SECTION IX.
MILITARY HISTORY
submitted by Linda Stoddard, February 23, 2011, pages 351-361

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COMPANY F, IOWA NATIONAL GUARD

When rumors of war came in 1898, the military company in Tipton and vicinity made preparations for any emergency. The Iowa National Guard, it was understood, would be the first to be called out for service. In preparation for these events the citizens of the county took great interest, and no one more than the one who offered to mount the commanding officer in case of need.

It was in March, 1898, that Alex Spear, one of the substantial farmers of the county, called at the office of Maj. John T. Moffit, and asked if he was furnished with the necessary horses in the event of being called upon for service. Major Moffit admitted that he was not in possession of the horse he would need to lead his troops. Since Cedar county was then, as now, noted for its fine horses, Mr. Spear said he was anxious that the officers from this county should be as well mounted as any in the entire division. He determined to prevent any failure in this respect by offering to the Major the best mount his stables could produce. This was the description of the fine animal selected: a large bay mare, seven years old, coach and trotting bred, standing sixteen hands high, and weighing eleven hundred pounds or more; one of a fine saddle gait. This was the splendid prospect for the officer in case a call should come for active service.

On Saturday, just a week before the orders were received to march, Mr. Frank Moffit sent Lieut. Sweinhart, as a present, a fine black horse, beautiful enough to make him the envied of all soldiers. Lieut. France was presented by other citizens with a horse said to be worthy a brigadier general—a Kentucky saddler. After the ultimatum had been issued by Pres. McKinley, Company F awaited impatiently the order that all began to feel was inevitable. All was expectancy on the afternoon and evening of Monday, the 25th of April, 1898, and late into the night the order was awaited, until all had given it up and gone home to rest.

It is related that business was practically suspended during Monday while the order was awaited, and the streets were thronged while awaiting that first news. The arrangements were all made, everything was packed ready to respond at a moment's notice. A last drill at the armory followed by a dancing party occupied the members of the company, until the conclusion was reached that no orders would come until morning, and they separated, for a short time as it proved. Many had not yet gone to their homes for the night when the order came to assemble at Camp McKinley at Des Moines.

The message by wire came at 12:30 A. M., on Tuesday, the 26th of April, and one hour's notice given of the coming special train over the C. & N. W. to carry the company to Des Moines. Bells were rung, and buglers rode through the streets sounding the assembly call, while the fire whistle added to the alarm.

The suspense was over and the final summons was a relief to high strung nerves awaiting some definite decision. Knapsacks were hastily put on, and orders were given to "fall in."

At the depot scenes of the Civil War were repeated with this difference, that in 1861 the boys crossed the country to Wilton in lumber wagons instead of taking train at once. The sensations were not different, and, it is safe to say, the veterans of the Civil War recalled the old days when they were young and starting out to serve their country where home and friends and all the cherished things of life must be surrendered. While after events did not make the havoc in home life caused by the Civil War the remembrance of these things affected this departure. Mothers and fathers felt the same reluctance in giving up their sons for the conquering of a foreign despot as those of other days for the preservation of the nation.

In the darkness of midnight, with a few flickering lanterns, with hearts full of unsaid things, the train was loaded with its human freight and with the equipment including the gift mounts of the officers mentioned before. There was no noise, but the silent feeling of serious business, and a determination to find out the secrets of war. On the Sunday following the assembling at Camp McKinley, a multitude made an excursion there to see the soldiers in camp. Tipton sent a big delegation over the road now in the control of the Rock Island system, and they spent Sunday with Company F.

The 49th Regiment was ordered to Jacksonville June 9, 1898, and were on their way by the nth. When next heard from Company F and those enlisted from this county were in camp at Jacksonville, Fla. They went over the Milwaukee road, and a number of people from the county went to Marion to see them off. While the company's train halted there they were remembered by Capt. and Mrs. S. W. Rathbun, both formerly of this county; the Captain's name being found in the official and military records of the county while Mrs. Rathbun was prominent in its educational history.

The regiment was fed in home fashion at Marion, and this reminds one of the Wilton people feeding the boys on their way to Muscatine in 1861, and the Tipton dinner to the Mechanicsville company a little later. History only repeats itself a little more rapidly in its movement, and the changes of time in prosecuting the war were correspondingly short.

The journey of the boys to the south was fully described in the interesting newspaper letters of one of their number, now a regular army officer, E. H. Yule.252   After trying experiences in camp life, in fighting disease and escaping by narrow margins, the first death came to Company F of the 49th. Joe Wilson, who went out with the company on the night journey, never returned to his home until his mother brought him after the long hospital fight was ended. His burial occurred in his home town on September 30, 1898. All the business houses were closed, and the G. A. R. and W. R. C. attended in a body in honor of the young soldier. The public schools were closed and joined in the services for the former pupil. Col. J. T. Moffit, Adjt. J. C. France, and Capt. Rowell were all present from the Jacksonville camp.

Shortly after this another member of Company F was brought home by his friend and comrade Ed Wolf—Private Harry Staininger died in the Florida hospital and was buried in Tipton October 8, 1898. This was the second death in the company due to disease from a changed climate and the unhealthy conditions under which a large body of men were called upon to live during the summer season.

It was in December that the 49th Iowa set sail for Havana. A telegram from Col. Dows conveyed this information to the friends at home. While the regiment was in Cuba a paper of that island called "The Times," gave some account of its composition and activities. They were then in Camp Columbia, which was described as "being swept by the zephyrs from the Gulf of Mexico, and washed by the blue waters of the mighty ocean."

The colonel, Wm. G. Dows, had risen from the ranks, through every grade of militia service since the organization of the regiment in 1878. He and the captain of Company C were the oldest members in point of service in the regiment. At this time the regiment was said to be the only strictly volunteer one in the island, as there was no regular army officer in it.253  

The regiment had the honor of furnishing a detail for guard at Morro Castle, and were the first soldiers of the army of the United States to set foot in that fortress. Company F of Tipton, Capt. L. J. Rowell, 1st Lieut. J. E. Bartley belonged to this regiment. Company H, of Marshalltown had for its captain Chas. S. Aldrich, a Cedar County boy. When Company F left for the Des Moines camp in 1898, and later were ordered south, and finally into Cuba, there was much anxiety on the part of the families and friends concerned. When they returned, a great reception was given them by all the people.

They landed at the same station from which they set out that early morning, when the excitement was such that no one thought of sleep the whole night through, but the return was somewhat different from the departure. It was a day of general rejoicing, great crowds assembling to greet the return on Tuesday morning, May 16, 1899. A program had been carefully prepared for the occasion, and the whole day was to be given up to its fulfilment, but, owing to the great crowd at the station when the special train came in, and the spontaneous greetings from all the friends, formal exercises were forgotten ;—even the Grand Army escort of twenty-four grizzled veterans of the Civil War which had formed in line to meet the younger soldiers just back from Cuba.

Greetings and responses, toasts and banquets followed in due season, when the emotions of men were stirred by the kind appreciation of friends, and the tears were not forgotten for the ones who gave up their young lives in camp or hospital ward.

Company B, First Regiment, I. N. G., was organized in Tipton, in 1884 and that same year took part in the encampment at Waverly, Ia. Capt. Wm. Kelly, formerly 1st Lieut, of Co. B, Twenty-fourth Infantry during the Civil War, commanding. It remained in the First Regiment as Company B until 1892 when it became Company M, of the Second. In 1898 it was transferred back to the First as Company F. At the enlistment in the Spanish-American War it became Company F of the Forty-Ninth.

It was reorganized at the close of the war and in 1899 was still Company F of the Forty-ninth. Later in 1902 it was transferred to the Fifty-third Regiment and is now in that organization.

The original members of this company as recruited in 1884 follows:

Captain, William Kelly.	Private, Chitlick, Geo.	Private, Weaver, Geo. K.
First Lieut., R. M. Carothers.	Private, Doyle, Thos. F.	Private, Wescott, W. D .
Second Lieut., H. L. Brotherlin.	Corporal, Deardorf, O. G.	Private, Wiggins, W. D.
Second Lieut., S. D. Casad.	Private, Dallas, W. J.	Private, Yates, Sherman.
First Lieut., S. D. Casad.	Private, Ferguson, Will.	Private, Waddell, Alex.
Second Lieut., J. T. Moffit.	Private, Geiger, A. C. T.	Surgeon, Pine, P. R.
Captain, J. T. Moffit.	Private, Hirschfieldt, Frank.	Private, McEwen, A. J.
Major Second Regt., J. T. Moffit.	Private, Ives, C. E.	Private, Hammond, Kirby.
First Lieut., Walter Jeffers.	Private, Jakaway, Elmer.	Private, Stout, Chas. B.
Second Lieut., W. T. Gilmore.	Private, Murray, Chas.	Private, Aldrich, H.
Second Lieut., L. J. Rowell.	Corporal, Moore, W. J.	Private, Rudy, J. P.
Captain, L. J. Rowell.	Private, McKee, L. S.	Private, Bailey, Sherman.
Major, L. J. Rowell.	Sergt., Neiman, J. N.	Private, Stout, Jacob.
First Lieut., C. S. Aldrich.	Private, Safley, Clarence.	Private, Moscrip, W. A.
Second Lieut., C. S. Aldrich.	Private, Sproat, C. N.	Private, Seitsinger, J. F.
Second Lieut., F. H. Gunsolus.	Private, Simons, C. W.	Private, Stafford, Leonidas B.
First Lieut., F. H. Gunsolus.	Private, Safley, Arthur.	Asst. Surgeon, Peters, R. A.
Second Lieut., J. E. Bartley.	Sergt., Safley, Geo. R.	Private, McVay, Chas. E.
Private, Burgess, J. L.	Corporal, Snyder, C. A.	Private, Godden, John.
Private, Coutts, W. H.	Private, Weaver, John B. ,	Private, Huber, Henry L.

Roster of Company F, as it was at the departure for Camp McKinley April 26th, 1898.

Captain, L. J. Rowell.	Private, S. V. Downing.	Private, A. H. Keller.
First Lieut., F. H. Gunsolus.	Private, E. E. Dotson.	Private, M. Kizer.
Second Lieut., J. E. Bartley.	Private, H. P. Dutton.	Private, L. A. Kelling.
First Sergeant, Wm. Kauffman.	Private, Harry Dean.	Private, Joe Leantey.
Second Sergeant, R. A. Dutton.	Private, Frank Foy.	Private, Stewart Maxson.
Third Sergeant, C. E. Wallick.	Private, Wm. Gregg.	Private, Everett McClung.
Fourth Sergeant, F. M. Cottrell.	Private, Forest Gay.	Private, L. D. Moorehead.
Fifth Sergeant, R. R. Hoon.	Private, Arthur Hawley.	Private, W. G. McCormick.
First Corporal, J. L. McCormick.	Private, Geo. Henan.	Private, John McDonald.
Second Corporal, A. M. McCormick.	Private, C. S. Hawkins.	Private, E. F. G. Onstott.
Third Corporal, E. C. Ford.	Private, Fred Shaw.	Private, Wm. Palmer.
Fourth Corporal, Claude Clark.	Private, Robt. Sproat.	Private, Ralph Reed.
Musician, C. E. Dilts.	Private, J. R. Wilson.	Private, Chas. Stout.
Private, Win. M. Aldrich.	Private, H. L. Willey.	Private, J. R. Smith.
Private, Birch Auldridge.	Private, Asher Wirick	Private, Frank Shultz.
Private, Frank Brown.	Private, E. H. Yule.	Private, Arthur Waddell.
Private, W. H. Bruch.	Private, Harry Harris.	Private, Joe Whalen.
Private, Ed Chase.	Private, Claus Hartmen.	Private, W. E. Williams.
Private, C. L. Dunn.	Private, C. C. Helmer.	Private, F. W. Yule.

OFFICERS OF THE SECOND REGIMENT—LATER THE FIFTIETH IOWA.
Major, John T. Moffit.       Lieut., J. C. France.

SIGNAL CORPS, SECOND REGIMENT.
Lieut., Claude Sweinhart.      Lieut., Ed. Wolf.      Lieut., Art Hobstetter.
Lieut., Chas. Reichert.      Lieut., Harold Murray. 254  

The record of Company F, as mustered out, is found upon the War Records as below:

The company was organized at Tipton, Iowa, and mustered into the United States service June 2, 1898, at Des Moines, la., and on June I1, 1898, was sent out by train to Jacksonville, Fla., where it arrived June 14, 1898. Was detailed on special duty at Rifle Range of Seventh Army Corps, Jacksonville, Fla., from September 12 to September 18, 1898, inclusive.

On October 25 it was moved (in company with its regiment) by train to Savannah, Ga., where it remained in camp until December 2, 1898, when it was detailed on special duty as Provost Guard in the city of Savannah. It was relieved on December 19, 1898, and on this date it embarked on the U. S. Transport "Minnewaska" for Cuba, where it arrived at Havana, December 21, 1898. Disembarked December 23, 1898, and marched to "Camp Columbia," near Havana, where it remained in camp until February 20, 1899, on which date it left for a practice march. After two days' march it arrived at San Antonio de los Banos, Cuba, where it camped for four days. On February 25, 1899, it broke camp and after a two days' march arrived at "Camp Columbia," Havana, Cuba.

It remained in camp at this place until April 5, 1899, when it embarked on the Steamship City of San Antonio for Savannah, Ga., where it arrived after five days spent in "Camp Detention" on _______________ Island, South Carolina, April 14, 1899. Here it remained in camp until mustered out on May 13, 1899.

The officers as mustered out were:

Captain. L. J. Rowell.	Sergeant, Chas. L. Dunn.	Corporal, Chas. A. Hawley
First Lieutenant, J. E. Bartley.	Corporal, W. B. Gregg	Corporal, W. W. Aldrich
Second Lieutenant, William C. Kauffman.	Corporal, E. F. McClung	Corporal, John R. Smith
First Sergeant, Clarence E. Wallick.	Corporal, Robt. Sproat	Corporal, Maynard W. Kizer
Sergeant, J. L. McCormick.	Corporal, Harry S. Dean	Corporal, William Palmer
Sergeant, A. M. McCormick.	Corporal, Wesley Rhoardes	Corporal, Edwin J. Wolf.
Sergeant, E. C. Ford.	Corporal, Frank S. Foy	255

The individual records of the company in the Spanish-American war are found in the muster out rolls but cannot be copied in detail. Captain Rowell was forced to leave the company for a time on account of severe illness, and it then was in command of Lieut. Bartley. Promotions occurred as the vacancies demanded and a comparison of the company roster on leaving and returning will indicate where these were.

This makes no record of the two officers of the fiftieth, Major Moffit and Adj. France. The former became Lieut. Colonel at Jacksonville on Aug. 20, 1898. This is the second appointment to the office in the volunteer service from this county, there being one in the Civil war. Adj. France, after his return from Cuba, was commissioned Captain in the 40th U. S. V. for special service in the Philippine Islands for two years. He served in the 40th for twenty-two months, nineteen of which were spent across the Pacific. His regimental commander was Col. Godwin, now in command of the Seventh Cavalry. A certain poem written by Captain Miller of this regiment describes the service of Capt. France in a very complimentary way at the battle of Augusan, May 14, 1900. He was in other engagements during the service from August, 1899, to June 24, 1901, among them being Cogayan de Misamis, April 7, 1900. He participated in Bell's expedition February, 1900, and another to North Mindanao in March; also in the operations around Macajambos in December of the same year. He returned and was mustered out in June, 1901.

Capt. L. J. Rowell, who was in command of Co. F of the 49th during hostilities is now Lieut. Colonel of the 53d I. N. G.

Roster Co. F, 53D Regt. I. N. G. July 30, 1910

Capt. J. E. Bartley.	Private Barth, Arnold A.	Private Marker, Ray.
First Lt. Chas. R. Willey.	Private Carlisle, Forest E.	Private Morden, Wilbur.
Second Lt. Earl C. Ford.	Private Eutsler, Roy V.	Private Miller, Harry O.
First. Sergt. R. E. Kent.	Private Fisher, Frank.	Private O'Hara, James M.
Sergt. Ralph W. Hepner.	Private Foote, Fred.	Private Paterson, Alexander.
Sergt. Wm. A. Shaffer.	Private Fields, Forrest F.	Private Paterson, Wm. R.
Sergt. Lloyd E. Murray.	Private Franco, Lester.	Private Potter, Ray A.
Sergt. Fred H. Bagley.	Private Gregg, Christy B.	Private Reed, Emmor.
Sergt. Everett Tracht.	Private Griffis, Chas. E.	Private Shipley, Everett.
Corp. Gilman E. Gerber.	Private Gillem, Ralph L.	Private Shaffer, Henry J.
Corp. Thaddeus L. Levy.	Private Goodale, Roy E.	Private Sheets, Preston E.
Corp. Chas. J. Lang.	Private Harner, Sam.	Private Spence, Walter S.
Corp. Ira Wright.	Private Hawkins, Albert B.	Private Sweet, Charles.
Corp. Ward Williams.	Private Karns, Geo. F.	Private Schell, Wm. C.
Corp. Harry A. Stonerook.	Private Kensinger, John F.	Private Templeton, Edie.
Cook Fred T. Challis.	Private Lang, John M.	Private Tevis, John W.
Cook John Brown.	Private Lang, Bernard F.	Private Williams, Clare.
Musician Chas. C. Bartley.	Private Matucha, Yaro.	Private Wieske, Albert.
Musician Garth M. Diltz.	Private Maurer, Geo. W.	Private Wieske, Wm
Private Austin, Arthur B.	Private Mitchell, Lawrence P.	256
Private Baker, Wren L.	Private Mixell, Ambrose.