Twenty men from Crawford County served in the Union Army during the Civil War of 1861-1865. Or the War Between the States as it was and may still be called by some. They were in order of their enlistment or draft:
| Hunt, A. R. |
| Appleman, John |
| Scott, A. M. |
| Prentice, Chauncey |
| Strong, Simeon |
| Munson, Jack, 1st Iowa Cavalry |
| Franks, Henry |
| Bond, A. J., 32nd Iowa Infantry |
| Molony, M., 147th Illinois Infantry |
| Goodrich, Ward |
| Alexander, Thomas |
| Reed, John M. |
| Agens, W. M. |
| Brown, Thomas, 31st Wisconsin Infantry |
| Prentice, Jacob |
| Skinner, Joseph |
| Spence, William, 15th Iowa Infantry |
| Rudd, John, 15th Infantry |
| Gables, Uriah |
| Goodrich, William 11th Iowa Cavalry |
Background and History
The first meeting regarding the Civil War was held August, 1862, but there is no record of what took place at the meeting. At a second meeting held during the following month a subscription was raised (amount unknown) for the benefit of the volunteers. John Appleman and A. M. Scott were the first 2 volunteers. Scott was killed in the war.
The next meeting was held December, 25, 1863, after President Lincoln had issued a call for 300,000 additional men. Each state was assigned its quota, and in turn each county. [Based on the number of volunteers and draftees given in the account in the history book, Crawford must have had a quota of 15 men.]
The board of supervisors offered $300 to each volunteer. A. J. Bond was the first to enlist followed by 6 others, of which the 4 accepted were Chauncey Prentice, Simeon Strong, Jack Munson, and Henry Franks.
Three addtional men who volunteered January, 1865, were M. Molony, Ward Goodrich, and Thomas Alexander. Five others from Crawford County that enlisted in Harrison County were John M. Reed, W. M. Agens, Thomas Brown, Chauncey Prentice, and Jacob Prentice. [Note the author had already listed Chauncey Prentice as a volunteer in 1863. So, it is unknown if the author made a mistake in listing names or there were two men by the name of Chauncey Prentice from Crawford County.]
Had these latter men enlisted in Crawford County, the quota from the county would have been filled. The draft had to be used to fill the county quota, and consequently Joseph Skinner, William Spence, John Rudd, Uriah Gable, and William Goodrich were drawn.
A. R. Hunt, at the very outbreak of the war returned to his Nebraska home and enlisted from there. So, he may well have been the first individual out of Crawford County, Iowa, to have entered the military service during the Civil War.
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