Demosthenes was the twelfth of a reported thirteen children born to Jesse and Hannah (Tallman) Scott. All children were born in New York, but most moved to Iowa with their parents in the early 1850s. Hannah died in 1858 and was buried in Oakland Cemetery while Jesse and most of the children continued working their farm near Delaware Center (previously known as Acersville and little more than a post office address for residents about two miles north of Manchester).

      In 1860, several Southern states threatened secession if Abraham Lincoln were elected, but the Clayton County Journal discounted the threat. “We do not believe that because a Northern man is elected that they will secede from the Union,” it said, while many in the South were convinced there would be no war. “No Power on earth dares to make war on cotton. Cotton is King," said South Carolina Senator James Hammond. Lincoln was elected and, on April 12, 1861, General Beauregard’s Confederate guns fired on Fort Sumter. War followed and a year later, with thousands of young men having died, the President called for another 300,000 three-year men. Iowa’s quota was five regiments.

      Infantry regiments were to consist of approximately 1,000 men. Initially, no man was to be younger than eighteen although age requirements were not always honored and some men lied to permit their enlistment. Later in the war, requirements were often eased with minors openly accepted on the signature of a parent who would "freely give my consent to his volunteering as a soldier.”  

      In July 1862, three of Demosthenes’ brothers - Allen, Aristides and Cornelius - enlisted in what would be Company H of Iowa’s 21st regiment of volunteer infantry. Each received $25 of a $100 enlistment bounty with the balance due upon an honorable discharge and at least ninety days’ service. Still in New York, another brother, John, joined the state’s 121st infantry but would move to Iowa after the war. Demosthenes, born on February 1, 1848, was only fourteen. Too young to join his brothers in the military, he stayed at home with his father and sisters.          

      The 21st Iowa left Dubuque on September 16, 1862. Its early service was in Missouri - Rolla, Salem, Houston, Hartville, back to Houston, West Plains, Iron Mountain and Ste. Genevieve. From there they moved farther south and participated in the 1863 Vicksburg Campaign. After the city’s surrender on July 4, 1863, and a brief expedition to Jackson, they went farther south and served in southwestern Louisiana. On November 23, 1863, they were in New Orleans when ordered to Texas. Transported across the Gulf of Mexico on the Corinthian and St. Mary’s, they went ashore on St. José Island and for several months saw service along the Gulf coast.

      On January 16, 1864, they were stationed at Indianola when, back in Manchester, fifteen-year-old Demosthenes enlisted with credit given to “Delaware Tp. Delaware Co. 3d Cong. Dist. Iowa.” Signing by mark and with his age listed as eighteen, he was enrolled for three years’ service. In an affidavit later dictated by Demosthenes, he said “the recruiting officer all so made my age out a little over three years older than what i was at the time i enlisted on account of not being of military age.” Supporting the enlistment was Demosthenes’ father who gave his written consent to the enlistment. By then, to spur needed enlistments, the bounty had been raised to $300 with an initial payment of $40.

      Demosthenes was described in his Company Descriptive Book as being 5' 5¾” tall with blue eyes, light-colored hair and a light complexion. With Myron Annis, Mathias Brandenburg and other recruits, and original enlistee William Barber who was returning from furlough, they started south and reached the regiment on Matagorda Island on March 16, 1864, where Demosthenes’ older brothers were present and no doubt anxious to see him and introduce him to others he was joining in Company H.

      In June they returned to Louisiana. Bimonthly Company Muster Rolls showed that Demosthenes was present on August 31st at Morganza, October 31st when they were three miles south of the mouth of Arkansas’ White River, and on December 31, 1864, when they arrived at Memphis on board the Baltic. For the last year and a half the regiment had seen relatively light service, but there was one more campaign ahead of them. Two forts guarding the entrance to Mobile Bay had been captured by Admiral Farragut’s fleet the previous August, but the city itself was still in Confederate hands. On board the George Peabody, they left New Orleans on February 6, 1865, and went ashore on Dauphin Island the following day. On March 17th they crossed the bay’s entrance to Mobile Point and became part of an army that started a slow movement north along the east side of the bay. The South was forced to abandon two forts guarding Mobile from that direction and, on April 12th, the Union soldiers entered the city. The regiment camped at Spring Hill until leaving on the Mustang on May 27th to return to Louisiana.

      They then saw light service along the Red River where thirty-seven early enlistees were mustered out on June 10th. Others moved to Baton Rouge where officers updated muster rolls and other records and men waited anxiously for them to finish. On July 11th, orders were received for the remaining original enlistees to be mustered out, but Demosthenes was one of 110 men who had enlisted as recruits after the original organization of the regiment and still had time to serve on their three-year enlistments. On July 12, 1865, they were transferred as unassigned recruits to a 34th/38th consolidated infantry and on the 14th left for Texas. The next day Allen, Aristides, Cornelius and others who had enlisted three years earlier were mustered out and on the 16th started north.

      Demosthenes’ time with his new regiment was brief. The government realized almost immediately that their service was no longer needed and, at Houston on August 15, 1865, they were mustered out. By then, Demosthenes had received $160 of the enlistment bounty and, when discharged from the military in Iowa and still a young man at age seventeen, he received the $140 balance.

      Aristides, Cornelius and John stayed in Iowa after the war, Allen moved to Kansas and, in 1871, Demosthenes moved to Harrison County, Ohio, reportedly walking the entire distance, erecting a log cabin, and working as a farmer. In Washington Township on October 27, 1874, he married Martha Matilda Toole. Their children included Jesse D. (born November 6, 1875), William T. (born October 23, 1877), Orra A. (born July 14, 1882) and Lydia J. (born September 20, 1887).

      On May 21, 1890, Demosthenes was living in Piedmont, Ohio, when he signed an application for an invalid pension saying that shortly after reaching the regiment he “contracted Sore Errs” and “ingured my Eye Sight.”  Two of his neighbors signed supportive affidavits and David Quin, a local doctor from a well-known family, signed an affidavit saying he had known Demosthenes for about twenty years and Demosthenes “eyes has been so badly affected that he has had to use glasses” and, at times, could “scarcely perform some kinds of manuel labor.” The War Department confirmed Demosthenes’ military service, but found no record of any medical problems. Demosthenes told a Board of Pension Surgeons in Cadiz that the problem was “caused by sand blowing in my eyes while encamped on Matagorda Island the sand blew there like snow; cant tell my nearest neighbor five rods away cant tell one letter from another in common news paper print sometimes become inflamed especially in windy weather.” The doctors suggested an 8/18 rating for the disability, but the process dragged on and no pension was approved.

      When an age-based law was adopted, he applied again and was awarded $12 monthly, payable quarterly. That was increased gradually as he got older and he was receiving $50 when he died on September 1, 1921. Demosthenes was survived by his wife, all four children and four grandchildren. Funeral services were held at the family home prior to burial in Greenmont Union Cemetery, Freeport.

      The following month with two of her children (Jesse and Lydia) as witnesses and signing by mark, Martha applied for a widow’s pension indicating her declaration was “subscribed and sworn to” before local postmaster, Thomas Coulson. A cover letter from the postmaster said Martha had “cancer on her face and “is a sorrowful sight.” Twice more he wrote, but it was not until January that the Pension Office replied regarding the “purported declaration” and said postmasters were not authorized to administer oaths. Martha signed another declaration, this time before a notary, but submitted no proof that she had been married to Demosthenes. A certified copy of the marriage record was secured from the court in Cadiz, more affidavits were submitted and, on August 28, 1922, she was approved for $30 monthly. Martha died on March 15, 1925, and was buried in Greenmont Union Cemetery.