USA > Iowa > Johnson County > Leading Events in Johnson County, Iowa, History > Part 46
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Officers
Capt. Eugene F. T. Cherry
Corporal A. P. Donahoe
Lieut. L. A. Stocking
Corporal O. Shillig
Lieut. B. P. Thornberry
Corporal F. W. Turner
First Sergt. J. R. Gardner
Corporal Wesley Holt
Quartermaster-Sergt. L. W. Corporal Horace M. Horner Dutcher
Corporal L. J. White
Sergt. E. E. Hobby
Musician Chas. C. Countryman
Sergt. Joe. Watkins
Musician Leslie Switzer
Sergt. Chas. Startsman
Artificer Jesse B. Bowen
Sergt. Geo. Goodrell
Wagoner J. S. Roessler
Privates
A. Anthony
A. J. Huff
E. Albright
Chas. W. Hickman
Geo. Beeson
E. A. Johnson
J. F. Bartovsky
Horace Jones
E. C. Berry
J. Jacobson
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E. J. Berry
T. W. Kemmerer
Place Bostwick
W. P. McCulla
C. J. Baxter
G. A. McElroy
J. S. Burrows
E. A. McFall
C. R. Burge
J. W. Martin
E. K. Brown
J. S. Moothart
Syd. Clark
C. A. Moore
D. J. Cobb
John Ogden
Tom Davis
R. E. O'Callaghan
Geo. Ewing
W. M. Plum
C. T. Gulliver
F. M. Rowe
H. T. Gibford
H. D. Robertson
L. B. Gray
W. J. Schooley
Louis Gleason
A. V. Shaw
G. Norval Ham
H. C. Saunders
Geo. J. Harney
Guy Stewart
Frank W. Hotz
Herbert F. Sperry
S. J. Hughes
R. C. Williams
While there were fears for a time that some of the com- panies of the I. N. G. might lose their identity through the merging of four regiments with three, matters were finally adjusted so that Company I went to the front as it was ex- pected in the beginning and the members were soon heard from after leaving Camp Mckinley. Not Tampa, but Jack- sonville, Florida, became the camp ground preparatory to the occupation of Cuba. Here they spent the summer awaiting their call to active service in Cuba and practising at targets, while many of them fought typhoid and malaria. It was not until public sentiment was aroused and some strong mass meetings were held on the subject that someone gave orders for the return of the 50th Iowa from such a dangerous and unhygienic territory to the homes in the comfortable north, and to the good things of Iowa.
Not until September was it possible to move the regiment on account of difficulty in securing transportation and while it was understood that the regiment would be mustered out soon, or a furlough of one month given, it was uncertain when such order could be concluded. However, at this particular time the following telegram came from Company I:
"Jacksonville, Sept. 2, 5 - 10 p. m. - Special : Will be sent
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to Des Moines soon. Can't tell the exact day. No order yet. Middleton and Baxter were sent to hospital today. They are not seriously ill. Sperry and Roessler are better. Davis and Cochran are out of the hospital. Cherry."
Company I left home April 26 and returned September 20, 1898. These dates are the ones remembered best by those who bade them farewell and greeted them on their return from the long detention in camp while waiting for orders either to move on or to be mustered out. At whatever cost, it might have been, they obeyed the government's call in April, and came home with the consciousness of having been ready for battle even if none had offered. The company as an organization arrived from Des Moines on the afternoon of September 20, and a great crowd met the boys at the station. . Carriages and cabs, sufficient for all the military, were ready to convey them to the armory, while the bands led the way, pre- ceded by the beautiful silk flag presented to the company by the city council.
At the armory the ladies of the "War Aid Society" had prepared supper for the company, very much after the fashion of the ones given to the "boys of '65" on their return from scenes of bloody battle fields. One may wonder how such a meal impressed the hungry soldier after his army fare.
When Company I left Iowa City the roster showed about sixty names and subsequent recruits ran the number above a hundred. No death had occurred in the entire company until just before the "muster out" when the news of the death of William Van Alstine came to Captain Cherry. He had been left behind and three days before the boys were so heartily received and entertained he was summoned to answer the last roll call. Others were lying low with typhoid in hospitals, and while many, one may say most, were happy in the thought of reunited families, some hearts were very anxious over what the future might bring before these who remained behind could be brought home. Among those who could not come with the company were First Sergeant John Gardner, who was left dangerously ill in Des Moines, Private Chester Baxter in Camp Cuba Libre, James Cassidy in Des Moines, and the poor fellow mentioned before who died while his company was coming into sight of home.41ยบ
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Not all who went out at the first call were permitted to remain with the company until its return to Camp Mckinley in September. When the company enlisted for the Spanish- American war in April, Frank Wadsworth was in the prime of manhood, so full of life and patriotic impulses, that he volun- teered among the first. A private in Company I, 50th Iowa In- fantry, he went into camp in Jacksonville, Florida, in June, 1898. Like many others he was stricken with disease due to the change in climate and his once strong frame was weakened and so reduced in strength that he was ordered home for what was supposed a complete recovery under skillful medi- cal treatment. Hope for his restoration was, however, vain for under the most skillful care he finally yielded to the fever . contracted in the war camp, and this was the second death in Company I.
On Sunday, October 9, 1898, a day long remembered in the vicinity, these two, William Vanalstine and Frank Wads- worth, were laid to rest in the home cemetery, the body of one who died in the south, having been brought home for burial. Company I remembered them with the last honors of war and sadly returned to the daily routine of civil life, having given two young lives from among their number in the cause of human suffering.411
ROSTER OF COMPANY I AT THE CLOSE OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
Eugene F. T. Cherry, Captain Horace M. Havner, Corp.
Leigh A. Stocking, First Lieu- Lawrence J. White, Corp. tenant
Wesley Holt, Corp.
Bayard P. Thornberry, Sec- Leslie E. Switzer, Corp. ond Lieutenant
George Beeson, Corp.
John R. Gardner, First Sergt. Frank N. Rowe, Corp.
L. W. Dutcher, Q. M. Sergt.
George N. Ham, Corp.
Geo. E. Ewing, Corp.
Edwin E. Hobby, Sergt.
Elmer A. Johnson, Corp.
Joseph C. Watkins, Sergt. Charles W. Startsman, Sergt. George B. Goodrell, Sergt.
Charles C. Countryman, Musi- cian
Howard T. Gibford, Musician
Jesse B. Bowen, Artificer
John S. Roessler, Wagoner
Anthony P. Donahoe, Corp. Oscar J. Shillig, Corp.
Frederick W. Turner, Corp.
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Privates
Anthony, Arthur
Albright, Leroy C. Albrusky, Edward
Johnson, Frank C. Jones, Horace K. Jacobson, Con
Bartovsky, Joseph F.
Kos, Edward
Berry, Edmund C.
Krofta, James
Berry, Ernest J. Bostwick, Place
McFall, Edward A.
Baxter, Chester J.
McElroy, Gilbert A.
Burrows, James S.
McFarlin, Carl F.
Burge, Charles R.
Moore, Charles A.
Brown, Edwin K.
Martin, Joseph W.
Byer, Henry
Middleton, James G.
Burger, Albert G.
Maier, George
Brower, Frank B.
Ogden, John F.
Bonstead, James
Oathout, Bert E.
Clark, Sydney D.
O'Callaghan, Robert E.
Cobb, Dennis J.
O'Neil, Ben
Conklin, William F.
Plum, William M.
Cochran, John U.
Paterson, Alexander
Cassidy, James D.
Robertson, Henry D.
Crowley, Edward J.
Rundorff, Herbert T.
Davis, Thomas
Raplinger, Joseph
Denholm, Thomas
Shaw, Albert V.
Evans, Leonard
Saunders, Herbert C.
Gulliver, Charles T.
Sperry, Herbert F. Sullivan, Joseph D.
Gray, Lewis B.
Skelton, John B.
Gleason, Louis Goss, John L.
Shoales, Fred H.
Givin, Ellsworth
Tantlinger, Walter W.
Grauer, William
Thompson, Robert
Graef, George
Unash, Joseph W.
Harney, George J. Hotz, Frank W. Vanek, James
Hughes, Samuel J.
Williams, Ray O.
Huff, Alvaro J.
Williamson, Ralph C.
Huff, Verne B.
Williamson, Owen
Hickman, Charles W.
Wood, Dana E.
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Moothart, John S.
Boarts, Robert
McCulla, Walter P.
Vaughn, William J.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
Harris, Alva E.
Holderman, Fred
Wilson, John E. Yavorsky, Charles
Transferred
Kemmerer, Theodore W.
Stewart, Guy W. Schooley, William J.
Died of Disease
Vanalstine, William A. Wadsworth, Frank
Summary
At muster-in, Company I had sixty-five men; forty-four more joined the company by enrollment; three were trans- ferred; and two died of disease. The record of events, offi- cially recorded, is as follows:
"This company with the first battalion of the 50th Iowa Vol. Inf. left Camp Mckinley, Des Moines, Iowa, May 21, 1898, under orders to proceed to Tampa, Florida. While en- route at Thomasville, Georgia, orders were received to pro- ceed to Jacksonville, Florida, at which place the command ar- rived on the morning of May 24, 1898, and at once went into camp about one mile north of the city, where the regiment per- formed the usual camp routine until August 1, 1898, when the camp was moved about one mile west of the former site, where the regiment remained until September 13, 1898, when camp was broken and the regiment returned to Camp McKinley Des Moines, Iowa, arriving September 17, 1898. The regiment went into camp at Camp Mckinley until Sep- tember 20, 1898, when verbal furlough was given from September 20, 1898, until October 20, 1898, per G. O. No. 130. Furlough extended to November 1, 1898, per telegraphic in- structions, A. G. O., October 17, 1898. Returned to Camp Mc- Kinley, Des Moines, Iowa, November 1, 1898, for the purpose of muster out." 412
As regimental surgeon, Dr. C. S. Grant served with the fiftieth Iowa as first lieutenant and assistant surgeon and later as surgeon major. Col. R. P. Howell was on the staff of the brigade commander in charge of commissary.
After the Spanish-American war closed Company I was reorganized with about two-thirds of the enrollment made up
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from men who had some experience in that contest. Forty- two men and three commissioned officers constituted the en- rollment as the re-formation of the company. John R. Gard- ner was chosen captain; Leslie E. Switzer, first lieutenant; and G. A. McElroy, second lieutenant. Adjutant General Byers mustered in the new company, and supervised the election of officers, after that part was performed, the captain was chosen by acclamation. Captain Gardner had been first sergeant at Camp Cuba Libre and had been in the service of the I. N. G. for nearly seven years.
On the first anniversary of the summons to the Spanish- American war the old Company I became the new Company I. At the program of social nature, which took the form of a military ball, the event was made the occasion for the pre- sentation of the flag of the nation by the old company to the new. This was the flag given by the city council to the old company in 1898 and it was fitting that the address and pre- sentation should be made by Capt. E. F. T. Cherry of the former company. In this presentation he referred very feel- ingly and tenderly to the boys, Wadsworth and Vanalstine, who gave up their lives while serving under him in 1898.418
Rodney Clarke of Oxford was a member of the 51st Iowa, Company B, and went with that regiment to the Philippines along with other Johnson county boys. On Thursday, August 10, 1899, a cablegram came to Mr. J. H. Clarke that his son Rodney was dead, not killed in battle but dying from disease due to a tropical climate. He was one of the first from John- son county to offer his services to the government in the far- off islands. Company B of the fifty-first regiment included ten boys from Johnson county : Joe Benda, Wm. Glick, Julian S. Kanehl, Chas. L. Smith, Wm. M. Smith, John H. Garrett, Wm. J. Haggett, Bert Mahana, Rodney K. Clarke, and Ernest . Dubell. When these soldiers returned to Iowa City from their service in the Philippines a very great crowd greeted them. A military escort from the G. A. R. and the University bat- talion acompanied them also to the armory when they were feasted and greeted by the customary speeches. Only six of the ten were here, however, to receive this ovaton. One as mentioned had answered the final roll call, one had remained in the islands in government service, and two stayed behind in
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
San Francisco. Mayor Stebbins welcomed them, while they were also addressed by many representing various institutions in the citizenship of the county. Judge M. J. Wade spoke on behalf of the county; President MacLean for the University, Mrs. De Sellem for tlre W. R. C .; Professor Willis for the G. A. R .; L. E. Switzer for Company I; and Will Smith for the returned soldiers.
To the old soldier the war of 1861 is never over. That was one reason for the sixth reunion of the twenty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry held in Iowa City in September, 1897. For two days they revived the old scenes of battle and camp life. They brought with them many interesting and curious implements of warfare. The badges they wore on that occa- sion bore the name of the regiment and the face of the heroic "Nick" Messenger, one of the four of the immortal thirteen, who scaled the walls of Vicksburg and returned to tell the story.
The most pleasing feature of this event came in connection with the honoring of the widow of Iowa's war governor, Mrs. S. J. Kirkwood, by making her the "Mother of the regiment." On the afternoon of the second day the presiding official intro- duced Mrs. Kirkwood to the boys who had so much regard and affection for the late war governor of the state of Iowa. Not one of them missed the opportunity of grasping the hand of the "Mother of the regiment," which became the official title by act of the regiment later in the meeting. It read: "That whereas, this being the thirty-fifth anniversary of the muster- ing in of the 22nd Volunteer Infantry into the United States army, Sept. 9, 1862, at Camp Pope, Iowa City, to commemorate the day and make it more dear to our hearts, we, in memory of our late and beloved war governor, Samuel J. Kirkwood, hereby show our appreciation of his love for the 22nd Iowa as well as for all other Iowa soldiers, do on this occasion make his devoted life-companion, Mrs. Jane Kirkwood, an associate member of our organization, and she shall hereafter be known as the mother of the 22nd Iowa Regiment."
The elaborate banquet spread for the veterans in the armory on the night of September ninth must have made them feel that it was worth a fast of many months in 1862 to even be permitted to sit at such a table. Here many touching and
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tender stories were told, among them the tribute of Hon. Mil- ton Remley, to the boys of the 22nd and the relation that his family held to this organization because of the loss of two brothers, Geo. F. and Howard Remley, one of whom died at Vicksburg and the other was killed at Winchester.
Another remarkable gathering of veteran soldiers of the Civil War was held in Iowa City in September, 1899, probably never to be repeated. Three regiments contributed to the as- sembly, "the 22nd, 24th and 28th Iowa." The twenty-second, the home regiment, almost made from Johnson county soldiers, has been written about in this section. The twenty-fourth was composed in part of Johnson county men, as was also the twenty-eighth, but the twenty-eighth included companies from Johnson, Iowa, Tama, Benton, Poweshiek, and Jasper counties. Company E was from Johnson with David Stewart as captain, Wm. E. Miller of Johnson county was colonel of the twenty- eighth, J. E. Pritchard of Johnson was adjutant. The regi- ment rendezvoused in Iowa City at Camp Pope and spent sev- eral weeks in drilling here before going to the front. It re- mained here until November 2, 1862, when it was ordered to move, landing at Helena, Ark., on November 20, and on the fol- lowing May 1, 1863, they came under fire for the first time at Port Gibson.
At this reunion when the remnants of the three regiments came together they were addressed by the general who was second in command of the Confederate forces at Vicksburg, Gen. Stephen D. Lee. He gave a graphic description of the battle of Vicksburg in which these troops participated. The address of General Lee should be carefully preserved, but it is not possible to use it in this connection. Reference to it is made and if one cares to find it he will be able to do so in the library of the Historical Society.
The most cordial reception was tendered to General Lee and his party from Vicksburg. In an address to the students in front of the Old Capitol building where the general stood on the north pier he said: "My coming today has peculiar sig- nificance. It marks a new era in the history of our Republic. It tells of the reconciliation of two great parts of a common country, the real reunion of the grey, the obliteration of all sectional lines. I am almost ready to thank God, for the
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Spanish-American war, which gave your great president and mine, President Mckinley, the chance to select as leaders of soldiers, commanders from the south as well as the north, and truly the southern officers, when they have been given an op- portunity have done their duty well." In his address on "Champion Hill from the Otherside," at the camp fire of the twenty-fourth, he mentioned some of his experiences of local interest: "From my house a thousand miles away, your courteous invitation has brought me to share in the gladness of this reunion, when we can fight our battles over again in a very much more agreeable way, than we did thirty-six years ago. Since reaching Iowa City, I have been made to know what an Iowa welcome means. The fame of this cultivated community and its splendid seat of learning had reached me before, but I have now learned more of the warm hearts and generous hospitality to be found in your midst. Above all you have given me a soldier's welcome. Sometimes I think, that the men who were the first in the charge, were the first in the forgiving afterwards. Brave men learn to honor courage. and principle even in their enemies, and when the battle is over are as quick to bind up the wounds as they were to make them.
"We old fellows with the grey hairs are not going to let the sun of life go down upon our wrath. If there is anything in your hearts my countrymen, a shred of bitterness toward your brethern of the south, a feeling of wrong which still lingers, a loss whose sorrow the merciful years have never healed, I implore you, let them not go down with you to the grave, but here and now let them be lost in our country's reconciliation. 'In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.' " 415
It will be remembered that General Lee was the chairman of the Vicksburg National Park Commission, and on his return he sent a letter to Mr. J. W. Lee, thanking him for a report of the reunion, which enclosed his address on Vicksburg and renewing his expression of appreciation of his treatment here.
How fast they are falling, these veterans of the Grand Army; three commanders of Kirkwood Post, G. A. R., called from duty in the short space of six months, Captain H. E. Ely, John E. Jayne, and Professor Samuel Calvin.
And now as the hoary headed heroes of many battles as-
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semble to pay their last respects to a comrade, as they furl the flag for the last time, as they hear the last bugle call, the youth who looks on must become, for a time, serious enough to reflect on what it must have meant fifty years ago to face the fierce trials of war. When will the veteran group be re- membered no more as man by man passes and the busy world forgets, indeed more, it scarcely ceases its social functions long enough to bury with due solemnity its most loved dead. Has the world no time to be serious on such occasions, and should the resolutions of "great confidence and respect" be kept to bury with the casket? Grant a portion of the flowers to the living that he may die with greater peace, as one who had in some measure filled his niche in this great world.
A comrade has well mentioned an event in the life of one of these commanders called to a higher station, and his letter to the writer of these lines is appended :
"I am under obligations to you for the notice of the passing of my old friend and comrade, John E. Jayne. How it comes over me as of yesterday when first I saw and knew him! The night that my Co. arrived at Muscatine - 'Camp Strong' - where the regiment was assembled, my very first recollection is of an impromptu quartette, in which Jayne was conspicuous, singing 'We'll Rally Round the Flag,' then just out and heard by me for the first time! It was no wonder, under the cir- cumstances, that the whole camp assembled about the singers; and the story that Gov. Hogg, of Texas, used to tell may be true, viz. - That, after hearing a succession of 'War-time Songs,' rendered by the Union soldiers in the close-up trenches during one of the sieges, a Confederate officer inside said, 'Well, I've always believed in our success until now, but it's no use; we can never lick a crowd that has that sort of songs and sings them that way!'
"With kindest regards,
"Sincerely yours,
"C. L. Longley."
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CHAPTER XXXIV
The Newspapers
N EWSPAPERS began in the county with the establish- ment of the Iowa City Standard by William Crum in 1840. A. P. Wood became its editor in 1842, but the struggles of any paper at that time in the history of the territory made frequent changes desirable if one may judge from the actual facts as they occurred through the years that followed. In 1846 the Standard was purchased by Silas Foster, and Easton Morris became its editor. Then in 1848, for "good and suffi- cient reasons," the Standard suspended publication for a sea- son.416 When it resumed publication it was under the owner- ship of Dr. S. M. Ballard and was now called the Republican, continuing the name to the present day. From the manage- ment of Dr. S. M. Ballard it came into the hands of C. W. Hobart and then to John Teesdale, who became editor of the State Register.417 For possibly one year, commencing in 1856, the Republican issued a daily edition, which during its short life had three editors, C. W. Hobart, Rush Clark, then a very young man, and W. Penn Clarke. During the greater part of the war period, the Republican was owned by the Jerome Brothers and Duncan, but in 1863 it was purchased by N. H. Brainerd and Breitigan, N. H. Brainerd being the editor. In 1870, J. H. C. Wilson purchased a half interest in the publica- tion, and for a short time a daily paper appeared. Again, in 1874, Mr. Brainerd sold his interest to S. D. Pryce, so that the firm was now Pryce and Wilson. Moreover, N. H. Brain- erd had edited the Republican for about twelve years, up to that time the longest period of editorship. Then after the re- tirement of Captain Pryce, the paper was conducted by Wilson, Rogers and Shields until 1879, when it was purchased by a company and Welker Given was made the editor. In 1881, the ownership having changed, H. S. Fairall became the
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editor, who continued in this position until 1883, when for a short time, from June, 1883, until March, 1884, Stephen B. Howard appears as editor. Again H. S. Fairall took charge of the editorial work and for ten or more years remained in this position. In May, 1894, S. D. Cook assumed the editor- ship, continuing in charge for something more than one year, when he was succeeded by W. M. Davis in September, 1895. Mr. Davis edited the paper for the company until February, 1897, when it appears from an item in another paper that H. W. Hanson was the editor until W. H. Conant was taken from the editorship of the Citizen in 1898 and placed in the editor's chair for the Republican. From November, 1901, un- til February, 1902, Florence Huntley was the editor, and since then David Brant has been in charge of the editorial depart- ment.
When in 1858 the office was removed from a two-story frame building on Dubuque street, built and occupied solely for an office, to the Powell block on Washington street, the ten years of files of the Republican were left there. Then the building unfortunately burned and these files vanished in the conflagration, leaving none that are complete from the first issue of the Standard to the present time. No files of any paper in this county can be found from 1848 to 1856.
William Crum was one of the first editors of Iowa terri- tory. He came to Bloomington in the winter of 1838-'39, where he soon began the publication of the Standard, continu- ing it there until the capital of the territory was located at Iowa City, when he moved his plant to that place. He was a young man then, twenty years of age, and he expected to find a larger field in the new capital than in the river town. The last issue of the Standard in Bloomington [Muscatine] is dated April 29, 1840, while the first in Iowa City is dated May 10, 1840, so we may conclude that the intervening time was spent in getting the plant to its new location. Then the office was small and paper was run on a Ramage press, on which but one page could be printed at one time. This press was in- vented by a Scotch mechanician named Adam Ramage, who came to this country in his maturer years. It aroused much interest in its day. However, the material equipment of the
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