History of Kossuth, Hancock, and Winnebago counties, Iowa; together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 75

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield IL : Union Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 950

USA > Iowa > Kossuth County > History of Kossuth, Hancock, and Winnebago counties, Iowa; together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 75
USA > Iowa > Winnebago County > History of Kossuth, Hancock, and Winnebago counties, Iowa; together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 75
USA > Iowa > Hancock County > History of Kossuth, Hancock, and Winnebago counties, Iowa; together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 75

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Dr. Eugene McNiel located at the grow- ing village of Britt some time in July, 1880, but was not long a resident of the county, as he left suddenly in October, that same year.

Dr. Keller, during the latter part of the year 1880, came to Britt from Forest City with the intention of making it a perma- uent home, but on looking the field over he conelnded that it was already crowded, and went on further west after a stay of but six weeks.

Dr. Alleyne, a physician from the West India islands, located at Britt in 1880, but only remained a month, when he also moved westward, stopping at Wesley, Kossuth county, where he now resides.

Dr. A. M. Tuttle, a practitioner of medi- cine according to the homeopathic form- ula, made a short stay in the county. In 1881 he settled at Britt, where he ac- quired considerable practice, but left this vicinity in June, 1883, for Chamberlain, Dak., where he expected a larger volume of business.

The town of Corwith boasts of but one physician, and who is of the allopathic

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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

school. Dr. Hartley Heskett located at that place in April, 1881, and has worked up a good business. He is a native of Belmont Co., Ohio, being born in that place July 21, 1839, and is the son of David and Catharine Heskett. The doctor has been considerable of a wanderer in his time, going to Oregon and the Pacific coast when but a young man of twenty-

two, where he remained some five years. lle afterwards eame west, after returning to his native State, living some time at Corydon, Wayne Co., Iowa, and came to this rising young village as above stated. His wife was Belle MeCartney, also a native of Ohio, and they have two ehil- dren-Nettie and Roland.

CHAPTER IX.

THE WAR FOR THE UNION.

The Presidential election of 1860, re- ] When the news of this outrage thrilled sulting in the choice of Abraham Lincoln across the wires through all the cities, towns, villages and rural districts of this mighty northland, every heart vibrated in unison with the ery for redress, and every soul was seized with the desire for vindicating the honor of our country. When President Lincoln issued his first proclamation, calling for 75,000 volun- teers, he found the people not only ready but eager to press to the front and wipe out the foul stain upon our Nation's ban- ner. To indicate something of the spirit and the feeling of the people as reflected by the newspapers, those mirrors of the public mind, the following extraet is taken from one of our western papers, printed only a few days subsequent to the surren- der of Sumter and the issuance of the proclamation of the President: for President, having been thoroughly known, eleven States in the southern por- tion of the Union passed acts of secession in rapid succession, and on coercion being tried, arrayed themselves in general hos- tility to the federal government. On the 12th day of April, 1861, the rebel forces, under the command of Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, late a major in the United States army, opened a destructive fire upon Fort Sumter, in Charleston Bay. For two days and nights this iron hail was poured into the as yet unfinished fort- ress, and at last, starved, scorched, and out of the necessary ammunition, the gar- rison, under Major Robert Anderson, as brave and gallant a soldier as ever drew a blade, were compelled to surrender; lowering the flag of our fathers to the "Like the viper that was warmed to life in the bosom of the countryman, and flaunting rag with the palmetto deviee.

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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

then stung him to death, so the cotton States of the Union have raised the parri- cidal hand of bloody war against the government which has long fostered and protected them. History will blush to record the hugeness of the erime. It overtops the ordinary criminality of cause- less, aggressive warfare, as Satan exceed- ed in proportion the other rebel angels.

' He above the rest

In shape and gesture proudly eminent, Stood like a tower; * *

but his face

Deep scars of thunder had entrenched, and eare Sat on his faded cheek.'

"Without a parallel in the history of the world, all other rebellions, all other treasons, will dwindle to insignifieanee before the enormity and wickedness of the present. The loyal States and the general government have given an exam- ple of patience and forbearance which was fast being regarded as weakness and imbecility. But, thank God, there is a change. The government still has power. She struggled long to avert a war, but it has at last been foreed upon her. Now she will test her power and prove too strong for treason. There are loyal men enough to defend the Union against every foe. The old Jackson spirit still lives, and is intensified seven fold. 'The Union must and shall be preserved.' We love the old Union more and more every day. The star-spangled banner creates sensa- tions never felt before. Men of all par- ties feel that no other banner shall ever float over us. The cursed rattlesnake flag has no business on American soil, and, by the blessings of God, it shall be driven baek to the hell from which it came. The descendents of the Pilgrims

will never disgrace their ancestry. The elouds will scatter, day will dawn, and out of the thick gloom of the present, liberty will come forth arrayed in robes of rejoieing, and enter upon new glories, ' heights unattempted, yes, in prose or rhyme.'

' The land

Is never lost that has a son to right her,

And here are troops of sons, and loyal ones.

Strong in her children should a mother be;

Shall ours be helpless, that has sons like us?'"

With feelings like this, and they were not local, but spread throughout all the loyal States, was it any wonder that her able-bodied sons sprang to the defense of their mother country, and interposed their "fortune, life and sacred honor" in her behalf? Hancock county, then a newly settled distriet with but 179 inhabitants, in 1860, nobly responded to the noble work and contributed a quota that she might well be proud of. In the election in the fall preceding the commencement of hostilities, but forty-four votes were cast, and at the close of the war but seventy-six; yet ont of this little band the boys from the county, found in the front of red, lurid battle, numbered twenty-five, a larger percentage than many other districts can show, by a large ma- jority.

Very many, in fact, a great majority of the volunteers from this county, hav- ing gone to Belmond, Webster City and other localities, and there entering the service, were credited to those counties, and it makes it difficult to gather all. The historian has been at considerable trouble and pains to complete the list, as the adjutant-general's report credits but thirteen men to the county, while there

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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

were, as may be seen hereafter, some thirty-nine or forty. None are omitted intentionally, and it is believed by the committee of revision that all have been named. The following is the roster: SECOND CAVALRY. COMPANY I.

Cornelius Baker,

Joseph Gilpin,

Jacob Waltz,

Harrison Wheelock,

Thomas Wheelock, Samuel Gilpin.

COMPANY L.

John S. Pritchard,

R. R. White,

M. S. Gilman,

Joshua Gilman,

Alfred Ward,

Stephen Ward,

Francis Colburn, David Spencer.

ELEVENTHI INFANTRY.

Lewis Barth, unassigned.

THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY.

COMPANY A. Cephas Church. COMPANY B.

Capt. H. N. Brockway. Cyrus Church,

John Christie, Jr., John A. Curran,

Douglas Magill, Thomas Magill, Jr.,

Martin B. Parker, Edward Thorp,

A. C Long. C. Rosecrans.

George R Lanning.

COMPANY F.

Chandler W. Scott, Simeon B. Wells.

THIRTY-SECOND INFANTRY.

As many of the boys in blue from Han- cock county were in that regiment an ex- tended account of its history would not be out of place in this connection.

The companies forming the 32d In- fantry Iowa Volunteers were recruited in this and the neighboring counties, during the latter part of the summer and early fall of 1862. They rendezvoused at Camp Franklin, near Dubuque. Here, on Oeto- ber 6, they were sworn into the service of the United States for three years; John Scott, of Story county, being colonel; E. E. Mix, of Butler, lieutenant-colonel; G. |

A. Eberhart, of Black Hawk, major; Charles Aldrich, of Hamilton, adjutant. Ilere it remained under drill, aequiring discipline, until about the middle of the following month. Owing to the insuffici- eney of quarters at the camp, a malignant form of measles broke out, which was fatal in many instanees.

From the 14th to the 18th of Novem- ber the regiment, numbering about 920 men, embarked by detachments for St. Louis, reporting there on the 21st, and go- ing into quarters at Benton Barracks. Here it remained a few days, when, under orders from Maj .- Gen. Curtis, six compa- nies under Col. Scott proceeded to New Madrid, Mo., and the remaining four companies, under Major Eberhart, went no further down the river than Cape Girardean. The separation of the regi- ment thus effected on the last day of the autumn of 1862, continued until the spring of 1864. It was a prolific source of annoyance and labor. The details re- quired of a regiment were frequently de- manded from each of these battalions; stores sent to the regiment would some- times go to the detatchment and some- times to the headquarters, when they should have gone just the other way; the mails were in an interminable tangle. At the headquarters were companies B, C, E, II, I and K; under Major Eberhart, companies A, D, F' and G.

The history of the regiment during this long period of separation must necessarily be two-fold. It will not be improper to write first an account of the detachment under Major Eberhart.

In obedience to the order of Gen. Curtis, they proceeded to Cape Girardeau,

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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

and the major assumed the command of that post on the Ist of December, 1862. The garrison consisted of this detachment and one company of the 2d Missouri Ileavy Artillery. Here they remained during the winter doing provost and gar- rison duty. On the 10th of March they were re-inforced by the Ist Nebraska In- fantry, and preparation made for a march into the interior. On March 14th Major Eberhart marched his detachment to Bloomfield, accompanying a regiment of Wisconsin Cavalry, and a battery of Missouri Artillery, where they remained until the 21st of April, when they moved to Dallas, forty-six miles northward. The march was by a circuitous route, requir- ing sixty miles travel.

The rebel, Gen. Marmaduke, now threat- ened Cape Girardeau with a considerable army. Ile himself was at Fredericktown, northwest of Dallas, while another foree was coming up the Bloomfield road. Gen. McNeil, commanding the Union forces, marched at once for Cape Girardeau, by . Jackson. The detachment of the 32d, that was guarding the train, marched from Dallas to Jackson, a distance of twenty- two miles, in less than six hours, and reached the Cape on the evening of the 24th. The next day Marmaduke invested the place with some 8,000 men. At 10 o'clock at night he sent a flag of truce, with a demand of unconditional surren- der, giving the Union commander thirty minutes for decision. Gen. McNeil, by Col. Strachan, who received the truce, sent back a flat refusal in one minute, and politely requested a credit of twenty-nine minutes by Gen. Marmaduke. The attack was not, however, commenced until

Sunday morning, the 26th, at 10 o'clock, when the rebels retired with considerable loss, just as Gen. Vandever came down the river with reinforcements for the garrison. In this combat, Major Eber- hart's command was posted on the right, in support of a section of Meltfly's bat- tery. Its loss was but one man captured on picket. On the 28th, our detachment was ordered to Bloomfield. Leaving Cape Girardeau at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, it marched fifty miles by dark the next evening, and went into camp near Castor river. Completing the bridge over the stream, it returned to the Cape, reaching there May 5. Here it remained on gar- rison duty until the 11th of July, when it again marched to Bloomfield. Having remained there a few days, at work on the fortifications, it was attached to the Reserve Brigade, Ist Cavalry Division, Department of the Missouri, and on the 19th started on the memorable march, which ended with the capture of Little Rock, Ark.

The command reached Clarendon on the 8th of August. Early on the morn- ing of the 13th, the detachment started up White river. The expedition lasted three days and was a brilliant success. The fleet went up the White river to the month of the Little Red river, and up the latter to the town of Searcy, where two steamers were captured and a pontoon bridge destroyed. When ten miles from Searcy, on their return, the fleet was at- tacked by 300 rebels, who directed their principal fire on the prize Kaskaska, which was manned by company D, under Lieut. W. D. Templin. The steamer was near the shore from which they were at-

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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

tacked, but made a gallant defense. The rebels were driven off with a loss of more than twenty killed. The loss in company D was one killed and five wounded. Before reaching White river, the fleet was again attacked, but the as- sailants were quickly driven off with loss, and without any casualty on board. Large quantities of public property were destroyed, and a number of prisoners captured during the expedition. In the heavy skirmish at Bayou Metoe, on the 27th, the detachment was engaged, los- ing one killed and two wounded.

The day the command reached "Dead- man's Lake," the scorching heat of that day, the parched ground marched over, the air at times filled with flying dust, is one not easily forgotten. The stagnant pond bearing the above name was cov- ered with a green seum, yet the men, burning with thirst, plunged in and drank greedily of the filthy water.

The two trips from Duvall's Bluffs to Brownsville, as guard to the cavalry train, were trips of hard marching in hot weather, and of suffering for water for man and beast, and from dust and heat. The siek on this march certainly received no extra care-at first shipped to Helena, and then to Clarendon, on the White river.

About the 21st of August a small steamer, a side-wheeler, sailed up the White river loaded with sick and conva- lescent soldiers. It was one of the hot- tost of August days in this climate, when he ran from Clarendon to Duvall's Bluffs, forty-five miles in four hours. Not a spot on that boat, from the border deck to the hurricane deck, but was covered by a sick man. Siek men were piled away on that

hurricane deck in the broiling sun, wher- ever a man could be laid. Is it any won- der, on that run of about four hours, twenty-six men died on that boat ?- one of them a corporal of company G, (Carter).

On the 25th of August another march of twenty-six miles across those prairies of Prairie Co. Ark. About 11 o'clock that night we filed into the little court house yard at Brownsville. Just as we filed in, Gen. Davidson stepped to the fence and said, "Boys, lie down quickly and take some rest, for I will need you at an early hour." Then turning to an- other officer he said, "These brave boys have marched 500 miles and kept up with my cavalry." By three o'clock next morning we were astir, and at four were in line and on the move. A march of nine miles brought us to the rebel ont- posts, skirmishing three and a half miles to the brow of the hill, and after maneu- vering, etc., half a mile to the bank of "Bayon Metaire." The whole movement during the day was only a bushwacking affair. In the evening we fell back to the top of the hill to support a battery. There dark found us. The battery and all other troops had left. One detachment alone was on the field, with the rebels closing around us, when we withdrew and fell back that night to a corn-field near Brownsville; about one o'clock that night, at the word "halt," the boys dropped ou the ground, and lay down between corn rows. No alignment encampment was made. The night was dark, as dense black clouds o'erspread the sky, and soon the rain came down in torrents; but there the boys lay-what else could they do? About nine A. M. it broke away; but, oh! the med.

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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

mud! We had no rations; but soon found a patch of sweet potatoes, and had a sweet potato breakfast.

The detachment remained two days in camp in the timber near, and then moved to the old cavalry camp north of town, where our sick boys had been kept in a double log house on the edge of the prairie, and at a little grove of a few scattering oaks, and near a pond of stag- nant water.

On the 31st of August, 1863, the day was very hot, and hence the train was or- dered to go through to Duvall's Bluffs in the night. All the detachment was or- dered to go as guard. The whole detach- ment able to go was ordered on the trip. We could raise only forty men, and some ' twelve or fifteen of them were unable to march, but were ordered to go, as they could be piled on the wagons, and could use their guns in case of an attack.

This was a serious camp ground to the detachment. A few days and not a well man was in the camp, and not many men able to care for the sick. Every nook and corner of the old house was covered with a sick man, every spot on the porch or in the hall wa's the receptacle of some invalid. Everything that was possible under the circumstances was done for the sick. But the detachment was in ad- vance of the main army, and of all sup- plies. No sanitary or suttlers' stores had reached them, and much of the ordinary soldiers' fare was unfit for use. Much of the hardtack had too much life. Here the detachment lost several of their men. Many nameless graves on southern soil are all that remain of these gallant spirits who laid down their lives for their

country; not in the fierce excitement of battle, but in the pain and anguish of the sick bed.

" Their young lives were ended, Their young spirits fled;

And now they are sleeping, In peace with the dead."

On the removal of the detachment to Little Rock, it was relieved for a time from all guard or other duty, except the care of its own sick, by order of Gen. Davidson, who added that this was all that it was possible for them to do. IIere they lost several more of their members, but on the whole the boys found Little Rock a healthy place and they improved rapidly in health.

Gen. MePherson, medical director, af- terwards at Vicksburg, said that the send- ing of these four companies through on that campaign to keep up with the cav- alry, was a burning shame, one of the outrages of the war, and no wonder the men were used up. They remained at Little Rock until the middle of October, when they moved to Benton, twenty-five miles distant. Returned to Little Rock, where they remained until January, 1864, then it started to Memphis, which place it reached on the 5th of February. Here it was ordered to report to Gen. A. J. Smith, at Vicksburg. It reached that city on the 9th, and remained there until the 27th, when it marched to Black river to await the army on its return from the interior.

Meanwhile Col. Scott established his headquarters New Madrid, and assumed command of the post. On the 17th of December, 1862, he sent out a detachment of 100 men under Capt. Peeble's, who went as far as St. Francis river, bringing back

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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

several prisoners, much publie property and valuable information.

On the 28th of December Col. Scott de- stroyed the public property, and evacuated New Madrid, by order of Gen. Davies, af- ter which he proceeded to Fort Pillow. llere he remained six months, the com- panies performing garrison duty. The command embarked for Columbus, Ky., on the 17th and 18th of June, 1863, in detachments, and went into camp there on the 19th, and there regimental head- quarters remained for more than seven months, Col. Scott being most of the time in command of the post.

On July 10, Union City, in Tennessee, was captured by the rebels. The com- mand hastened to that place, but arrived too late to find the enemy. After burying the dead and caring for the wounded, they returned. The command was soon afterwards again divided into fractions. Companies B and I, under the command of Capt. Miller, alone remained at regi- mental headquarters. Company C was attached to the 4th Missouri Cavalry ; company E was placed at Fort Quimby, not far from Columbus ; companies H. and K, Capt. Bensen commanding, pro- ceeded down the river to Island No. 10. From this time forth until January, 1864, the history of each of these detachments is devoid of remarkable events. This, with the exception of company C, who were actively employed during most of that period, and the labors of officers and men were arduous in the extreme. They scouted a wide expanse of country infested by guerrillas, marched sometimes a con- siderable distance from Columbus, going out in all weather, by night as often as by

day. They braved many perils and en- dured many hardships.

In the month of January, 1864, these six companies were brought together, and soon embarked for Vicksburg, where they were assigned to the second brigade. Perhaps there was not a single organiza- tion in the whole army under Gen. Sher- man that so gladly commenced that sin- gular campaign as the one under Col. Scott. If the battalion left Vicksburg joyfully, its return was still more joyful, for here were found Major Eberhart and his four companies, and the regiment was together for the first time since November, 1862. The re-union brought great satis- faction to both officers and men. Shortly after the regiment was ordered to the Department of the Gulf, and there ae companied the disastrous Red river expe- dition.

On this expedition the 32d suffered more severely, perhaps, than any other regiment. It formed a part of Gen. A. J. Smith's command, consisting of 10,000 infantry and three batteries of artillery, which left Vicksburg, March 9, on trans- ports, accompanied by gunboats. At the mouth of the Red river this fleet was joined by Admiral D. D. Porter, with a large fleet, including several iron-clads. The fleet entered Red river by the south- ern stream and passed thence into Acha- falaya, proceeding as far as Semmesport,. where the troops disembarked on the night of the 13th and immediately com- menced a march on Fort De Russy. No halt was ordered till the army had marched some seven miles. It was twenty-eight miles from here to Fort De Russy. Nevertheless the army marched that dis-

HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY. 609

tance the next day, constantly harrassed by rebel cavalry; delayed onee two hours at a stream over which a bridge had to be made ; attacked the fort and carried it by storm before sundown and before the gunboats had arrived. In this assault the 32d was on the right, and "the men on the right took the fort," said the pris- oners. Col. Shaw, commanding the brig- ade, speaks in unqualified praise of all the officers and men in his command. The loss was slight on either side. Of the 32d, one man was killed and two were wounded.

At Fort De Russy they re embarked and proceeded to Alexandria, where the troops again disembarked and remained nearly two weeks. At this point the col- umn under Gen. Smith formed a junetion with the column which had marched from New Orleans. The boats could not be taken over the rapids while laden, so the troops marched to Cotile Landing, some twenty-five miles up the river. Here our regiment had its first battalion drill, with all the companies in line, since leav- ing Dubuque, in November, 1862. On the 3d of April, the command again em- barked and reached Grand 'Ecore on the next evening. where it remained till the morning of the 7th, when it marched to the front of the battle of Pleasant Hill, where the brigade to which the 32d be- longed, commanded by Col. Shaw, of the 14th Iowa, stood the brunt of the fight, being the first in the battle, fighting long- er than any other, in the hardest of the contest, the last to leave the field, and losing three times as many ofheers and men as any brigade engaged.

"Of Col. John Scott, 32d Iowa," says the brigade commander, "it is sufficient to say that he showed himself worthy to command the 32d lowa Infantry-a regi- ment which, after having been entirely surrounded and ent off from the rest of the command, with nearly one-half of its number killed or wounded, among them many of the best and prominent officers. forced its way through the enemy's line . and was again in line, ready and anxiou. to meet the foe, in less than thirty minutes." It is certain no regiment ever fonght with a sublimer courage than did the 32d, on the battle-field of Pleasant Hill. Its heroism and its sacrifices were worthy of a better fate than a retreat from the scene of its splendid daring and its glory. The fame of its gallant con- duct spread all over Iowa, as it would have spread over the whole country had the commanding general accepted the victory which the troops had given him. But sad losses befell the regiment. Lieut .- Col. Mix was slain on the field, also many of the officers were either slain or wounded. The regiment lost, in all, 210 officers and men, killed, wounded and missing; most of the missing were also wounded-any so reported, no doubt slain. Iowa gloried in the fame of her honored sons, and wept for their dead comrades who fell on the stricken field. The following beautiful lines were writ- ten by Mrs. Caroline A. Soule, upon hear- ing of the sad losses sustained by the 32d at Pleasant Ilill:

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History of Kossuth, Hancock, and Winnebago counties, Iowa; together with sketches of their cities, villages, and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 75

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield IL : Union Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 950

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield IL : Union Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 950