Home for Iowa Soldiers - 1888

SMITH

Posted By: cheryl moonen (email)
Date: 5/3/2017 at 21:26:38

The Clinton Age, Clinton, Iowa, February 3, 1888

Home for Iowa Soldiers
The following account of the inmates of the Soldiers’ Home at Marshalltown, of which Col. Mile Smith of this city is the superintendent, will interest all of our readers. There are at present ninety-two inmates, of whom all of eighteen are American born. Twenty-five of the men are farmers. A good proportion of the other men come from poor houses. Other came from the homes at Quincy. Leavenworth and Dayton and most of the men came from small towns and villages. The larger towns contributed as follows: Dubuque, Des Moines and Davenport each two, Council Bluffs one and Burlington one. Of the ninety-two inmates but eleven are married. One native born Mexican finds a home, having served through the rebellion in the Fifth Iowa Calvary. Forty acres of the grounds are to be laid out in one of the handsomest parks in Iowa, and every effort will be made to secure the Grand Army reunions there. Many of the boys come to the home after years of existence in indifferent almshouses, completely broken in spirit, but the thought they have no longer to care for themselves, combined with the generous treatment accorded them, works wonders.