USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > Past and present of Appanoose County, Iowa : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 18
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
THE CALL FOR TROOPS
On the 10th of April, four days following the assault on Fort Sumter. Gov- ernor Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa, received the following telegram from Simon Cameron, secretary of war :
"Call made on you by tonight's mail for one regiment of militia for immedi- ate service."
That very day the governor proclaimed to the people of lowa that the nation
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was imperiled and invoked the aid of every loyal citizen in the state. The tele- gram above alhided to was received at Davenport. The governor was then resid- ing at lowa City, but there was no telegraphic communication in those days between the two cities.
It was important that the dispatch should reach the eyes of the governor at once and General Vandever, then a civilian, volunteered to take the message to lowa City. The governor was found on his farm outside the city by the self- appointed messenger, dressed in homespun and working in the field. Reading the dispatch Governor Kirkwood expressed extreme surprise and exclaimed : "Why, the president wants a whole regiment of men! Do you suppose I can raise so many as that, Mr. Vandever?" When ten lowa regiments were offered a few days later the question was answered.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION
President Lincoln announced, April 15. 1861, that the execution of the laws of the Union had been obstructed in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama. Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas by "combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law." He called out the militia to the number of 75.000. Seeing that the insurgents had not dispersed in the states named and that the inhabitants of Virginia. Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee had joined them, he issued this proclamation, August 16, 1861:
"Whereas, on the 15th day of April. 1861, the president of the United States, in view of an insurrection against laws, constitution and government of the United States, which has broken out within the states of South Carolina, Georgia. Ala- bama. Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, and in pursuance of the provi- sions of the act entitled. 'An act to provide for calling forth the militia to exe- cute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions, and to repeal the act now in force for that purpose.' approved February 28. 1795. did call forth the militia to suppress said insurrection and cause the laws of the Union to be duly executed and the insurgents having failed to disperse by the time directed by the president ; and whereas such insurrection has since broken out and yet exists within the states of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas ; and whereas, the insurgents in all the said states claim to act under the authority thereof, and such claim is not disclaimed or repudiated by the persons exercising the functions of government in such state or states, or in the part or parts thereof in which combinations exist, nor has any such insurrection been suppressed by said states :
"Now, therefore. I. Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, in pur- suance of an act of congress approved July 13. 1861, do hereby declare that the inhabitants of the said states of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia. North Caro- lina, Tennessee, Alabama. Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Florida (except the inhabitants of that part of Virginia lying west of the Alleghany monn- tains, and of such other parts of the state and the other states hereinbefore named as may maintain a loyal adhesion to the Union and the constitution or may be from time to time occupied and controlled by the forces of the United States engaged in the dispersion of said insurgents ). are in a state of insurrection
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against the United States ; and that all commercial intercourse between the same and the inhabitants thereof, with the exceptions aforesaid, and the citizens of other states and other parts of the United States, is unlawful, and will remain unlawful until such insurrection shall cease or has been suppressed; that all goods and chattels, wares and merchandise, coming from any of said states with the exception aforesaid, into other parts of the United States, without the special license and permission of the president, through the secretary of the treasury, or proceeding to any said states, with the exceptions aforesaid, by land or water, together with vessel or vehicle conveying the same or conveying persons to or from said states, with said exceptions, will be forfeited to the United States ; and that from and after fifteen days from the issuing of this proclamation, all ships and vessels belonging in whole or in part to any citizen or inhabitant of any of said states with said exception found at sea or in any port of the United States will be forfeited to the United States, and I hereby enjoin upon all district attor- neys, marshals and officers of the revenue and of the military and naval forces of the United States, to be vigilant in the execution of said act and in the enforce- ment of the penalties and forfeitures imposed or declared by it; leaving any party who may think himself aggrieved thereby to his application to the secretary of the treasury for the remission of any penalty of forfeiture, which the said secre- tary is authorized by law to grant if, in his judgment, the special circumstances in any case shall require such remission.
"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
"Done at the City of Washington, this sixteenth day of August. in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-sixth year.
"ABRAHAM LINCOLN."
JOWA RALLIES TO THE COLORS
"Whether in the promptitude of her response to the calls made on her by the general government, in the courage and constancy of her soldiery in the field." said Colonel A. P. Wood, of Dubuque, upon one occasion, "or in the wisdom and efficiency with which her civil administration was conducted during the trying period covered by the war of the rebellion, lowa proved herself the peer of any loyal state. The proclamation of her governor, Samuel J. Kirkwood, responsive to that of the president calling for volunteers to compose her first regiment, was issued on the fourth day after the fall of Fort Sumter. At the end of only a single week men enough were reported to be in quarters ( mostly in the vicinity of their own homes) to fill the regiment. These, however, were hardly more than a tithe of the number who had been offered by company commanders for acceptance under the president's call. So urgent were these offers that the gos - ernor requested on the 24th of April permission to organize an additional regi- ment. While awaiting the answer to this request he conditionally accepted a sufficient number of companies to compose two additional regiments. In a short time he was notified that both of these would be accepted. Soon after the com- pletion of the second and third regiments, which was near the close of May, the adjutant general of the state reported that upwards of 170 companies had been tendered to the governor to serve against the enemies of the Union.
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"Much difficulty and considerable delay occurred in fitting these regiments for the field. For the First Infantry a complete outfit-not uniform-of cloth- ing was extemporized-principally by the volunteered labor of loyal women in the different towns, from material of various colors and qualities obtained 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 gov- ernor to convene on May 15th. With but little delay that body authorized a loan of $200,000 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-Governor Merrill, then a resident of Metiregor-imme- diately took from the governor a contract to supply a complete outfit of clothing for the three regiments organized, agreeing to receive, should the governor so elect, his pay therefor in state bonds at par. This contract he executed to the letter, and a portion of the clothing, which was manufactured in Boston to his order, was delivered at Keokuk, the place at which the troops had rendezvoused, in exactly one month 'from the day on which the contract had been entered into. The remainder arrived only a few days later. This clothing was delivered to the regiments, but was subsequently condemned by the government for the reason that its color was gray, and blue had been adopted as the color to be worn by national troops.
IOWA'S BORDERS THREATENED
"The state, while engaged in efforts to discharge her duty in connection with the common emergency, was compelled to make separate and large provision for the security of her own borders. On the south she was threatened with invasion by the secessionists of Missouri, while on the west and northwest there was dan- ger of incursions by bands of hostile Indians now freed from the usual restraint imposed by garrisons of regular troops at the frontier posts. For border defense the governor was authorized to raise two regiments of infantry, a squadron-not less than five companies-of cavalry, and a battalion-not less than three com- panies-of artillery. Only mounted troops were enlisted, however, for this service ; but in times of special danger, or when calls were made by the Unionists of north- ern Missouri against their disloyal enemies, large numbers of militia on foot turned out (often) and remained in the field until the necessity for their services had passed.
"The first order for the lowa volunteers to move to the field was received June 13th. It was issued by General Lyon, then commanding the United States forces in Missouri. The First and Second Infantries immediately embarked in steamboats and moved to Hannibal. Some two weeks later the Third Infantry was ordered to the same point. These three, together with many other- of the earlier organized lowa regiments, rendered their first field service in Missouri. The First Infantry formed a part of the little army with which General Lyon moved on Springfield and fought the bloody battle of Wilson's Creek. It received unqualified praise for its gallant bearing on the fieldl. In the following month ( September ) the Third lowa with very slight support fought with honor the sanguinary engagement of Blue Mills Landing; and in November the Seventh Iowa, as a part of a force commanded by General Grant, greatly distinguished itself in the battle of Belmont, where it poured out its blood like water-losing
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more than half of the men it took into action. The initial operation, in which the battles referred to took place were followed by the more important move- ments led by General Curtis of this state and other commanders, which resulted in defeating the armies defending the chief strategic lines held by the confederates in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas, and compelling their withdrawal from much of the territory previously controlled by them in these states. In these and many other movements down to the grand culminating campaign by which Vicksburg was captured and the confederacy permanently severed on the line of the Mississippi river, lowa troops took a part in steadily increasing numbers. In the investment and siege of Vicksburg the state was represented by thirty regi- ments and two batteries, in addition to which eight regiments and one battery were employed on the outposts of the besieging army. The brilliancy of their exploits on the many fields where they served won for them the highest meed of praise both in military and civic circles. Multiplied were the terms in which expression was given to this sentiment, but these words of one of the journals of a neigh- boring state- The lowa troops have been heroes among heroes'-embodies the spirit of all.
IOWA TROOPS REENLISTED
"In the veteran reenlistments that distinguished the closing months of 1803 above all other periods of reenlistments for the national armies, the lowa three years' men who were relatively more numerous than those of any other state, were prompt to set the example of volunteering for another of equal length, thereby adding many thousands to the great army of those who gave this renewed and practical assurance that the cause of the Union should not be left without defender. In all the important movements of 1864 and 1805 by which the con- federacy wa- penerated in every quarter and its military power finally over- thrown, the Towa troops took part. Their drumbeat was heard on the banks of every great river of the South, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande and every- where they rendered the same faithful and devoted service, maintaining on all occasions their wanted reputation for valor in the field and endurance on the march.
"Tivo lowa three-year cavalry regiments were employed during their whole term of service in the operations that were in progress from 1803 to 1806 against the hostile Indians of the western plains. A portion of these men were among the last of the volunteer troops mustered out of service. The state also supplied a considerable number of men to the navy who took part in most of the naval operation- prosecuted against the confederate power on the Atlantic and Guli coasts and the rivers of the west.
"The people of lowa were early and constant 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 became distinguished for their exhibi- tions of patriotic benevolence during the period covered by the war. Agents appointed by the governor were stationed at points convenient for rendering assistance to the sick and needy soldiers of the state, while others were employed in visiting from time to time hospitals, camps and armies in the fiekl, and doing whatever the circumstances rendered possible for the health and comfort of such of the lowa soldiery as might be found there.
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"At the beginning of the war the population of lowa included about 150,000 men, presumably liable to military service. The state raised for general service thirty-nine regiments of infantry, nine regiments of cavalry, and four companies of artillery, composed of three years' men, one regiment of infantry composed of three months' men, and four regiments and one battalion of infantry composed of one hundred days' men. The original enlistments in these various organiza- lions including 1,727 men raised by draft, numbered a little more than 69,000. The reenlistments, including upward of 7.000 veterans, numbered very nearly 8,000. The enlistments in the regular army and navy, and organization- of other states will, if added, raise the total to upward of 80,000. The number of men who under special enlistments and as militia took part at different times in the operations on the exposed borders of the state was probably as many as 5,000.
IOWA PMID NO BOUNTY
"Iowa paid no bounty 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 one occasion, that of the call of July 18, 1864, was a draft made in Iowa. This did not occur on account of her proper liability, as established by previous ruling 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 temporaily setting aside in part the former rule of settlements and enforcing a draft in all cases where subdistricts in any of the states should be found deficient in their supply of men. In no instance was lowa, as a whole, found to be indebted to the general government for men on a settlement of her quota account."
PATRIOTIC APPANOOSE
Centerville and the whole county was aflame with the fire of patriotism as soon as the people realized that the republic was menaced by an internecine war. In every town and hamlet men met upon the streets and in places of business and discussed the traitorous deed of the southerners at Charleston. Every one was awakened to the grim and terrorizing fact that an unholy and devas- tating war had been proclaimed and that the roar of the guns at Charleston and Fort Sumter had been heard throughout all Christendom. Patriotic and inflammatory speeches were to be heard on all sides and the men, young and old, of Appanoose county expressed their willingness and eager desire to enlist in the cause of the Union and lay down their lives on the field of battle, if need be, to uphold President Lincoln's contention that no state had the right to secede from the Federal Union and that the southern states in rebellion should not.
The spirit of loyalty in Appanoose county was of a general character and few there were who had the hardihood to express sympathy with secession and the system of barter and trade in human "chattels." There were some, how- ever, who declared themselves as being opposed to coercive measures, in the great controversy between the states, and maintained, with the people of the south, that the "peculiar institution of slavery" should not be molested, nor its establishment and growth in the territories and newly-made states impeded.
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The "copperheads" in Appanoose county were in a hopeless minority and what- ever sympathy and assistance they rendered the southern malcontents were practically of a negligible quantity in their results.
Governor Kirkwood's call to arms was like a shock of electricity to the able- bodied, liberty-loving men of this county and each one vied with the other to be the first to offer his services to his country's cause. Men of means, too advanced in years to take up arms themselves, served the occasion by other means that were efficacious and which were fully appreciated by those in authority : companies of men were organized, drilled and equipped for the war and, being assigned to regiments in the volunteer army of the Union, went into camp, thence to the front and fought and died for their homes, free institutions and native land. In this band of patriots were men of foreign birth. But they had come to the "land of the free." to escape oppression and the yoke of a master, Divesting themselves of allegiance to the "mother coun- try" and becoming AAmerican citizens, they cast their lot with the northern armies and fought with them for the maintenance of the Union's integrity and the perpetuation of the republic.
Appanoose county made a splendid record in the war of the rebellion. Her sons performed their duty nobly and well. Some of them rose to distinction in the army, but all, by their devotion to country, privations and suffering endured bravely in camp, field and southern prison pens, gave luster to the splendid escutcheon of this community, and, when the distressing and terrible work had been well done, these soldiers of the "grand army" returned to their homes, where they were received amidst the acclaim and benedictions of a grateful people.
OFFICIAL ACTION
At the session of the board of supervisors in September, 1862. the following resolution was passed, apparently without a dissenting vote:
"Be it resolved by the Board of Supervisors of Appanoose County, Iowa, That the Township Trustees of said county be authorized and required to report to the Supervisor of their proper township, the families of those who are in the United States service, and who, in the opinion of said Trustees, are in such condition or like so to be as to need support or assistance from the county, either in sustenance or clothing, provided always that such families claiming such support or assistance, shall report themselves to the Trustees of the proper townships before the second Tuesday in October A. D. 1862."
This was the only action taken by the board in regard to the pecuniary assist- ance to the families of the brave fellows at the front ; but as will be seen by its terms, the resolution was ample for all purposes. Every session of the board up till 1868, three years after the war had closed, a considerable space of the proceedings is taken up with the reports of the supervisors, giving the amount of aid extended by each, which, in the aggregate, must have amounted to thou- sands of dollars. Nor, during the seven years in which aid was afforded, was there a member of the board who so much as hinted that that body was too lavish with the county's funds. Each member was left to be the sole judge as to the amount needed in his own township, and had another member criticised his action the fault finder would have been promptly silenced. So the purse
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strings of the county were never tightened so long as a soldier's family needed clothing, food or fuel. No buncombe resolutions were passed, but the patrio- tism of the board was of that practical character that cheered the soldier's heart, whether in the grand charge that led to victory or surrounded by the horrors of a southern prison pen.
However, toward the close of the war a sort of pension fund was created for the benefit of those who had become disabled in the service and could not make a valid claim against the government, and also for the assistance of indigent orphans. A large part of this was not needed and was finally transferred to the general fund.
It would require a large volume to recount all that was done at home and in the field by the patriotic citizens of Appanoose county during the war. As long as the war continued money was ready. men were ready. Men of wealth furnished the former, and the less affluent filled the ranks-furnished the brawn, the muscle. the bravery. the sinews of war. Oftentimes the former furnished not only their share of money, but shouldered their muskets and followed the starry flag as well.
And of the volunteer soldiery what can fittingly be said? What vivid words can the pen employ that will do justice to their heroic valor, to their unequaled and unparalleled bravery and endurance? Home and home comforts, wives and little ones, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, were all given up for life and danger on the fields of battle-for exposure, fatigue: disease and death, at the point of the bayonet or at the cannon's mouth. Little They recked for all these, but bravely and boldly went out, with their lives in their hands, to meet and conquer the foes of the Union. maintain its supremacy and vindicate its honor and integrity. No more fitting tribute to their patriotic valor can be offered than a full and complete record, so far as it is possible to make it. embracing the names, the terms of enlistment, the battles in which they were engaged, and all the minutiae of their military lives. It will be a wreath of glory encircling every brow-a precious memento which each and every one of them earned-gloriously earned-in defense of their and our common country.
SIXTH INFANTRY
This regiment was mustered out at Louisville. July 21. 1805.
Quartermaster
Orrin P. Stafford, commissioned December 30, 1804; promoted quarter master sergeant.
Musician
John H. Glenn, enlisted October 15, 1861 : died January 14. 1802.
Company AL Privates
Blakesley, Alexander, enlisted February 19, 1862: died at Memphis, Ten- nessee.
Inman, Timothy, enlisted March 24, 1862; transferred to Invalid Corps, November 20, 1863.
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Kellogg. William, enlisted March 11, 1862.
Kellogg. I., enlisted March 24, 1862; died August 16, 1862.
Kellogg, David, enlisted March 3. 1862; died July 6, 1862.
Lepper, Alfred, enlisted February 15, 1862.
Poyner, J. 1 .. , enlisted March 3. 1862.
Company D-Captains
M. M. Walden, commissioned May 16. 1861; resigned. December 10, 1862. John L. Bashor, commissioned first lieutenant. May 16, 1801; promoted captain December 11, 1862; resigned March 5. 1864.
Thomas J. Elrick, enlisted as sergeant June 25, 1861 ; promoted second lieu- tenant, July 2, 1862; first lieutenant, January 1, 1863: captain, March 6, 1864; killed at Atlanta.
William H. Alexander, enlisted as corporal, June 25, 1861 ; promoted cap- tain July 25, 1804.
First Lieutenant
Eugene C. Haynes, promoted first lieutenant, July 25, 1864; wounded August 22, 1804.
Second Lieutenants
William A. E. Rhodes, commissioned May 16, 1861; resigned June 1. 1862.
Cyrus P. Wright, promoted second lieutenant, January 1, 1863: died near Resaca.
Henry H. Wright, enlisted as corporal, June 25, 1861 ; promoted second lieu- tenant, January 1. 1865 : mustered out as first sergeant.
Sergeants
G. N. U'dell, enlisted June 25, 1861 ; wounded at Shiloh.
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