History of Tama County, Iowa, together with sketches of their towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 11

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1088

USA > Iowa > Tama County > History of Tama County, Iowa, together with sketches of their towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 11

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The rivers of the castern system of drainage have quite a different character from those of the western system. They are larger, longer and have their valleys modified to a much greater extent by the underlying strata. For the latter reason, water-power is much more abundant upon them than upon the streams of the western system.

Des Moines River .- This river has its source in Minnesota, but it enters Iowa before it has attained any size, and flows almost centrally through it from northwest to southeast, emptying into the Mississippi at the extreme southeastern corner of the State. It drains a greater area than any river within the State. The upper portion of it is divided into two branches, known as the east and west forks These unite in Humboldt county. The valleys of these branches above their confluence are drift valleys, except a few small exposures of subcarboniferous limestone about five miles above their confluence. These ex- posures produce several small mill-sites.

The valleys vary from a few hundred yards to half mile in width, and are the finest agricultural lands. In the northern part of Webster county the character of the main valley is modified by the presence of ledges and low cliffs of the subcarbonifer- ous limestone and gypsum. From a point a little below Fort Dodge to near Amster- dam, in Marion county, the river runs all the way through and upon the lower Coal Measure strata. Along this part of the course the flood-plain varies from an eighth to a mile or more in width, From Amsterdam to Ottumwa the subcarbonifer- ous rocks pass beneath the river again, bringing down the Coal Measure strata into its bed; they rise from it in the ex- treme northwestern part of Van Buren county, and subcarboniferous strata re- sume aud keep their place along the valley to the north of the river.

From Fort Dodge to the northern part of Lee county the strata of the Lower Coal Measures are present in the valley. Its flood-plain is frequently sandy from the debris of the saudstone and sandy shales of the Coal Measures produced by their removal in the process of the forma- tion of the valley.

The principal tributaries of the Des Moines are upon the western side. These are the Raccoon and the three rivers, viz: South, Middle and North rivers. The three latter have their sources in the re- gion occupied by the Upper Coal Measure limestone formation, flow eastward over the Middle Coal Measures, and enter the valley of the DesMoines upon the Lower Coal Measures. These streams, especially South and Middle rivers, are frequently bordered by high, rocky cliffs. Raccoon

HISTORY OF IOWA.

river has its source upon the heavy surface deposits of the middle region of Western Iowa, and along the greater part of its course it has excavated its valley out of those deposits and the Middle Coal Measure alone. The valley of the Des Moines and its branches are destined to become the seat of extensive manufac- turies, in consequence of the numerous mill-sites of immense power, and the fact that the main valley traverses the entire length of the Iowa coal fields.

Skunk river .- This has its source in Hamilton county, and runs almost its en- tire course upon the border of the outcrop of the Lower Coal Measures, or, more prop- erly speaking, npon the subcarboniferous limestone, just where it begins to pass be- neath the Coal Measures by its sontherly and westerly dip. Its general course is southeast. From the western part of Henry county, up as far as Story county, the broad, flat flood-plain is covered with a rich, deep clay soil, which, in time of long-

continued rains and overflows of the river, has made the valley of Skunk river a ter- ror to travelers from the earliest settlement of the country. There are some excellent mill-sites on the lower half of this river, but they are not so numerous or valuable as on other rivers of the eastern system.

Iowa river .- This river rises in Han- cock county, in the midst of a broad, slightly undulating drift region. The first rock exposure is that of subcarboniferous limestone, in the southwestern corner of Franklin county. It enters the region of the Devonian strata near the southwestern corner of Benton county, and in this it continues to its confluence with the Cedar

in Louisa county. Below the junction with the Cedar, and for some miles above that point, its valley is broad, and especi- ally on the northern side, with a well- marked flood-plain. Its borders gradually blend with the uplands as they slope away in the distance from the river. The Iowa furnishes numerous and valuable mill-sites.

Cedar river .- This stream is usually understood to be a branch of the Iowa, but it ought, really, to be regarded as the main stream. It rises by numerous branches in the northern part of the State, and flows the entire length of the State, through the region occupied by the Devonian strata and along the trend occupied by that formation. The valley of this river, in the upper part of its course, is narrow, and the sides slope so gently as to scarcely show where the lowlands end and the uplands begin. Be- low the confluence with the Shell Rock, the flood-plain is more distinctly marked, and the valley broad and shallow. The valley of the Cedar is one of the finest re- gions in the State, and both the main stream and its branches afford abundant and reliable mill-sites.

Wapsipinnicon river .- This river has its source near the source of the Cedar, and runs parallel and near it almost its en- tire course, the upper half npon the same formation-the Devonian. In the north- eastern part of Linn county it enters the region of the Niagara limestone, upon which it continues to the Mississippi. It is 100 miles long, and yet the area of its drainage is only from 12 to 20 miles in width. Ilence, its numerous mill-sites are unusually seenre.

HISTORY OF IOWA.

Turkey river-This river and the Upper Iowa are, in many respects, unlike other Iowa rivers. The difference is due to the great depth to which they have eroded their valleys and the different character of the material through which they have worked Turkey liver rises in Howard county, and in Winneshiek county, a few miles from its source, its valley has attained a deptli of more than 200 feet, and in Fay- ette and Clayton counties its depth is in- creased to 300 and 400 feet. The summit of the uplands, bordering nearly the whole length of the valley, is capped by the Ma- quoketa shales. These shales are under- laid by the Galena limestone, between 200 and 300 feet thick. The valley has been eroded through these, and runs upon the Trenton limestone. Thus all the forma- tions along and within this valley are Lower Silurian. The valley is usually narrow, and without a well-marked flood-plain. Water-power is abundant, but in most places iuaccessible.

Upper Iowa river .- This river rises in Minnesota, just beyond the northern boun- dary line, and enters our State in Howard county before it has attained any consider- able size. Its course is nearly eastward until it reaches the Mississippi. It rises in the region of the Devonian rocks, and flows across the outcrops, respectively, of the Niagara, Galena and Trenton lime- stone, the lower magnesian limestone, and Potsdam sandstone, into and through all of which, except the last, it has cut its val- ley, which is the deepest of any in Iowa. The valley sides are almost everywhere high and steep, and cliffs of lower magne- sian and Trenton limestone give them a

wild and rugged aspect. In the lower part of the valley the flood-plain reaches a width sufficient for the location of small farms, but usually it is too narrow for such purposes. On the higher surface, however, as soon as you leave the valley you come immediately upon a cultivated country. This stream has the greatest slope per mile of any in Iowa, and consequently it fur- nishes immense water-power. In some places where creeks come into it, the valley widens and affords good locations for farms. The town of Decorah, in Winne- shiek county, is located in one of these spots, which makes it a lovely location; and the power of the river and the small spring streams around it offer fine facilities for manufacturing. This river and its tributaries are the only trout streams in Iowa.

Mississippi river .- This river may be described, in general terms, as a broad canal cut out of the general level of the country through which the river flows. It is bordered by abrupt hills or bluffs. The bottom of the valley ranges from one to eight miles in width. The whole space between the bluffs is occupied by the river and its bottom, or flood-plain only, if we except the occasional terraces or remains of ancient flood-plains, which are not now reached by the highest floods of the river. The river itself is from half a mile to nearly a mile in width. There are but four points along the whole length of the State where the bluffs approach the stream on both sides. The Lower Silurian formations compose the bluffs in the northern part of the State, but they gradually disappear by a sontherly dip, and the bluffs are con-

IIISTORY OF IOWA.

tinued successively by the Upper Silurian, Devonian and Subcarboniferous rocks which are reached near the southeastern corner of the State.

Considered in their relation to the pres- ent general surface of the State, the rela- tive ages of the river valley of Iowa date

back only to the close of the glacial epoch; but that the Mississippi and all the rivers of Northeastern Iowa, if no others, had at least a large part of the rocky portions of their valleys eroded by pre-glacial, or, per- haps, by palæogoic rivers, can scarcely be I doubted.

CHAPTER VIII

IOWA AND THE REBELLION.

By her record in the war of the rebellion Iowa proved herself a truly loyal State. The Presidential campaign of 1860 was an exciting one, and the fact that civil war might be inaugurated in case Abraham Lincoln was elected, was well understood and duly considered. The people of Iowa indulged in no hatred or ill-will toward any section of the country, but were deter- mined to hold such opinions upon questions of public interests, and vote for such men as to them seemed for the general good, uninfluenced by any threat of violence or civil war.

The General Assembly of the State of Iowa, as early as 1851, had by joint resolu- tion declared that the State of Iowa was " bound to maintain the union of these States by all the means in her power." The same year the State furnished a block

of marble for the Washington Monument at the national capitol, aud by order of the General Assembly there was inscribed upon its enduring surface the following: "Iowa-Her affections, like the rivers of her borders, 'flow to an inseparable Union." The time was now approaching in her his- tory when these declarations of attachment and fidelity to the nation were to be put to a practical test.

Certainly the people of no State in the nation could be more vitally interested in the question of our national unity than the people of Iowa. The older States of the Union, both North and South, were repre- sented in its population. Iowans were nearly all immigrants, bound to those older communities by the most saered ties of blood, and most endearing recollections of early days. In addition to these consider-

HISTORY OF IOWA.

ations of a personal character, there were others of the gravest political importance.

Iowa's geographical position as a State made the dismemberment of the Union a matter of serious concern. The Missis- sippi had been for years its highway to the markets of the world. The people could not entertain the thought that its navigation should pass under the control of a foreign government. But more than this was to be feared the consequence of introducing and recognizing in our national system the principal of secession or disin- tegration.

If this should be recognized as a right, what security had the States of the interior against their entire isolation from the com- merce of the world, by the future secession of the Atlantic and Pacific States? And the fact also remained, that secession or separation removed none of the canses of war. Whatever there was in the peculiar institution that created differences of sen- timent or feeling, or caused irritation, still existed after the separation, with no court or constitution as the arbiter of rights, and with the one resort, only, of the sword to settle differences. In secession and its logical and necessary results, we saw nothing but dire confusion and anarchy, and the utter destruction of that nation- ality through which alone we felt that our civil liberties as a people could be pre- served, and the hopes of our civilization prepetuated.

The declaration of Mr. Buchanan's last annual message, that the nation posssesed no constitutional power to coerce a seced- ing State, was received by the great majority of our citizens with humiliation

and distrust. Anxiously they awaited the expiring hours of his administration, and looked to the incoming l'resident as to an expected deliverer that should rescne the nation from the hands of traitors, and the control of those whose non-resistance in- her destruction. The firing upon the national flag at Sumter aroused a burning indignation throughout the loyal States of the Republic, and nowhere was it more intense than in Iowa. And when the proclamation of the President was pub- lished, April 15, 1861; calling for 75,000 citizen soldiers to "maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our national Union, and the perpetuity of pop- ular government," they were more than willing to respond to the call. Party lines gave way, and for a while, at least, party spirit was hushed, and the cause of our common country was supreme in the affec- tions of the people. Peculiarly fortunate were the people of Iowa at this crisis, in having a truly representative man as ex- ecutive of the State. Thoroughly honest and thoroughly earnest, wholly imbned with the enthusiasm of the hour, fully aroused to the importance of the crises, and the magnitude of the struggle upon which " were entering, with an indomit- able will under the control of a strong common sense, Samuel J. Kirkwood, was, indeed, a worthy chief to organize and direct the energ.es of the people. Within thirty days after the date of the President's call for troops, the First Iowa Regiment was mustered into the service of the United States, a second regiment was in camp ready for the service, and the Gen- eral Assembly of the State was convened in special session, and had by joint resolu-

HISTORY OF IOWA.

tion solemnly pledged every resource of men and money to the national cause.

So urgent were the offers of companies, that the Governor conditionally accepted enough additional companies to compose two additional regiments. These were soon accepted by the Secretary of War. Near the close of May, the Adjutant Gen- eral of the State reported that 170 compa- nies had been tendered the Governor to serve against the enemies of the Union. The question was eagerly asked, " Which of us will be allowed to go?" It seemed as if Iowa was monopolizing the honors of the period, and would send the larger part of the 75,000 wanted from the whole North.

There were much difficulty and consid- erable delay experienced in fitting the first three regiments for the field. For the First Infantry a complete outfit (not uni- form) of clothing was extemporized, prin- cipally by the volunteered labor of loyal women in the different towns-from mate- rial of various colors and qualities, ob- tained within the limits of the State. The same was done in part for the Second Infantry. Meantime, an extra session of the General Assembly had been called by the Governor, to convene on the 15th of May. With but little delay, that body authorized a loan of $800,000, to meet the extraordinary expenses incurred, and to be incurred, by the Executive Department, in consequence of the new emergency. A wealthy merchant of the State (ex-Guv Merrell, then a resident of McGregor) immediately took from the Governor a contract to supply a complete outfit of clothing for three regiments organized, agreeing to receive, should the Governor

so elect, his pay therefor in the State bonds at par. This contract he executed to the letter, and a portion of the clothing (which was manufactured in Boston, at his order) was delivered at Keokuk, the place at which the troops had rendezvoused, in ex- actly one month from the day in which the contract had been entered into. The re- mainder arrived only a few days later. This clothing was delivered to the soldiers, but was subsequently condemned by the Gov- ernment, for the reason that its color was gray, and blue had been adopted as the color to be worn by the National troops. Other States had also clothed their troops, sent forward under the first call of Presi- dent Lincoln, with gray uniforms, but it was soon found that the Confederate forces were also clothed in gray, and that color was at once abandoned by the Union troops. If both armies were clothed alike, annoying, if not fatal, mistakes were liable to be made.

While engaged in these efforts to dis- charge her whole duty in common with all the other Union-loving States in the great emergency, Iowa was compelled to make immediate and ample provision for the protection of her own borders from threat- ened invasions on the south by the seces- sionists of Missouri, and from danger of incursions from the west and northwest by bands of hostile Indians, who were freed from the usual restraint imposed upon them by the presence of regular troops stationed at the frontier posts. These troops were withdrawn to meet the greater and more pressing danger threatening the life of the Nation at its very heart.

The Governor of the State, in order to provide for the adequate defense of Iowa's

HISTORY OF IOWA.

borders from the ravages of both rebels in arms against the Government and of the more irresistible foes from the Western plains, was authorized to raise and equip two regiments of infantry, a squadron of cavalry (not less than five companies) and a battalion of artillery (not less than three ermpanies). Only cavalry were enlisted for home defense, however, but in times of special danger, or when calls were made by the Unionists of Northern Missouri for assistance against their disloyal enemies, large numbers of militia on foot often turned out, and remained in the field until the necessity for their services had passed.

June 13th, Gen. Lyon, then command- ing the United States forces in Missouri, issued the first order for the Iowa volun- teers to move to the field. The First and Second Infantry immediately embarked in steamboats and proceeded to Hannibal. Two weeks later the Third Infantry was ordered to the same point. These three, together with many other of the earlier organized Iowa regiments, rendered their first field service in Missouri. The First Infantry formed a part of the little army with which Gen. Lyon moved on Spring- field, and fought the bloody battle of Wil- son's creek. It received unqualified praise for its gallant bearing on the field. In the following month (September), the Third Iowa, with but very slight support, fought with honor the sanguinary engagement of Blue Mills Landing; and in November the Seventh Iowa, as a part of the force com- manded by Gen. Grant, greatly distin- guished itself in the battle of Belmont, where it poured out its blood like water- losing more than half of the men it took into action.

The initial operations in which the bat- tles referred to took place were followed by the more important movements led by Gen. Grant, Gen. Curtis, of this State, and other commanders, which resulted in de- feating the armies defending the chief strategie lines held by the Confederates in Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkan- sas, compelling their withdrawal from much of the territory previously controlled by them in those States. In these and other movements, down to the grand eul- minating campaign by which Vieksburg was captured and the Confederacy perma- nently severed on the line of the Missis- sippi river, Iowa troops took part in steadily inereasing numbers. In the in- vestment and siege of Vieksburg, the State was represented by thirty regiments and two batteries, in addition to which eight regiments and one battery were employed on the outposts of the besieg- ing army. The brillianey of their exploits on the many fields where they served, won for them the highest meed of praise, both in military and civil eireles. Mul- tiplied were the terms in which expres- sion was given to this sentiment, but these words of the journals of a neighboring State: "The Iowa troops have been heroes among heroes," embody the spirit of all.

In the veteran re-enlistment that dis- tinguished the closing month of 1863, above all other periods in the history of re-enlistment for the National armies, the Iowa three-years' men (who were rela- tively more numerous than those of any other State), were prompt to set the ex- ample of volunteering for another term of equal length, thereby adding many thousands to the great army of those who

HISTORY OF IOWA.

gave this renewed and practical assurance that the cause of the Union should not be left without defenders.

In all the important movements of 1864 and '65, by which the confederacy was pen- etrated in every quarter, and its military power finally overthrown, the Iowa troops took part. Their drum-beat was heard on the banks of every great river of the South, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, and everywhere they rendered the same faithful devoted service, maintaining on all occasions their wonted reputation for valor in the field, and endurance on the march.

Two lowa 3-year cavalry regiments were employed during their whole term of ser- vice in the operations that were in progress from 1863 to 1866 against the hostile In- dians of the Western plains. A portion of these men were among the last of the volunteer troops to be mustered out of ser- vice. The State also supplied a consider- able number of men to the navy, who took part in most of the naval operations pros- ecuted against the Confederate power on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, and the riv- ers of the West.

The people of Iowa were early and con- stant workers in the sanitary field, and by their liberal gifts and personal efforts for the benefit of the soldiery, placed their State in the front rank of those who be- came distinguished for their exhibitions of patriotic benevolence during the period covered by the war. Agents appointed by the governor were stationed at points con- venient for rendering assistance to the sick and needy soldiers of the State, while oth- ers were employed in visiting, from time to time, hospitals, camps and armies in the

field, aud doing whatever the circumstances rendered possible for the health and com- fort of such of the Iowa soldiery as might be found there.

Charitable enterprises also found a ready support in Iowa Some of the benevolent people of the State early conceived the idea of establishing a home for such of the children of deceased soldiers as might be left in destitute circumstances. This idea first took form in 1863, and in the follow- ing year a home was opened at Farming- ton, Van Buren county, in a building leased for that purpose, and which soon became filled to its utmost capacity. The institu- tion received liberal donations from the general public, and also from the soldiers in the field. In 1865 it became necessary to provide increased accommodations for the large number of children who were seeking the benefits of its care. This was done by establishing a branch at Cedar Falls, in Black Hawk county, and by secur- ing, during the same year, for the use of the parent home, Camp Kinsman, near the city of Davenport This property, by act of Congress, was soon afterward donated to the institution. In 1866, in pursuance of a law enacted for that purpose, the Sol- diers' Orphans' Home (which then con- tained about 450 inmates), became a State institution, and thereafter the sums neces- sary for its support were appropriated from the State treasury. A second branch was established at Glenwood, Mills county. Convenient tracks were secured, and valu- able improvements made at all the different points. Schools were also established, and employments provided for such of the children as were of suitable age. In every way the provision made for these wards

HISTORY OF IOWA.

of the State has been such as to challenge the approval of every benevolent mind. The number of children who have been inmates of the home from its foundation to the present time is considerably more than 2,000.

No bounty was paid by the State on account of the men she placed in the field. In some instances, toward the close of the war, bounty, to a comparatively small amount, was paid by cities and towns On only o' e occasion, that of the call of July 18, 1861, was a draft made in Iowa This did not occur on account of her proper lia- bility, as established by previous rulings of the War Department, to supply men under that call, but grew out of the great necessity that there existed for raising men. The Government insisted on tem- porarily setting aside, in part, the former rule of settlements, and enforcing a draft in all cases where sub-districts in any of the States should be found deficient in their supply of men. In no instance was Iowa, as a whole, found to he indebted to the General Government for men, on a settlement of her quota accounts.

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History of Tama County, Iowa, together with sketches of their towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 11

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company Number of Pages: 1088

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1088