Capt. A. W. Drips(1826-1862)

DRIPS

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 5/30/2008 at 10:33:47

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND MILITARY SERVICES OF
CAPTAIN ANDREW WILLIAM DRIPS.
(BY J. W. ELLIS.)

In preparing a sketch of the life of Captain Drips, a pioneer of Iowa and a hero of two wars, we find material for much more space than we would be justified in claiming in this work. We are indebted to Mrs. M. A. Knight, wife of A. W. Drips, for an account of the antecedents and early history of the captain, and are particularly indebted to Harvey Reid and his wonderful military scrap book from which we have been permitted to copy from letters written by members of Captain Drips’ company, showing their estimate of their gallant captain.

The letters referred to were written to be read at a public meeting in Maquoketa March 7, 1887, wherein the exercises were commemorative of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the battle of Pea Ridge, where Drips was killed. The principal feature of the exercises was the presentation of the swords of Captains Drips and Kelsey to the Grand Army Post in Maquoketa.

Andrew William Drips was born in Laughlinstown, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1826. His father was William Drips, a Pennsylvanian of Irish descent. His mother was Martha Clark, a Pennsylvanian of Scotch descent. They resided in Westmoreland county until 1850, when they came west and settled in Garnavillo township, Clayton county, Iowa. The father died at National, in an adjoining township, on the 18th of March, 1881, in the ninety-second year of his age. He was a pensioner of the War of 1812, in which he did a gallant and meritorious service. The mother, Martha, died April 12, 1874, in the eighty-second year of her age. She was intelligent and learned, a lady of culture and refinement, a great reader, readily grasping the most difficult problems, hence a partner with that force and character which served her advantageously in shaping the lives and character of those committed to her care. Both were active and earnest Christians, the mother devoutly so, in the administration of all the duties of life.

The children of William and Martha Drips were five sons and six daughters, all of whom lived to manhood and womanhood, save one, James, who died in early youth. Robert C. died in Garnavillo, Iowa, in 1856, at the age of thirty-four years. The surviving sons, Thomas, Andrew, Joseph and John, (the latter an adopted son), were in the Union army. Corporal John F. was a member of Company A, Ninth Iowa, and died in hospital at Memphis, Tennessee, in the fall of 1862; Thomas was captain of Company E, Twenty-seventh Iowa, and died at Clayton, Iowa, from disease contracted in the service soon after the close of the war; Joseph H. survives, residing at Malone, Iowa, through nearly blind from his severe service as a member of the Sixth Iowa cavalry.

Andrew, the subject of this sketch, was educated and trained under the guidance of his mother in the common schools in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. At the age of sixteen he became apprenticed to O. A. Traugh, publisher of the Hollidaysburg (Blair county, Pennsylvania) Standard, to learn the art of printing, and with whom he remained until the breaking out of the war between the United States and Mexico, when he joined Captain Dana’s Company, but on the arrival at Pittsburg, on account of ill health, was rejected Nothing daunted, however, he joined Captain John W. Geary’s Company B, Second Regiment Pennsylvania volunteers, from Cambria county, in which he was accepted and mustered into the service. He served with honor and distinction until the close of the war, was wounded in the thigh, receiving a flesh wound in the charge upon the castle in the battle of Chapultepec, September 12, 1847, and laid in the hospital about six months.

With the close of hostilities he returned to Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, having been mustered out of the service at Pittsburg in the fall of 1848, and again entered the printing office where his apprenticeship began. Here he remained until the winter of 1851, when he obtained a situation with the state printer at Harrisburg. He had learned phonography during his apprenticeship, and during the session of the Pennsylvania legislature, he reported the proceedings of the lower house for the daily press, taking it down in shorthand and copying during the evening. In this art he was an expert and the year of his stay in Harrisburg furnished him ample opportunity to improve upon his knowledge in the use of the phonographic characters and signs.

He was easy in military tactics and long before the Mexican war organized and commanded the Hollidaysburg Cadets, a company of young men about his own age. We believe that E. W. H. Jacobs, now residing at McGregor, and brother of the captain's wife, was one of the cadets. From 1849 to 1852, Captain Drips commanded the Hollidaysburg Guards, a company that enjoyed a high distinction in those days of general training.

March 21, 1850, Mr. Drips was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Ann Jacobs, at Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Alexander Jacobs and Dorcas Van Devander. The father died October 21, 1852, the mother preceding him to the grave March 12, 1841. The father was of English descent, a pensioner in the War of 1812. The mother was of Holland descent, a lady of rare attainments, a mind rich in knowledge, a soul imbued with devotions to every Christian principle.

Andrew and Margaret came west in April, 1852, and settled in Garnavillo township, where Mr. Drips was employed as a copyist in the county recorder’s office, the county seat of Clayton county being then at Garnavillo. January 28, 1853, N. S. Granger established the Clayton County Herald, and Mr. Drips was employed as its publisher, in which capacity he served until August 18, 1854, when he succeeded to the proprietorship of the paper, and continued to publish the Herald until 1856, when the county seat was removed to Guttenberg, and he packed his bit of printing and followed. Here he remained for two years in the publication of the Herald, when better opportunities presented themselves, and he sold out to McBride & Co., and took up his residence at Maquoketa, in Jackson county, where he obtained an interest in the Maquoketa Excelsior. With this paper he remained until the date of his enlistment into the service of the United States, in answer to the call for three hundred thousand. He was also postmaster at Maquoketa, and upon entering the military service of the government, he was succeeded by his wife, who conducted the office until October, 1864.

Naturally, one of his temperament – with an intense admiration for the principles on which the government was founded, and who, from early boyhood, had been schooled to the enjoyment of perfect freedom and the advancement of the human race, entertaining the most pronounced opinions upon the slavery question then agitating the country, and the primary cause of the Rebellion inaugurated by the seceding states south of the Mason and Dixon line – would be about the first to respond to his country’s call. He was true to the instincts of true patriotism, and upon the call of the President, immediately took steps for the organization of a company in which he was quite successful, but having failed to secure enlistments into the company to the full maximum number it was not until August 20, 1861, that the company was accepted. In the choice of officers he was elected captain, and when on a later day he reported at the rendezvous at Dubuque, his company was assigned as A Company of the Ninth Iowa Volunteers.

William Trout pays the following tribute to his old commander, in a letter written in 1887 to be read at a meeting held in Maquoketa on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the battle of Pea Ridge:

“It was at Pea Ridge our loved Captain Drips gave up his life. It was a sad time; as I think it all over it makes me feel sad. But such was the fate of many a brave man. Of Captain Drips I would say farther, he was always with us, never shirking a duty, ever kind and tender, and above all just in dealing with all. I remember when we were camped at Pacific, Missouri, his treatment of disloyal Missourians. He had a piercing eye which could look a rebel through and through. I have heard him talk to them in such a way they would crouch at his feet and beg for mercy. He always gave them one chance for their lives, but when brought before him the second time would send them to – well, I do not know where, I did not go with them. I might speak of several such instances but forbear; the past is the past, and many of the rebels South are under the sod, their souls in heaven I hope (with the exception of a dozen or so).

“Had Captain Drips lived he would have been colonel of the regiment, as he had so endeared himself to the hearts of us all, that no honor was too high to be conferred upon him. Of Lieutenant Kelsey I can speak in the highest terms of praise. He was always daring, brave, and a good disciplinarian, not as cautious and as calculating as was Captain Drips perhaps, but always ready, always to the front in times of danger.

“He was a man of refined, cleanly habits, and at first was thought by some to be putting on style, being neat and careful in his appearance. He compelled those under him to observe the same rules, which caused no little inconvenience, but as we learned to know him we respected him more; he set a good example and was liked by all.”

The following is taken from a letter written by George Trout of Wamego, Kansas, in 1887:

“My recollections of Captain Drips were, that he was a strict disciplinarian, always in earnest, but kind to those who did their duty. Personally I never had any trouble with either of them. Captain Kelsey I think was more of a military man. While he demanded strict discipline, he was quite jovial and on that account was perhaps more popular with the boys, but both were good men and had the respect of not only Company A, but the officers and men of the whole regiment knew them and regarded both of them as above the average commissioned officer.

The first thing that attracted my attention was an officer laying on the porch and a surgeon stooping over him probing a wound received a little to the side of the sword buckle, and immediately below the belt. To my horror and surprise I discovered it was my captain. I stood transfixed a few moments and the agony and suffering were too much for me and I turned away. That was the last I ever saw of Captain Drips; I do not even know what became of the body. I was present when the dead of our company were buried. There was a long trench made near where I was wounded and where I suppose Captain Drips fell, but I do not remember of seeing him among the number.

The following is clipped from an article read by Sergeant F. J. DeGrush at a public meeting held in Maquoketa, March 7, 1887, at which meeting the swords of Captains Drips and Kelsey were presented to the Grand Army Post of Maquoketa, which was named for A. W. Drips:

Captain A. W. Drips was the life of his regiment. His experience in the Mexican war, his patriotism, his desire to do his whole duty, and his bravery made him a leader in the councils of staff and line. I remember two instances which eulogize the wearer of that sword equal to hours of praise or pages of paper. At Lebanon, Missouri, while in camp for the night, and some danger existing for a sudden attack, Captain Drips called on Colonel Vandever and though up all the night before and tired from the hard day’s march, his salutation was “Colonel, anything I can do?”. Twenty miles west of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, while chasing old Pap Price, was the first time Company A was ever drawn up in line of battle. Captain Drips remarked to us that morning and it came from the bottom of his noble heart: “Boys, the general commanding has assigned to us a post of honor. We are the advance of the whole army and much depends on us. If we waver and run there is great danger of its demoralizing the whole command. Be cautious, be cool, but shirk no duty and hold our position at any and all cost.”