USA > Iowa > Delaware County > Manchester > Reunion of the 12th Iowa V.[eteran] V.[olunteer] infantry 1st-8th, 1880-1903 > Part 41
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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 | Part 44
May God keep you true in Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty. No grander principles could be spoken and lived. In conclusion: You may desire to know my home and age when I enlisted. My home was Hopkin- ton, Del. Co., and age 18, and Co. K my company.
I am very respectfully your Comrade,
271 College St.
HENRY A BARDEN.
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TWELFTH IOWA
MEMPHIS, TENN., JUNE 13, 1903.
G. E COMSTOCK, SEC.
My Dear Comrade :- It is a source of profound regret to me that I shall be unable to join my comrades at the Reunion at Clermont, lowa, June 19th, 1903, on the occasion of the dedication of the statue to Col. D. B. Henderson and the Lincoln monument. I should be pleased to join my comrades in their celebration, but the imperative demands of business require my presence here.
!loping to be kindly remembered to Col. Henderson and my other comrades of the 12th lowa Infantry and especially to the surviving members of Company A, who were with me in the "Hornet's Nest" at Shiloh, and previously in the assault upon the enemy's right at Fort Donelson, where the gallant Col. Henderson, then a lieutenant, was slightly wounded only a few feet from me in that terrific shower of grape and shrapnel which came down upon us from the fortifications, I am
Your' Truly,
T. B. EDGINGTON, Co. . 1. .
NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y. JUNE 15, 1903. G. E. COMSTOCK, Sec.
DEAR COMRADE: - I am in receipt of your favor of the 15th ult., invit - ing me to join in the Reunion of the Twelfth Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry to be held at Clermont on the 19th of the present month. More than I can express, [ regret my inability to be present. My 66 years, distance and imperative duties forbid.
To me, who lived for years in Fayette County, and enlisted from there, even the name of the county is a sweet and pleasant memory. It. was there that I early learned to vote the Republican ticket and curse the Democrats for short crops and rainy barvests. It was there that I piously voted each year in the County Convention and at the polls for Joe Honson for County Clerk. It was there that I did myself and my locality great honor by casting in a Nominating Con- vention the vote of Jefferson Township for that prince among men, that real statesman, that genuine patriot, William Larrabee. It was, I believe, the first state office he ever held. It was there, too, that I once bought a pair of stogy boots for four dollars and lifty cents, and paid for them in corn at eight cents per bushel. However, that incident isn't in any way connected with the sweet and pleasant memory referred to above.
But none of that has anything to do with the Immortal Twelfth. In your program I note names that are dear me. I remember one whose name appears there, R. W. Tirrill, who with a bullet hole through him needed and got the little help I could give him on the battle field of Shiloh: and another, Abner Dunham, who with offers, a select few, brothers all, when I was sick unto death, stood over and nursed me and bore with me as only a best man in the world could. And there, too, is D. B, Henderson. How fast he grew, how high he climbed l and still stands. And Jack Stibbs! bo we not all remember the snap and the percussion he used to put into his Company drills? I knew to a certainty that Company F, the one I belonged to, was the best Company in Grant's
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EIGHTH REUNION
Army, but I always thought that if there was no Company F I would like to to be with Jack Stibbs.
But we can not particularize short of calling the roll. The Twelfth Iowa was always a good, a hardy and a thrifty sort. You never heard, did you, of a Twelfth man catching cold from sleeping in a room with a damp tumbler? You can't recall, can you. that ever one of those fellows let his chum or his chum's chum go hungry when there was a chicken in easy reach? You remember, don't you, when that ill-advised order against foraging was read to us at Smithland on the Cumberland? And you remember how we all stood up and took a vow that, order or no order, if any cow, sheep, chicken, goose, lamb, duek or other ferocious animal should bite a member of the Twelfth Iowa, it should surely die. And yon remember how faithfully we kept that vow. I don't believe that you can recall a case when any edible animal was allowed to escape that vow on a technicality. or for want of evidence.
But stern and hardy and patriotic men they were, and only because they and their kind were so, have we now the privilege of belonging to a united country, and the most powerful nation that the glad sun of heaven in all its daily course shines upon.
I can not help wondering how many of the one thousand and ten men commanded by Col. Wood that broke camp at Eagle Point and crossed the icy river for the south on that eold November day are now alive; how many will be present to partake of the welcome and the hospitality of Wm. Larrabee, bis excellent wife and their good friends and neighbors of Clermont. Few, very few, for they wasted rapidly away, and are still going in constant procession to join the great majority. In 18 months from the crossing of the river, we had buried our members in the soil of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississipi, Alabama, Georgia and Mary- land, and numbers had also gone home to Towa, the sick and the wounded, only to lay down and die. And constantly they have been going ever since, and the end of the processioe is only a little way back.
The War of the Rebellion was the most expensive, in human lives and treasure, of any war of modern times, but its results were unique in the history of wars, for It not only gave strength and stability to the greatest of nations, but it freed 3,000,000 slaves, freed their masters and conferred the blessings and beneticence of victory alike upon the victors and the vanquished.
Not many of us can leave much of this world's goods to our posterity, but each of us will leave not only to his own children but to all the chil- dren of the nation, even to all the coming generations of the world, a share of blessings, richer as a heritage, in all that goes to make for peace, security and prosperity, than all the accumulations of material that have been inherited.
Comrades of the Twelfth Iowa Volunteer Infantry,
Hlail and Farewell.
R. C. ELDRIDGE, Sargeant Co. F.
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TWELFTH IOWA
POMONA, MO., JUNE 10, 1903. DEAR COMRADES: - Nothing would please me better than to be with you on this occasion, but under the circumstances I cannot. Owing to the grate distance my physical strength will not permit. I am not able to stand the worry of the trip.
Thanks to Ex-Governor Larrabee, for conferring on our regiment the honor of dedicating the Henderson statue. My good wishes are with you at this reunion. My eyes grow dim when I think that it will be impos- sible for me to be with you on this occasion. I would like to be there and hear three cheers for Robert Light, the man in Co. It, who cut the burn- ing fuse off the shell that the "Johnnies" had thrown in our camp, while we were at the Spanish Fort in Mobile Bay, Ala. Bob was too fast for the fase. He ent it off with his knife, and threw the shell in the water. I suggest three cheers for the hero of the brave deed. He risked his life to save that of others.
Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Larrabee and citizens of Clermont for their kind invitation to entertain the 12th at their reunion.
Wishing you all success in life and a pleasant time at this reunion, and may you live to meet together for many years yet to come, I am yours very truly,
DAVID BRYAN.
Howell Co.
Co. 11.
CRAB ORCHARD, TENN., JUNE 1, 1903. G. E. COMSTOCK, SEC.
DEAR COMRADE :- I received your Jetter stating that there would be a reunion of the 12th lowa at Clermont, June 19 and 20. I am glad to hear that the old boys are to meet once more but I feel sad to think I can not be with them. I am so far away, my age and my physical condition, as well as linancial, will not permit me. I am not able to do much. You know that time is telling on some of us old boys I want you to go and meet the boys and shake hands with them for me and tell them I often think of them and that I can see them as they loooked in line of battle at Shilob; how we looked and felt when we had to surrender, as prisoners of war; and how we suffered that night out in that cornfield, with rain coming down on us, and how my leg pained me the next morning, with a bullet hole through it. I can feel a queer feeling in that leg every time I think of that day, the 7th of April, 1862; but it will not be long before our names will all be called, for the Angel is calling the roll now, I'm listening to hear my name. He has called my dear wife that I left be- hind me when I enlisted. Just before she passed away she said to me, "Oh it wont be long until you will come, and I shall be looking for you."
Are you ready comrades? Are you every whit made whole? May we all enter the blessed mansions when the Angel calls the roll. May the good Lord be with you all is my prayer, God bless you all.
JAS. W. TARPENNING, Co. D, 12th and Co. C, 47th.
Cumberland Co.
JERSEY CITY, JUNE 14, 1903.
DEAR COMRADES :- It is with sincere regret that I cannot be with you at your reunion, but I will be with you in spirit if not in person. I
3
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EIGHTH REUNION
am living in New Jersey, the land of Mosquitoes. I am always glad to hear from any of the old boys of the 12th, though it has been many years since I have seen any of you, yet I can never forget you, and would wel- come you with wide open arms, should any of you ever come within bail- ing distance. So I can only send you my sincere regards and hope you will have a good time. Your old Comrade,
AvGUSTes W. HATFIELD. Co. 1.
CHETEK, WIS., JUNE 5, 1903. G. E. COMSTOCK, SEC.
DEAR COMRADE :- Received yours May 15, with your kind invitation. I would so gladly be with you, but it is impossible. My health is so poorly I could not stand the trip and my hearing is very bad, I can scarcely hear any thing, at times I am totally deaf. In a few months I will be 79 years old. It is with the deepest regret that I can not be with you. I hope you will have a good time. Remember me to all the old boys. Yours Truly,
JOHN J. WYATT, Co. D.
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, JUNE 10, 1903.
DEAR COMRADES :- Happy greeting to one and all. I can not be with you at your happy gathering, only in spirit. To once more grasp the hand of comrades who marched side by side with me, in those dark days of 'ol to'5, in defense of the flag, would do my soul good, and till a place in my heart, that nothing else can. Hoping you will have a grand good time, I am Truly Yours, ALVIN MOSHER, Co. K.
NEW ERA, OREGON, CLACKAMAS CO., JUNE 7, 1903.
DEAR COMRADES :-- I have just received an invitation to meet with you In reunion at Clermont. It will be impossible, but my love and best wishes I send herewith. Oh how I would like to clasp The old comrades by their hands once more and have a jolly old visit; nothing on earth would please me better.
I am so far away that I cannot attend. In this respect I have been unfortunate, missing so many reunions. So many of my own company I have not seen since discharge In '66. There is only one of Co. C here, Dr. Jas. Barr. I met him at reunion at Astoria, Wash. The state will hold one this year at Portland. We have a good time but nothing to be com- pared with the old Twelfth.
I like the country here very much. My health is not very good. I live six miles from city, sixteen miles from Portland. I can stand in my yard and see Mt. Hood, covered with snow the year round, about sixty miles away. My wife joins me in anticipation of the great time you will have. We send our kindest regards. "God be with you till we meet again."
Yours,
JASON L. MATTOCKS, Co. C.
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TWELFTH IOWA
FRANKLIN, NEB., JUNE 12, 1903. G. F. COMSTOCK, SECY.
DEAR COMRADE :- Yours of the 12th Inst., informing me of the renn- ion of our old regiment on the 19th and 20th Inst. is received. I will not be able to be present. I know that it would be a great pleasure and sat- isfaction to meet you all once more, and I hope to do so at some future time if my life is spared,
I am proud of the 12th lowa and glad that I belonged to it and prond of The great state that sent it to the field and committed in some manner its honor to our keeping, during those dark days and years.
Gen'l Tuttle said to us at Shiloh, Sunday morning, "Boys remember that you are from lowa". Those words meant a great deal. I have been a citizen of another state for over twenty-one years, but on occasions like this my heart, as it were, returns to its first love. This letter is to convey through you my kindly greeting to the boys of the old regiment, with the hope that the reunion will be a success in every way, that all may enjoy themselves as old soldiers only can, and that they may return home in health and safety and that there may be another reunion.
Your Comrade,
JAS. L. THOMPSON, Co. I.
. NAPANN, NEB., JUNE 16, 1903. GEO. E. COMSTOCK, SEC.
DEAR COMRADE: - Ree'd reunion program, and sorry that circum- stances are such that it will be impossible for me to meet with you. Otherwise 1 would pack my knapsack, draw on the commissary and take up my line of march for Clermont. I would enjoy grasping the old boys by the hand. By the way, we are getting to be pretty old boys, speaking for myself. My hair is getting pretty light, both in color and quantity. My wife calls it gray, but you will remember it always inclined toward a beautiful blonde. If Co. I should be represented please say to them that I would be pleased to hear from them, or for that matter any member of the old 12th. What has become of our regimental history? The delay is liable to deprive many of us the pleasure of reading it.
"Old Glory" was very much in evidence here Monday, Flag Day. The ladies made 'it the occasion of presenting the old soldiers with as beautiful a silk flag as it has ever been my pleasure to look upon. Poss- ibly it is from foree of habit, or it may be to humor ns In our dotage, but the ladies, God bless them, continue to shower their sweetest smiles on us okl boys. ( May their shadows never grow less. ) I send regards to all. Hoping that you may have a pleasant reunion, I remain your comrade, JOHN S. RAY, Co. I.
ST. LOUIS, JUNE 8, '03. MR. G. E. COMSTOCK.
DEAR SIR :- I received your favor of 15th Inst., advising me of the reunion of the 12th lowa at Clermont. It will be an impossibility for me to meet you. I am not well enough to be out. I have been a seml- invalid for the past nine years. It would be a great treat and do me more good than medicine.
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EIGHTH REUNION
However, I would like to hear of Joe Linker, who was a transfer, also the following: John Crain, Giles Hall ( Hall was a transfer from Co. G 27th Iowa Infantry, July 15, 1865) Henry Stein, and in fact all of Co. G, who's names I cannot remember. Wishing you all many retions and advanced old age, I am ever your well wisher and comrade.
V. W. MONTGOMERY, Co. G.
4359 Cozens Ave.
SOLDIERS' HOME, MARSHALLTOWN, JUNE 11, 1903.
Dear Comrades of the 12th, in Reunion Assembled: - I am very sorry I cannot be with you, but I am glad so many of you can attend. I shall miss that warm, friendly greeting, shaking hands, talking over the past, present and future. Victories of the past have perched npon our banner. As a result you dedicate at this reunion a statie to the memory of our First Lieut. D. B. Henderson, and a nobler young man never wore the straps than he. I would so like to be with you on this occasion. Please extend to Mr. and Mrs. Larrabee my sincere regards for the part they have taken in honor of our beloved comrade. statesman and friend. Three cheers for the flag, Henderson and Larrabee.
Sincerely Yours. . A. M. BARTON, CO. C.
CHATTANOOGA. TENN. G. E. COMSTOCK, SEC.
DEAR CONRADE: - I regret that I chanat go to the reunion at Cher- mont. But I would be glad to be counted in the roll of thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Larrabee, for the splendid testimonial they are giving to the memory of a splendid lowa soldier, and lowa citizen.
To any of the boys who remember me, I would be glad to be remem- bered. I am now a pretty full fledged Tennessean, having been here nearly 30 years, during which time I have published a sound Republican newspaper, been a member of the State Senate twice, on the elec- torial ticket three times, Commander of my home post eight times, Senior Vice Commander Dept. of Ten. G. A. R. twice, a delegate to the National Encampment two or three times, and am now teaching the gospel of Mckinley and Roosevelt as editor of the only Republican news- paper in Chattanooga. So you see as an lowa Soldier I have not let the banner of our dear old state trail in the dust. Fraternally Yours,
W. F. MCCARRON, Co. 1.
MT. PLEASANT, TENN., JUNE 10, 1903.
G. E. COMSTOCK, SEC.
DEAR SIR :- Your letter of the 15th received and will say in reply, that I would like very much to be present once more with the boys of the 12th. But my health will not permit me to make the trip. Remember me kindly to all of my old comrades, please write me, or send me an outline of the business done and what kind of a time the dear old boys of the 12th had. Very Truly Yours,
R. F. D. No. 1.
WINCHESTER WOOLEY, CO. I.
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TWELFTH IOWA
GILA BEND, Ariz., May 28, 1903.
MR. G. E. COMISTOCK, Fayette, lowa.
Esteemed Comrade :-- I am in receipt of your favor of the. 15th, with enclosed program of the dear old 12th Iowa reunion at Clermont, Iowa.
To say that I regret very much not to be able to attend is to put it mildly. For when I read the names of Henderson, Stibbs, Dunham, Terrill and such, whose letters have been so great a help and solace to many of us in later years, some of which I have and treasure with the same jealous care as were the bean-pot and coffee-can of dear old com- pany F at Donaldson or Shiloh. I long to be with you. I have the pleasure of meeting Captains Gift and Hale frequently, and in this way get a real taste of a love-feast; but to be able to meet you all would in- deed be a feast of love which is to my great sorrow denied me.
With best wishes for a happy and successful reunion and until taps sound I am fraternally and sincerely yours,
LUTHER KALTENBACH, Co. F.
DENVER, Colo., June 14, 1903. G. E. COMSTOCK, SEC.
My Dear Comrade :-- I have your very kind invitation to the reunion before me, and after reading the program for the dozenth time and each time "stopping over," I am seated to write a letter that is in my mind. I can't be with you. How much I regret it you can never know. I rea- lize that time is passing rapidly and in all probability many will attend this reunion for the last time, and the chance to look into your eyes and clasp your hands as memory travels backward to the days of "Auld Lang Syne" will more than likely never come to me again. My heart is in the right place and is doing business right now the same as ever when I think of the old 12th. Have a good time, boys; God knows you deserve it; and on the 19th and 20th I will play the reveille with my face toward lowa. Now with a handshake for all, a hug for yourself and a kiss for Col. Stibbs, I bid you Godspeed.
Your old tife major, S. M. FRENCH. Co. F.
3205 West 26th ave.
REA, MICH., June 6, 1903.
G. E. COMSTOCK, SEC.,
Dear Comrade :- Through yon I wish to send greetings and a "God bless you" to the "boys of the Twelfth lowa."
Distance and ill health will not permit what I so earnestly wish, that of meeting with you.
The letter announcing this reunion took me back to those dark days of 'ol and '62, whose hardships are nearly forgotten by the lapse of years, but whose friendships and victories will never be forgotten.
I prize today as my dearest treasure the old drum that went with me through the service, and would enjoy beating it for Co. C to fall in line ( those who are left ).
Thanking you for remembering and sending me this announcement, From Comrade SUMINER HARTSHORN, Co. C. Per daughter Mab .. l.
EIGHTH REUNION
CHEROKEE, Iowa, June 15, 1903. G. E. COMSTOCK, SEC.
Dear Comrade :- Your kind Invitation to meet with the members of the old 12th lowa V. V. Inft. for a reunion at Clermont, la., on the 19th is received, and "Barkis is willin'," yes! more than willing, delighted at the prospect. The arrangement is an excellent one. There is no ques- tion about the success of the meeting, as it might rain pitchforks and the boys would be there. Owing to poor health my wife will not be able to be there; but my brother Howard and brother-in-law I rank Thomas will be with me. They are not Vets, but they are going to take in the cireus and visit at Post ville.
As I write the thought comes to me, of how great Uncle Win. L. Henderson's enjoyment, could be have been with us to attend this reun- ion. He would have done his full share to make the day one long to be remembered. Well! The boys are dropping away fast at Death's "lights out." The end of these reunions is very near now, but i believe that no one of the little fragment that is left of the grand old regiment ever regrets for one moment the sacrifices made, the pain endured, the toil of the weary marchings, the longing for home with its love and com- forts. These were cheerfully endured that the principles of equality before the law, liberty, and goverment by the people, might be pre- served and handed down to their children, and the union of the states as a nation be crystallized into a perpetuity. Clermont is a small place, but around it and the old home near by cluster many of the pleasant recollections of my life. Neither Clermont not Fayette county need ever blush for their part in helping to make the history of the Nation. Every hamlet in the North had its William Warner; but no one of them all was purer, braver, nobler than our gallant Warner, who though dead these many years, yet lives enshrined amid a halo of proud and tender memories in our every heart. And coupled with the thoughts of the brave comrades who went forth to do and dare for the cause of right, and who came not home with us again, we must not forget the not less gallant few who would but could not go, but who with unceasing thoughtfulness and noble generosity cared for the loved ones left behind, and in this way and by act and word at all times and places where needed, encouraged and held up the hands of the men at the front As 1 write this to you, old comrade, the first thought in your mind, as in mine, is William Larrabee.
There be heroes who die in war,
And whose names we speak with pride, As we think of their brave deeds done:
But other heroes there are
Who may rank with them side by side, Though they never tired a gun.
And William Larrabee, of Clermont, to those who understand how he longed to go, but could not be accepted, and of his tireless energy and generosity in doing all that a man could do, both to encourage and help the boys at the front and their dear ones left behind, it will not be necessary to say that he and men like bim, onght always to be remem- bered and revered side by side with those who marched to bugle note or tap of drum. Our grateful hearts ought to impel all of us to do honor
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TWELFTH JOWA
on the 19th of June to our beloved and generous host of that day. And while on that day many words will be spoken in the endeavor to kindle and keep burning the fires of patriotism in the hearts of the genera- tion who are to follow us when we pass into the dark valley, and gray- haired fathers and mothers of the boys of 'Gl to 65, who will be there, must not be forgotten among the glad greetings. Theirs was the great- er sacrifice, theirs the harder part to play. Harder than our weary marching which was made easier by thoughts of the cause we did it for, was the wearier waiting of fathers and mothers for news of the absent boy. Harder to bear than the cravings of hunger in camp and field, was the gnawing fear wnich ate out the heart of the doting mother and the tender wife and sweetheart. The feverish exhileration of the frenzy of battle was an antidote against all fear of harm, amid the roar of can- non and the seream of the deadly shell; but what antidote had the loving ones at home for the fear that was eating their hearts away, while they waited for the smoke of battle to lift, and its echoes to die away, that they might learn what they yet dreaded to know, the fate of the dearest on earth to them?
All honor must be given ou June 19th, in thought and speech, to the gray-haired fathers, mothers and widows of our comrades living and dead, who will gather with us there. It must be borne home to them in kindly words that sharing as they did so deeply with us the self-sacrifices of those old times, we cheerfully accord to them an equal share in all the achievements of those fateful years, in which we today take pride.
There is a possibility that I may not be able to be with you on the 19th, and if such be the case, friend Comstock, you are at liberty to read stich portions of this letter as you may see fit.
Hoping to be with you, I remain Your comrade, J. A. HENDERSON, Transfer from 27th lowa to Co. C. 12th Iowa.
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