West Branch Times, West Branch, Iowa, Thursday, April 17, 1924
Transcribed by Sharon Elijah, June 18, 2018
THE LIFE OF MY GRANDFATHER
By
Vesta Waters
My grandfather was born in Belmont county, Lloydsville, Ohio, December 10, 1842. He was brought up as a Quaker.
One of his boyish pranks was to sit on the rail fence and watch the passers-by. He thought it was great sport to tap them with his whip when they passed. Some got very angry, called him names, and threatened to whip him. One day, as a well dressed gentleman passed, he gave him a tap on the shoulder with his whip, but not a very gentle one. The man said not a word, but, turning around, jerked him off the fence, turned him over his knee and gave him a sound thrashing. He said, “Now, young man, may be it won’t be so funny to try your whip on people.” After that he sat on the fence and enjoyed seeing the people pass, without using his whip.
When he was seven years of age he started to school, going regularly till he was ten. When he was ten years old he worked a half month for a neighbor, receiving for his labor two bushels of shelled corn for his chickens which his grandmother had given to him. From that time until he was seventeen years old he worked out, sometimes only going to school a month through the winter. On starting out for himself he worked by the month from the time he was eleven until he entered the army during the Civil War. Previously, he worked almost constantly for seven dollars a month. The most he ever received was fifty cents a day.
He entered the army, responding to the first call for three year men, August 29, 1861, becoming a member of Company E, Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The first battle in which he fought was at Shiloh. He remained in the service until Nov. 10, 1864, participating in the battles of Shiloh, Stone River, Tuka and Chickamauga, besides many minor engagements.
December, 1863, just before the battle of Stone River, his company was unaware of the fact that they had camped within eighty or one hundred rods of the enemy, they being on one side of a hill and the enemy on the other. At early dawn my grandfather arose and went to a spring to get a five gallon kettle of water. As he was ready to leave he heard a splash. To his surprise the rebels were watering their horses and filling their canteens with water on the other side of the river. He dropped his kettle and rushed for camp to give the alarm. As his presence was already known, the rebels began firing. By the time he reached camp the whole army was after them. Some were killed and wounded in their blankets. The officers ordered them to retreat. They retreated until they came to a farm house they had passed a few days before. They made this into a hospital, lining the soldiers around it for protection. As soon as the rebels began firing the army retreated toward their main branch for fear of being cut off from them. They left grandfather with several others with the wounded in the farm house. There was one window in this house, and a rebel coming up poked his gun through it and gave the command, “Every man march out of that door.” Every one went who was able. Since grandfather was the last one he pushed the door shut and stayed inside, and the rebels, thinking that all had come out, marched on after the retreating army. He was left with the sick and wounded with about twenty pounds of dried beef and a small amount of rice. At night he crawled around looking for knapsacks that had been dropped, hoping to find food. He stayed here several days. His company finally drove the enemy back so he and the prisoners who were able to walk were taken by the rebels. While going through a dense forest after night he stopped behind a tree, made his escape and then returned to the house where the wounded had been left. Some were so glad to see him that they cried for joy. He gave them food and water for a few days. One day the door was suddenly pushed open by a negro, who said in surprise, “Ah done tought dey done took you-all.” The negro brought an old blind horse and a spring wagon which they hauled their sick and wounded in, finally bringing them to the camp where the main branch of the army was.
At Chickamauga he became ill with the typhoid fever and was in the field hospital at Nashville for some time, but was afterward transferred to other hospital in Indiana and Ohio. When convalescent he joined the Invalid Reserve Corps and afterward was on duty guarding prisoners most of the time. He was honorably discharged Nov. 10, 1864, and returned home, remaining there until the following spring.
He started for Iowa, Feb. 20, 1865, with four horses belonging to Lindley and Smith Branson of Springdale, Iowa. He rode one and led three, receiving fifty cents a day. The Branson brothers paid for his meals three times a day and feed for the horses twice a day. He rode as far as he could and when night came he stopped at the nearest house, always trying to avoid towns because the prices were too high. One night he stopped at a farm house in Indiana and asked for a place to keep the horses and a nights lodging for himself. After he ate supper and was preparing for bed, wondering how he would be able to keep warm with the thin coverings on the bed, the man of the house stepped into the room and asked if he knew how to get into bed. Of course, he thought he did. He was surprised to see the man pick up one feather bed and then tell him to crawl in. He got into bed, lying on one feather bed and covering with the other. Every one was very kind to him wherever he stopped. Some even turned their own horses out of the barn to make room for his. There were no roads, only trails, and he had to ford the streams. While he was in Illinois one horse became frightened and started back. A boy finally stopped it, but not until after it had gone back a number of miles. On reaching Muscatine he crossed the Mississippi on a ferry boat, “The Ida May”, which was in service until a few years ago. That night he stayed at a farm house near Muscatine, and the next day reached Springdale, after having stopped at a blacksmith shop to inquire the way. He delivered the horses a mile east and a mile south of West Branch, which was known as the Branson farm. The horses were delivered March 31, 1865, this being a month from the day he started.
All that summer he farmed for Samuel Hendrickson, receiving a fourth of the crops in payment for his services. After his marriage with Mr. Hendrickson’s daughter on December 2, 1865, he commenced farming on a forty acre, including a log house, which his father-in-law had given him. The farm was enclosed with rail and picket fences. As the time passed he was able to add more land to his property until he had one hundred and seventy-six acres in Muscatine county. He sold this farm in 1884. In the spring of 1885 he came to Cedar county and purchased his farm of three hundred acres near Downey, Iowa. He has since extended the boundaries of his place and today has three hundred and forty eight acres, known as Greenwood Stock Farm. Here he engaged in farming and raising Norman and Hambletonian horses, Hereford cattle and other livestock that abound on every farm.
He reared a family of ten children, five boys and five girls, giving all of them a good education, first in a country school and then finishing in West Liberty High School. Four of the girls taught in public schools while the boys settled down to live on farms of their own.
He lived near Downey until 1911. On account of his wife’s failing health he bought a home in West Liberty, where he lived until 1915, a year after his wife’s death. Then he went to live with his youngest son, where he still resides. He enjoys fair health at the age of eighty-one.
