USA > Iowa > Adair County > History of Adair County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 5
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Hayes Hendry, son of J. G. Hendry of the Union Bank of Bridgewater, was a soldier in the Philippines and died there. His body was returned by the Government and buried at Bridgewater.
REGIMENTAL SKETCH 4
The regiment was mustered into the service on May 30, 1898, and directed to await orders from the War Department. On June 2d they received orders from the adjutant general, U. S. A., assigning them to the Philippine expeditionary forces and directing them to proceed to San Francisco, Cal. On June 5th the regiment was placed on three separate trains and reached San Francisco on the morning of June 10th. Just before leaving Des Moines, which was accepted into the service with sixty-five men to each company. was ordered to be recruited to the maximum strength of 106 men to the company. Recruiting officers were left in Iowa to enlist and forward the requisite number of men.
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ADAIR COUNTY SOLDIERS IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Top row, left to right: Martin Dunlap, Charles E. Geeseman, Tarr, Frank Humphrey, Fred Neeley, William Witter, Walter Hostetler. Third row: Del Wiggins, Ezra J. Brayton, Ernest C. James, Lieut. R. J. Gaines, E. O. Patterson, Dan Gaines, W. B. Martin, Jr., Leroy Darby. Second row: Fred Lovely, Will Stryker, Harry Wilson, Wesley Witter, George Fraser. Lower row : Al McCollum, George Hetherington, William Wallace, Wiggins.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
By the latter part of June the regiment had been recruited to its full strength, 1,332 men.
The fact that the regiment was the last to be assigned to the Phil- ippine expeditionary forces and next to the last to reach San Fran- cisco, and the further fact that it contained so many recruits and they not properly and comfortably equipped, was the cause of its not being sent to the Philippines in June or July. Camp Merritt was an unhealthy camp, being located so near the ocean where the cold winds and fogs were almost continuous. On July 29th the men were moved to the Presidio, where they were more sheltered. During all this time they were given daily drills and target practice.
On November 3d the regiment went aboard the transport Penn- sylvania and the same day sailed for Manila. At this time the regi- ment had been reduced from 50 officers and 1,332 men to 50 officers and 1,040 men: 27 men had died of disease in San Fran- cisco. All the men who were unfit for service and those having urgent necessity for being relieved from the service were discharged.
Manila Bay was reached on the morning of December 7, 1898. The regiment was assigned to the First Separate Brigade, Depart- ment of the Pacific, and Eighth Army Corps, Gen. M. P. Miller commanding. They departed for Iloilo, Panay Island, on December 26th, and by the 30th had moved to within one mile of the city. Pursuant to special orders, No. 29, First Separate Brigade, Eighth Army Corps, left the harbor at Iloilo and arrived at Cavite on Jan- uary 31, 1899, remaining on the transport during the whole month of January.
The last troops were not yet ashore when the storm of war descended. At 11 o'clock Saturday night, February 4th, the call to arms was sounded; word was sent that the insurgents had attacked the Americans at Manila. From across the bay the thunder of guns and the roll of volleys told that the outbreak had come at last. It was expected that the natives would attack Cavite from San Roque, but they did not and the men slept on their arms. For a few days the regiment had only to do guard and outpost duty. On February 8th Admiral Dewey ordered that a flag of truce be sent to the insur- gents of San Roque and that if the town was not evacuated by 9 A. M. February 9th he would bombard the town. When 9 o'clock arrived San Roque was in flames. The natives had fled, firing the town and thousands of dollars' worth of property. The following troops were ordered to enter the town and save the capital: Third Battalion, Fifty-first Iowa, commanded by Major Moore; California
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
Heavy Artillery with three gatling guns, under Major Rice; Second Battalion, Fifty-first Iowa, under Major Hume; and a troop of Nevada cavalry. They advanced about three miles with slight skir- mishing to the causeway beyond the town, across which the outposts of the enemy were posted; there a strong position was taken. On February 11th the Second Battalion returned to Cavite and the Third Battalion remained on duty. It was a trying position. The outpost duty was exacting and the troops were frequently exposed to the enemy's fire. On February 15th the insurgents made an advance, but were soon driven back by the fire from the artillery and volleys from Company I. On February 11th a battalion of the Fifty-first Iowa was ordered to Manila at once. The First Bat- talion, Companies H, F. A and D, under command of Major Dug- gan, was sent.
At nightfall this command embarked in lighters and were towed across the bay. The battalion was landed on the luneta and received instructions to report to General Anderson on the south line, about five miles south of Manila. Assistant Surgeon Macrae was detailed to accompany this battalion. The First Battalion bivouacked for the night near an old monastery at Pasai and here for a time encamped. A few miles to the left there was frequent heavy firing and night after night the troops were aroused by the booming of field batteries and the rolling of machine guns and the sound of volleys. Brisk firing in the immediate front was frequent and all the com- panies soon knew the song of the Mausers. For several days the men were kept busy building trenches and otherwise strengthening the lines. The battalion was attached to General Ovenshine's bri- gade, the Second Brigade, First Division. Companies of battalion served in the vicinity of Culi Culi Church, Pasai, and San Pedro, Macati. The service here was arduous. Day and night a harassing fire was kept up by the sharpshooters of the enemy concealed in the bamboos and jungles in front. Outpost duty was perilous and there was constant hazardous scouting and patrolling. On March 28th. while with a scouting party from Company H, Private Fred Bordu- wine was cut off in the midst of a hot fire from the insurgents. Information gained later was that he was wounded in the leg, cap- tured and taken to Malivay by the Philippine natives. Captain Worthington at once took out a party of eighteen men from Com- pany H and six from Company A, all volunteers, to search for the missing man. The scouting party had been fired upon near a stone culvert where the dry bed of a small stream intersects the road run-
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
ning south from Culi Culi Church. Captain Worthington's party entered the creek bed a good distance east of the bridge and followed it along until the scouts could reach the ground where Private Bordu- wine was lost. Here the enemy was soon encountered. A sharp and brilliant skirmish followed, in which the insurgents were roughly handled. Many were killed and wounded, while the Americans, moving back by the left flank, retraced their course without loss. Private Borduwine was never found.
The advance on Calumpit was planned to begin on Monday, April 24, 1899. Fighting was precipitated a day before this, how- ever. The day was intensely hot and in the open rice fields the men suffered greatly. For three hours the struggle lasted and then the Filipinos were forced from their position, and Quingua captured. That night the entire regiment was concentrated at Quingua and at daybreak Hale's brigade crossed the Bagbag River, after slight resistance, and moved down parallel with the right bank of that stream toward Calumpit. The firing, from two to three miles in length. swept the country clean as it advanced. The Iowa troops were on the extreme right. In the course of a toilsome day's work under a boiling sun. the brigade fought its way through miles of rice fields and jungles, beset with trenches. Near the town of Pulilan, a short distance from Quingua, the right of the regiment encoun- tered a strong force. It was routed and eighty Filipinos killed. That night the regiment bivouacked along the newly captured trenches. The next day Calumpit was taken by storm. The natives had built their trenches up with railroad iron and ties and had boasted that they could not be taken, but, although the fortified position was the strongest the Americans had encountered to date, they were successfully occupied.
On May 4th the division advanced on San Fernando, the insur- gents' capital. A day of unequaled toil and hardship followed. By superhuman efforts the Iowans plowed through the mud of the Can- daba Swamp and drove the enemy in full retreat, through Santo Tomas. Here the division bivouacked. The following morning the troops descended on San Fernando: General Hale directed the troops in person. The Iowa troops charged across the river before San Fernando, scattering a force of insurgents left behind to burn the town. and sent them flying across the fields. The Fifty-first claims the honor of having been the first to enter the town. One man was wounded. Beginning with June 16th there were frequent counter- attacks by the insurgents on San Fernando, but none were successful.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
On August 9th ten companies of the regiment were formed and marched to the outpost of the Seventeenth Infantry, where they deployed as skirmishers on the right of the railroad, and advanced on Calulut, meeting with considerable resistance from the enemy. So reduced was the regiment by hardships and so thinned were its ranks by disease and wounds that but 236 men out of the ten com- panies were available for duty when Calulut was reached.
After a period of provost, outpost and patrol duty in San Fer- nando. the regiment was relieved by the Fourth Cavalry, and they were assigned to quarters in the walled City of Manila. On Sep- tember 22d the regiment sailed for San Francisco on the transport Senator, there to be mustered out. Visits were paid to Japan en route. On October 22d the regiment went into camp at the Presidio and there mustered from the service on November 2d.
The regiment was composed of twelve companies, from A to M, coming respectively from the towns of Des Moines, Villisca, Glen- wood, Knoxville, Shenandoah, Oskaloosa, Creston, Des Moines, Bedford, Corning, Council Bluffs, Red Oak. The Fifty-first Regi- ment was the Third Regiment of the Iowa National Guard prior to being mustered into the service of the United States. The Iowa National Guard as an organization dated back to January 15, 1877, but Company A of the Fifty-first had been organized as far back as 1869, at which time it was an independent company. Greenfield once had a company known as Company B, Third Iowa National Guard, which company was organized in 1879.
Of the 1,320 men who left Iowa in the Fifty-first only about eight hundred names remained on the rolls when they returned. Fifty-two men were invalided, 71 men and 2 officers re-enlisted in the regulars and 40 were discharged. The continual skirmishing and severe service that the regiment saw for about six months in Luzon induced much sickness and when the orders came to leave the front for home only 218 men of the regiment were fit for duty.
On Tuesday morning, November 7, 1899, the train arrived in Greenfield from Creston, bearing the boys back home. Bells were rung, whistles blown, cannons fired and almost the entire town cheered themselves hoarse as the soldiers alighted from the cars. A parade was formed, headed by the band, then came the Grand Army of the Republic, then the Philippine veterans, the mayor, the council, the I .. W. A. C., and students of the public schools with their teach- ers. At the south entrance to the public square the procession passed under the arch erected by the W. R. C. with the inscription, "In
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
Honor of Our Boys." They paraded once around the square and entered the courtyard through the arch erected by the L. W. A. C., bearing the inscription, "Home, Sweet Home." Once in the court- yard the parade rested and everybody grasped the hands of the bronzed soldier lads. When all greetings had been exchanged Mayor W. W. Don Carlos, in a short speech, welcomed them home. Lieut. R. J. Gaines responded with a short talk.
The banquet to the returned soldiers was held at the Warren Opera House on Wednesday. People from all parts of the county came, laden with food. The soldiers, their parents and relatives occupied the tables on the south side of the hall. A few speeches were made. In the evening a program of speeches and music was held at the same place, the soldiers sitting across the front of the stage.
The following are the names of the men who returned from the Philippines at this time: R. J. Gaines, Dan Gaines, Charles Geese- man. Leroy Darby, Fred Lovely, Frank Humphrey, Ernest James, Fred Neeley, William Witter, Wesley Witter, Walter Hostetler, William Wallace and Ezra Brayton.
The photograph accompanying this article was taken shortly after the men returned to Greenfield.
ADAIR COUNTY'S HONORED DEAD
The following are buried in the cemetery of Greenfield:
Civil War Veterans
E. R. Gantt, sergeant, Company I, Tenth Iowa Infantry. C. G. Cleland, private, Company G, Seventh Wisconsin Infantry. W. V. Hamlin, lieutenant, Company I, Third Pennsylvania Cavalry. E. W. Piper, private, Company B, Ninety-first Illinois Infantry. Nathan Mason, private, Company A, One Hundred Forty-eighth Illinois Infantry. S. G. Brown, private, Company B, Fifth Iowa Cavalry. David King, private, Company H, One Hundred Forty-sixth Illi- nois Infantry. T. M. Gile, private, Company G, Forty-fifth Illinois Infantry. C. E. Sampson, sergeant, Company D, First Iowa Cav- alry. Ed Morris, private, Company G, One Hundred Thirty-ninth Illinois Infantry. W. M. Rodgers, private, Company D, Twenty- seventh Illinois Infantry. Peter Hoover, private, Company G. Eighty-sixth Ohio Infantry. William Romesha, sergeant, Company C, Fifteenth Iowa Infantry. H. P. Wobert, Company D, Seventh
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
Iowa Infantry. J. P. Sinclair, private, Company F, Forty-third Indiana Infantry. Abraham Miller, private, Company B, Fiftieth Illinois Infantry. M. S. Doane, sergeant, Company K, Thirty- ninth Iowa Infantry. J. A. Hetherington, drummer and private, Company I, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry and Company K, Fifty- sixth Pennsylvania Infantry. Oswin Cahow, sergeant, Company D, One Hundred Twelfth Illinois Infantry. Zadock Perkins, private, Company D, Second Iowa Cavalry. D. M. Priddy, Company L, Sixth Iowa Cavalry. G. C. Havens, Company B, Twenty-fifth Iowa Infantry. A. L. Harrison, Company B, Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry. Jasper Reno, Seventh Indiana Battery. T. J. Harvey, Company E, Fifteenth Indiana Infantry. Franklin Letts, Com- pany D, One Hundred Second Illinois Infantry. H. B. Goodman, Company D, One Hundred Forty-fourth New York Infantry. J. J. Hetherington, Company H, Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry. Joseph Sevasin, Company E, Fifty-eighth Illinois
Infantry. J. G. Goodman, Company B, Ninety-fifth Illinois Infantry. J. M. Bean, Company A, Ninth Kentucky Cavalry. Fleming Bevens, Company C, Nineteenth Iowa Infantry. J. G. Orr, drum major, Company H, One Hundred Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantry. E. J. Stevenson, Company K, Seventh Illinois Cavalry. James McNair, Company A, Eighth New York Artillery. S. A. Gordon, Company F, Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry. William H. Needles, Company I, Twenty-second Wisconsin Infantry. Nathan Wertman. sergeant, Company G, Ninety-third Illinois Infantry. William Mitchell, Company K, Eleventh Iowa Infantry. Thomas Kennedy, naval ship, Springfield Fairview Cemetery. J. U. Young, Company B, Twenty-fourth Iowa. William H. Anderson, corporal, Company H, One Hundred Nineteenth Illinois Infantry. Henry Taylor, Company B, Thirty-ninth Iowa. Richard Wallace, Com- pany F, Ninth Michigan Infantry. William Bacon, corporal, Com- pany E, Eighth Iowa Infantry. J. C. Mason, corporal, Company A. Thirteenth Iowa Infantry. Charles Foster, Company K, Fourth Iowa Cavalry. J. I. Calwell, One Hundred Sixty-sixth Ohio Infantry.
Spanish-American War Veterans
LeRoy Darby, corporal, Company G, Fifty-first Iowa Infantry. A. L. Bales, Company K, Fifty-first Iowa Infantry. C. D. Letts, Company I, Fifth United States Infantry.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
THE LIVING VETERANS
The following are the names of some of the living veterans of the Civil war in Greenfield: J. C. Wood, Washington Carl, J. A. Patterson, Clark Chadwick, C. D. Knapp, Fred Cahou, S. N. Smith, Marion Young, J. J. Myers, Henry Booher, H. T. Wakefield, B. F. Childs, R. M. Quimm, William Gillham, J. Flemming, Joseph Gillett, Kier Elliott, M. S. Ray, Abram Gordon, J. F. James, J. M. Humphrey, J. C. Thompson, A. Phillips, J. I. Hillingsworth, S. F. Shirk, W. G. Bell, J. A. Evans, C. D. Sackett, P. A. Bivington, H. M. Foreman, George Bennett, H. A. Gilbert, J. L. Pearce, William McNay, H. C. Stuart, T. W. Brown, J. C. Lane, Austin Miller, D. D. Pettit, George Hanks, W. A. Hoskins, L. M. Kilburn, William Johnston, L. S. Gatch and A. J. Kingery.
Veterans living and buried in other towns of county may be found in the story of those localities.
CHAPTER V PROGRESS OF EDUCATION
In regard to educational matters, Adair County has kept pace with the majority of the counties in the state, but yet has room for great improvement. The education in certain parts of the county is better managed and housed than in other parts, as, for instance, in Greenfield there is a handsome high school building, an account of which is given further along, while in Fontanelle there is a sad need of better quarters for school purposes. Just recently in the latter place the proposition to issue bonds for the erection of an adequately large school building was defeated by popular vote. It is reasonable to suppose, however, that not many years will pass before the whole of Adair County will be splendidly supplied with school facilities.
THE EARLY SCHOOLS
The first school in Fontanelle was held in the old courthouse in the year 1857 and was taught by Miss Hulda Lee. School District No. 2, which consisted of Sections 3, 4, 9 and 10, had a schoolhouse erected on the southeast quarter of Section 4 in 1882, costing about four hundred and sixty-five dollars, and Miss Minnie Patterson was the first teacher. There was a house of frame erected on Section 2 in 1883. Miss Ella May was the first teacher in this building. In Jackson Township the first schoolhouse was built on the farm of Alfred Jones on Section 3 and was a small frame building which was afterwards sold to Jones. The first officers of the district were Alfred Jones and Azariah Root. The first teacher was John Flan- nagan. In District 3 there was a school constructed in 1876 and Nettie Simmons, later Mrs. William Green, was the pioneer teacher. In District No. 5 the first school was put up in 1883 at an expense of $480. The first teacher was Malinda Barnard. A large house was built on District No. 6 in 1872. Maggie Christie was the first teacher. In 1873 a schoolhouse was erected in District No. 7. costing
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HIGH SCHOOL, FONTANELLE
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
$450. Lydia Priddy, later Mrs. Charles Burrell, was the first teacher. A schoolhouse was built in 1882 in District No. 8 and George Pratt was the first instructor. District No. 9 had a schoolhouse erected in 1882 and the first teacher was Eva Sears.
In the Town of Fontanelle a schoolhouse was erected in 1881. This building stood on a hill in the southwest part of town. The contract price for this structure was $10,400. The draft and design were the work of Corry & Loft of Sioux City, and J. B. Aldrich of Atlantic was the contractor. At the time the edifice was the finest in the county, but today it is not by any means and there is great necessity for increased accommodations for the children of the town.
The first school in Jefferson Township was taught by Simon Barrows during the winter of 1856-7 in a cabin which then stood on the farm of J. B. McGinnis on Section 35. The pioneer schoolhouse in the township was erected in 1858 by John Loucks at a cost of $800. This was built on Section 27 and was later used as a house of worship by the Christian denomination. Judge Holaday and Stover Rinard laid the foundations and the latter shaved the shingles for the roof. The first teacher here was a man named William Crandall. The second teacher was a Miss Cady. The first school officers were the following named: John Easton, president; George B. Wilson, secretary; John Loucks, treasurer. These all served during the year 1857. A schoolhouse was constructed on the northeast corner of Section 11 in 1872 and the first teacher was Emma McPherson, afterwards Mrs. W. C. Pugh. The building cost $700. The first teacher in the schoolhouse on Section 4 was W. B. Martin. In 1876 a building was erected on the northeast corner of Section 7. The first teacher was John Nunan. In the school which stood on the southeast corner of Section 18 the first teacher was Sue Holaday. In 1872 a school was built on the southeast corner of Section 14 and the first teacher was Sarah Sankurne. A school was erected in Dis- triet No. 7 in 1869, in which J. S. Smith was the pioneer teacher. Another schoolhouse was erected on the northeast corner of Section 36 in October, 1878. The first teacher in this building was O. W. Baker. On the southeast corner of Section 28 a school was built in the late '70s and the first teacher was Thomas Neville. In 1875 a school was constructed on the northeast quarter of Section 31. Syl- vester N. Crowell was the first teacher in this building. Prior to the building of this house school was held in the district and Mrs. Jennie Dutton was the first teacher. During the great wind storm of June, 1880, the schoolhouse in District No. 8 was blown down the hill Vol. 1-4
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
upon which it stood, a distance of about one hundred and twenty feet. The force of the wind turned the building half around and on its journey it came in contact with some burr-oak hitching posts which it broke clear with the ground. The chimney was destroyed and quite an amount of damage done to the building. The teacher's desk was turned over, but the side lamps upon the walls were not shaken from their brackets, nor broken. The stove was distributed all over the building. The coal house was torn to pieces and a piece of board with the staple and padlock was carried half a mile by the wind to the residence of John J. Payne, at that time director of the district.
In Summit Township the first school was taught in the summer of 1870 by E. M. Day, in a small building owned by himself on the farm of Azariah Sisson on Section 16. This school was in operation for three or four months. In the fall of the same year a schoolhouse was built on the northwest quarter of Section 17 and in this Mrs. L. Allard taught the first school in the winter of 1870. This building was afterwards moved from this location to the southeast quarter of Section 18. The first directors of this district were L. Albee, Azariah Sisson and Abner Sisson.
The second schoolhouse in the township was built on the northeast quarter of Section 21. It was erected in 1874.
The first school taught in Adair was held in the upper story of the D. W. Moss drug store in the winter of 1873-4. The teacher who held it for three months was Mrs. H. P. Starr and she had about eighteen scholars. The next term was at the schoolhouse in the summer of 1875. Mrs. Starr taught this school also, as she did in the summer of 1876, the latter year of which she had sixty-six pupils enrolled. The next teachers were L. M. Hawes and his daughter. The first officer in this district was John Chestnut, Sr.
The first schoolhouse in Washington Township was erected by volunteer labor in 1855 and was built of logs. This house was located on Section 9. The first term of school was taught by John J. Leeper. The first school taught in the township was at the residence of Thomas Johnson during the winter of 1851-2. This was also the first school taught in the county. The teacher was Dianthe Richard- son, afterwards Mrs. Joshua E. Chapman.
The first school in Orient Township was taught in the cabin of Reuben Dillow in the summer of 1863 by Kate Sawyer of Nevin- ville. She also taught a school in 1864 at the same place, but in 1865 it was taught by a niece of Mr. Dillow. Old School District No. 1, which embraced all of sections 1, 2, 11 and 12 and the north quarters
EAST SCHOOL, FONTANELLE
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
of sections 13 and 14, had a schoolhouse built in the summer of 1875 at a cost of $550. Ella Thatcher was the first teacher. District No. 2. including sections 3, 4, 9 and 10, had a building erected in the summer of 1883. Lettie Hamilton taught the first term here. A school was built on the southeast corner of Section 6 in 1872 and W. E. Caton was the pioneer teacher. Stanley Milner erected a schoolhouse upon the northeast corner of Section 19 in the summer of 1870. J. C. Hoffstatter constructed a building on the southeast corner of Section 30 in the summer of 1877. The first teacher in this district was Sylvia Hoffstatter. The same man built a school on the northwest corner of Section 34 in the summer of 1879. Callie Yeck was the first teacher. In the summer of 1878 Hoffstatter placed a school on the northwest corner of Section 36. In the summer of 1880 a school was built on the southeast corner of Section 14. J. C. Hoffstatter had the building contract. In the fall of 1880 a Miss Snodgrass taught the first term of school. The original District No. 9 included the Town of Orient. The first schoolhouse of this district was burned in March, 1872, and a new building was erected in the summer of 1873.
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