, it may be said, it is unfortunate that more has not been
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
written of it, in order that the facts might be common knowledge. The term "white slavery" is well known and the meaning of the phrase brings to us a feeling of loathing and indignation. The slavery of the South was little better, was even more universal and more countenanced. In the ulterior character different in motive, it yet embodied deeds and principles exactly similar to the modern slavery. The inter-relation of the races meant commercial advancement on the auction block, thus the justification. Rome and the other Latin countries had their slavery and the national literature does not dis- guise the dreaded institution.
The outbreak of the Civil war has been attributed to many causes. These are all based upon the same thing-slavery. The political differences and the intrigues and enmities rested on this issue alone. In reading this deduction, many will disagree, for even at this late day there seems to be incontrovertible argument on both sides of the question. Slavery was distinctly out of tune with the times; the atti- tude of the southerners was falsely aristocratic; all of which tended to their inevitable downfall. The stirring times which followed the Mexican Territory acquisition, the fugitive slave law, the Missouri Compromise, the struggle in Congress, the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the election of Lincoln to the presidency, cannot be detailed in a work of this scope, but a discussion is worthy of place. -
A greater appreciation of Lincoln's worth is gained when we contemplate the arena into which he stepped in 1860. The utter confusion, the threatening war clouds, and the words of the people, "Let's see what you can do," were stern tests for the backwoods lawyer. The opportunity was given him and his accomplishments are history.
War might have been avoided had the North recognized the slaves on the same basis as cattle or any other common property, or, on the other hand, had the South reverted to the sentiment of the North and pronounced slavery an evil. It is evident, however, when the tenor of the day is considered, that these two theories were impossible. The mass of the people on both sides were eager for the actual conflict; mob spirit prevailed in many places; but the greater minds, the leaders, entered the struggle with heavy hearts. Lincoln, Grant, Lee, Jackson and Longstreet, and other foremost figures of the war, were sad with the weight of unjust and useless carnage. The four years' strife, the early success of the Confederate hosts, the high tide at Gettysburg, the slow, merciless pounding of Grant's machine on the
LUCIAN M. KILBURN
As Corporal of Company E. 16th Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, in 1862
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
depleted Army of Northern Virginia and the final chapter at Appo- mattox can be no more than mentioned.
The early days of the war were attended with much excitement in Adair County. The toll of grim death which was to be exacted bore no part in the thoughts of the people; they alone thought of the pomp and circumstance of war, its glory, its martial spirit. The county was strictly Union, in contrast to some of her southern sister counties of the state.
Following is the roster of the men who went to war from this county :
FOURTH INFANTRY
Company B
John C. Carpenter.
Company F
W. F. Adams.
TENTH INFANTRY
Company B
Andrew Aarons, Marion Farrell.
TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY
Company D
M. E. Black, second lieutenant.
E. G. Currier, Isaac Hoch, J. M. Stewart, F. M. McAfferty, Charles F. Currier, F. A. Buck, Jacob Augustine, P. C. Barrows, A. D. Littleton, Joseph Clary, Benton Reid, G. W. Lents, Stephen Bish, Myron Bunce, Stephen Carley, Joseph Dugan, C. H. Black, Daniel Dugan, Bice Friend, Isaac Lents, Thomas Lucas, James S. McCall, W. B. Maxwell, S. H. Myers, W. M. Nelson, W. M. Rod- gers. J. A. Robison, Jonathan Shreeves, W. B. Thomas, James M. Witte. W. F. Adams, W. R. McCall, P. T. Davis, S. B. Easton, Miles Friend, G. W. Lucas. Edward Lee, Hugh H. McCall, George McCartney, D. S. Moore, E. G. Pendleton, H. W. Rodgers, A. C. Reid, G. W. Thomas, W. H. Wilson, John J. Myers, William L. Bennett.
5.01. 1-3
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
FORTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY
Company E
Theodore Brown, Frederick H. Cears.
SECOND VETERAN CAVALRY Company A
Joseph D. Davis.
Company B John F. Camel.
Company I
Christopher M. Johnson, Thomas Kenberry, John S. King, M. P. Shadley.
NINTH IOWA CAVALRY
Company H
M. E. Black, sergeant.
FOURTH CAVALRY
Company I
J. R. Overmyer, lieutenant.
John H. White, Samuel M. Kendrick, S. M. McClure, Thomas Miner, A. P. Codner, D. H. Chapman, T. M. Ewing, W. H. Pace, Abner Root, R. E. Ewing, Thomas H. Atwood, W. A. Wilson, John S. Winkley, John M. Crane, Philo G. Sage, John Schweers, M. T. Crittenden, O. H. Colvin, E. C. Goings, F. Pace, Henry Stroup, G. W. Atkins, J. H. While, A. B. Hubbard.
ROLL OF HONOR
W. A. Wilson, Company I, Fourth Cavalry, died of chronic diarrhoea at Keokuk, November 11, 1862.
A. B. Hubbard, same company and regiment, died of pneumonia at Mound City, Ill., November 22, 1862.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
John M. Crane, Company I, Fourth Cavalry, died at Atlanta, Ga., July 23, 1865, of chronic diarrhoea.
William H. Pace, Company I, Fourth Cavalry, died of typhoid fever at Memphis, Tenn., May 6, 1864.
Henry Stroup, Company I, Fourth Cavalry, died at Mont- gomery, Ala., April 28, 1865, of camp diarrhoea.
Miles Friend, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died at Helena, Ark., February 4, 1863.
Isaac Lents, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died on Feb- ruary 7, 1863, at Helena, Ark.
Thomas Lucas, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died at Helena, Ark., February 5, 1863.
William B. Maxwell, died at Keokuk, Ia., July 16, 1863; was member of Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry.
George McCartney, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died February 2, 1863, at Helena, Ark.
D. S. Moore, same company and regiment, died at Memphis, Tenn., March 27, 1863.
WV. B. Thomas, same company and regiment, died March 1, 1865, at New Orleans, La.
James M. Witte, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died at Helena, Ark., May 13, 1863.
John C. Carpenter, Company B, Fourth Infantry, died of camp fever October 6, 1861, at Rolla, Mo.
Jacob Augustine, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died at Helena, Ark., February 3, 1863.
C. H. Black, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died February 3. 1863, at Helena, Ark.
Stephen Bish, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died at Helena, Ark., July 9, 1863.
Daniel Dugan, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died of pleurisy, January 27, 1863 at Helena, Ark.
S. B. Easton, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died January 29. 1863, at Helena, Ark., of typhoid fever.
Bice Friend, Company D, Twenty-ninth Infantry, died of ery- sipelas at Helena, Ark., January 29, 1863.
SKETCH OF TWENTY-NINTH IOWA INFANTRY
As the majority of the men from Adair County enlisted in the Twenty-ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, the following brief sketch of this regiment's part in the war is appended :
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
The regiment was organized at Council Bluffs and mustered into the service of the United States at that place on December 1, 1862, with the following officers: Thomas H. Benton, Jr., of Council Bluffs, colonel; R. F. Patterson, of Keokuk, lieutenant-colonel; and Charles B. Shoemaker, of Clarinda, major. The regiment was ordered to Helena, Ark., but upon reaching that place was not detrained, but ordered to join an expedition then being organized by General Gorman, to go up the White River. This expedition resulted in no good to anybody, but on the contrary, was the cause of much suffering to the troops. In April and May, 1863, the Twenty- ninth formed part of the expedition to Fort Pemberton and came back to Helena in time to take part in the attack on that place on the 4th of July, 1863.
Helena had been made a depot of supplies and recruits and was a source of much uneasiness and alarm to the rebels, still holding the most of Arkansas, threatening, as it did, the more important points therein. Brigadier General Holmes of the Confederate army was ordered to take it. Re-enforced by the troops of Generals Sterling Price, Fagan, McRae, Walker, Marmaduke and Parsons, until his force numbered 7,646 men, he appeared before the place. Helena was fortunately under the command of Maj. Gen. B. M. Prentiss, who had 3,800 effective men behind strong earthworks, mounted with serv- iceable guns, with the main approaches covered with abatis. The gun- boat Tyler, under command of J. M. Pritchett, was also in hand and played an efficient part in the defense. The Twenty-ninth was drawn up in line of battle at daylight and marched across the bottom to their position on Sterling Road about 4.30 o'clock. Two com- panies were immediately set forward to drive the enemy from their position on the crest of the hill, but, finding them too strong, other companies were sent to their assistance, until eight were thus employed. In the meantime, the enemy had got two guns into bat- tery, with which they opened a brisk fire and under which their line pushed rapidly forward, cheering and exulting as they advanced. Our skirmishers met them with a galling and incessant fire, under which they gradually fell back, contesting the ground inch by inch. The skirmish line of the Twenty-ninth now pressed the rebels back to the crest of the hill, previously held by the Confederates, compel- ling them for a time to abandon their guns, which, however, after several ineffectual attempts, they recovered, leaving one caisson on the field. The regiment, supported by the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry, in this contest was pitted against one brigade of five regi-
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
ments of infantry, one battery and two regiments of cavalry, and reported a loss of seven killed and twenty-four wounded, some mor- tally and many of them severely.
On the 1st of August, 1863, General Rice's brigade, to which the Twenty-ninth was attached, became a part of the expedition intended for the reduction of Little Rock, Ark., under command of Maj .- Gen. Frederick Steele. Leaving Helena August 11, 1863, after a fatiguing march, they reached the front of the enemy's works before the city on September 10th. Fully expecting a severe contest for the possession of the capital of Arkansas, they were dis- appointed, the enemy evacuating the place upon the charge of the cavalry division under General Davidson, who was in the advance.
The Twenty-ninth was on duty in Arkansas with the remainder of the division throughout the balance of the years 1863-4 and had several engagements with the rebels. On the morning of the 2d of April, 1864, the Twenty-ninth was assigned the position of rear guard to the supply train, together with a section of Captain Vogler's battery. While the train was passing through a narrow, muddy defile made by a small stream, about a mile beyond Terre Noir Bayou, a battalion of Shelby's cavalrymen made an attack on the rear, but was held in check by the left wing of the regiment. As soon as the advance had cleared the ravine Colonel Benton ordered the line to be formed and the battery into position and opened upon the advancing rebels. This was responded to with spirit and accuracy with two pieces of artillery. The enemy fell back, but made dem- onstration of a flank attack on the left, whereupon Colonel Benton with his regiment returned to Terre Noir Bayou, where the rebels again renewed the attack. This was met as before by the fire of the battery and a few rounds of musketry, which sufficiently discomfited the rebels to enable the Union line to fall back under cover of the fire of the skirmish line to a hill two miles distant. At this point the regiment was deployed on each side of the road and the battery placed into position and the enemy came up in force and made a desperate charge on our left wing, but was promptly repulsed, upon which he fell back, crossed the road, and attacked the right with no better success. The engagement lasted about an hour and a half, although the Twenty-ninth was not engaged any more, the brunt of the balance of the conflict being borne by the Fiftieth Indiana Regi- ment, which had just come up. The loss to the Twenty-ninth in this battle was twenty-seven killed, wounded and missing, including among the wounded three commissioned officers.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
In the engagement of April 4th at Elkin's Ford on the Little Missouri, this regiment was ordered forward by General Rice across the bayou and drawn up in line of battle in the rear of four com- panies of the Thirty-sixth Iowa, under the command of Lieut .- Col. F. M. Drake. The left wing was subsequently ordered back across the bayou under Major Shoemaker and drawn up in line in the rear of the remaining six companies of the Thirty-sixth Iowa, and the right wing was ordered to fall back to the bank of the bayou. No part of the regiment was engaged with the enemy and the cas- ualties were confined to one man wounded.
On the afternoon of April 10, 1864, another engagement was had with the enemy at Prairie d'Anne, where the regiment was ordered into position as reserve in the rear of the Thirty-third Iowa. The line of battle having been formed, it was propelled forward, skirmishing with the enemy, but driving them back at all points, and the march resumed toward Camden.
On the morning of April 30, 1863, the Twenty-ninth was also engaged in the battle of Jenkin's Ferry. The official report on this battle speaks in glowing terms of the gallantry of this favorite regi- ment. Colonel Engelman, commanding the brigade, thus officially speaks of it as: "One of the most sanguinary engagements of the war and was fought exclusively by infantry, the section of artillery brought into position by us firing but a single shot while the enemy's battery of four pieces went into position only to be taken by a com- bined charge of the Twenty-ninth Iowa and the Second Kansas. The ground over which the battle was fought, with the exception of two open fields near the road, was a majestic forest, growing out of a swamp, which was very difficult to pass on horseback, the infantry being up to their knees in water most of the time."
Between the 11th of August and the 10th of September, 1863, the Twenty-ninth, with the balance of the army, marched with Gen- eral Steele to Little Rock. The weather was exceedingly hot and dry and there was little of any worth transpired except the difficulty of the march. Many were sunstruck and it was impossible to get all the sick in the ambulance. This campaign ended in the occupation of Little Rock, where the regiment went into winter quarters.
In the spring the regiment was unfortunate enough to be a par- ticipant in the Red River expedition, following General Steele in what was known as the Camden campaign.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
On the return of the army to Little Rock a reorganization was effected and the Twenty-ninth was assigned to the First Brigade of the First Division. It was afterward transferred to the Second Brigade, Second Division, where it remained until the end of the war.
The regiment remained at Little Rock nearly a year, except about a month from the latter part of July to the 1st of September, when it was stationed at Lewisburg on the Arkansas, fifty miles above Little Rock.
When Gen. J. J. Reynolds assumed the command of the Department of Arkansas, there was another reorganization of the army. In this the Twenty-ninth was assigned to an organization known as the "Detached Brigade of the Seventh Army Corps" and Brig .- Gen. E. A. Carr was made the commander. Under this leader they received orders to proceed to New Orleans, on which expedition they started on the 9th of February, 1865. After a tedious voyage the regiment reached New Orleans on the 14th and 16th of February. The Twenty-ninth was quartered in an old foundry in Algiers, across the river from New Orleans. On the 20th the regiment moved by rail to Lake Port on Lake Ponchartrain and thence by steamer to Mobile Point, Ala. The vessel on which they were embarked ran aground in Grant's Pass, one of the inlets of the harbor of Mobile, and they had to be transferred to another steamer. They were disembarked on February 23d and without tents or baggage went into bivouac on the sands of Navy Cove, three miles in the rear of Fort Morgan, one of the defenses of Mobile.
The preparations for the campaign now commenced. On March 17th the army proceeded toward Mobile. On the 25th it found itself under the guns of one of the strongest defenses of the city, Spanish Fort. and at once began its investment. After the capture of Spanish Fort the regiment marched to the assistance of General Steele, who was investing Fort Blakely, another of the defenses of Mobile. Later the regiment entered Mobile and immediately left for Mount Vernon arsenal. On the 1st of June the regiment sailed for Texas. When General Sheridan assumed command of the Mili- tary Division of the Gulf he directed the immediate muster out of the Twenty-ninth. The regiment sailed for New Orleans in the latter part of July and on the 10th of the following month was honorably discharged from the service.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
ADAIR COUNTY BOYS IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
When President Mckinley issued his first call for volunteers in April, 1898, a score or so Adair County boys were upon their feet and eager to enlist in the forces of Uncle Sam. They were accord- ingly taken to Des Moines and were mustered into Company G, Fifty-first Iowa Volunteer Infantry. This company was mostly raised in Creston. The men who composed this first enrollment from Adair County were: J. F. Grounds, first sergeant; Daniel W. Gaines, corporal; Ezra J. Brayton, Harry Carver, Leroy Darby, Martin G. Dunlap, Charles E. Geesman, Herbert M. Griffith, G. B. Hetherington, Fred M. Ickis, Ernest C. James, W. B. Martin, Jr., Fred Neeley, Ernest O. Patterson, Roy Reno, Vern W. Shrader, William Wallace, Wesley Witter. By the first of June many more men were ready to enlist and Lieut. R. J. Gaines came up from Creston to recruit them. Those who went at this time were: Fred Lovely, Harry Wilson, Howe McCollum, Milo Witter, Will Stryker, all from Greenfield; C. L. T. Herbert, George Sines, Richard Henry, William Arthur, Robert Eby, R. V. Stevens, William McLaren, Vess Fisher, Ed F. Ross, E. Spangler, W. Merrill, Ed Kempter, Ed Sutphin, C. J. Cissne, Walter Hostetler, Frank Humphrey, James Gillespie, James Needles, William Witter, L. Stoner, William McKelvey, Robert Britten and Fred Carver. Carver died of typhoid fever at the Presidio and his body was returned to Fontanelle and buried in Fontanelle Cemetery.
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