In the Presidential election in 1860, Jackson County cast 3,021 votes for President. During the two years_ following, according to the Adjutant General's report, the county furnished 1,288 men to put down the rebellion, or upward of 40 per cent of the entire voting population of the county. The thunderbolt of war found Jackson County engaged in the arts of peace. Her sons were enlisted in the conquest waged by mankind over nature, and from both stubborn and willing soil was being drawn the wealth of fruitful harvests and fattening herds. By the rebellion the peace and prosperity of the county was disturbed. The withdrawal of almost one-half the able-bodied population could not do otherwise than interfere very materially with the progress of the community. All this, however, was forgotten in the impulse and feeling of patriotism which led such a multitude of heroes to sacrifice fortune, comfort, and frequently life itself, in defense of their country.

To many the war was a surprise. " When immediately surrounded with peace and tranquillity, they paid little attention to the rumored plots and plans of those who lived and grew rich from the sweat ai-.d toil, blood and flesh of others ; aye, even trafficking in the offspring of their own loins." The war was upon them, the cannon thundering within the nation's very gates, before the people of the Northwest awoke to the issues at stake.

It was on the 12th day of April, 1861, when Fort Sumter, near Charleston, S. C, was fired upon by what the more charitable of the nation believed to be a drunken mob. But the surrender of Capt. Anderson, made necessary by the murderous and continued fire of the enemy's guns, awakened the entire North from a dream of fancied security and an unbroken Union.

The first company raised in Jackson "County was in answer to the President's second call for volunteers, dated May 3, 1861. This was Company I, of the Fifth Iowa Infantry, which went into quarters June 24, and was mustered into the United States Service at Burlington, on the 17th of July following. Company A. of the Ninth Regiment, under Capt. Drips, went into quarters in August, and mustered into the service September 24, with a total rank and file of 101 men. Company I, of the Twelfth Regiment, found itself in the service September 16, 1861. Companies L and M, of the Second Cavalry, entered the service about the same time.

Then came that well-remembered lull in the conflict when sanguine men grew more hopeful, and the desponding less in despair—a time when many thought the war would soon be at an end, and once more would be " beaten the swords into plowshares and the spears into pruning-hooks." But quickly was the spirit of the North again stirred, and the blood of Northern chivalry sent leaping in boiling currents through veins swollen with righteous wrath, when the terrible news of Shiloh—of thousands slain, and Iowa sons in Southern prisons—came to fathers, brothers and friends of those who had gone to the front.

The call of President Lincoln for 300,000 men, August 9, 1862, met with a liberal response from Jackson County. From the plow, from the workshop and counting-house, leaving the schoolroom, the desk, the bar, the pulpit, the press, men of every rank of life, of all ages, grey-beard and youth—those who showed themselves the bravest of the brave, came forth and enrolled their names among the men who were ready to face the cannon's mouth, if necessary, to die for their country.

Companies A and I, of the Twenty-fourth, various squads in the Twenty-sixth, and Companies F, I and K of the Thirty-first Iowa Infantry Regiments enlisted from Jackson County in the fall of 1862. Those who were kept at home by age, infirmity or sex. did noble service, too. They assisted with labor, money and words of cheer. Aid societies sprang up. Contributions were made. Sanitary stores were sent out. Mothers and sisters gathered in groups about quiet firesides while they talked over the hardships of absent dear ones on Southern battle-fields, in lone marches, in death-dealing prisons or  death-bearing hospitals. Many a needle contributed its mite, and many a pen its words of comfort, to render camp life more pleasant, and the army less a barbarism. Viewed in its true light, an even greater debt of gratitude is due to the wives and mothers who gave up their husbands and sons, their natural protectors, and suffered them, with a passive self-sacrifice, to go to a field of carnage, than to the brave men themselves, who, inspired by the thought of heroic action and gallant service, were led to encounter danger and death for the sake of preserving our common heritage, the legacy of our ancestors.

In August, 1861, a meeting was held in the Congregational Church in Maquoketa, just before the departure of Company A, of the Ninth Regiment, which was raised under the name of the Jackson County National Guards.

This meeting was to concert measures for the comfort of volunteers, and provide means for the families of those in the company known as the Jackson County National Guards. W. W. Eaton was called to the chair, and J. J. Marks was appointed Secretary. An address was made by the chair, and by Capt. Drips. The latter then offered the following resolutions :
Whereas, The military company called the Jackson County National Guards has been
called by the Governor of Iowa into the service of the United States ; and, Whereas, We believe it to be the duty of every one who lives under the protection of the American flag to contribute, to the extent of his or her ability, in maintaining the Government, which that flag represents: and, Whereas, Many of those who have volunteered in said company have families depending upon them for support : therefore, Resolved. That, having a great pride in our country, and wishing to see her well represented in the army of the Union, we will use every exertion to swell the ranks of said company to the maximum required by the Government, viz., 101 men.

Resolved, That we pledge ourselves to render such assistance to the families of volunteers as will provide them with all the common necessaries of life while their husbands, fathers and sons are absent fighting our battles.

The following Soliciting Committee was appointed : H. Shellenberger, William Sears, William Cundill, J. W. Jenkins, S. D. Lyman, J. J. Marks, Edwin Darling. D. A. Fletcher, J. R. Griffin and G. S. Martin. The meeting was closed by an address by J. W. Jenkins. A sword was presented to Capt. Drips, with due ceremony, upon his departure.

The ladies of Maquoketa, during the war, had a Sanitary Aid Society, and contributed much in stores and clothing to the comfort of volunteers. They also contributed money for the relief of those who were afflicted.

It is a matter of sincere regret to us that we cannot give a full account of the home societies and contributions, and of all that the citizens of Jackson County did on their own territory for the Union cause. There are, however, no existing newspaper-files that could be found covering the period of the war, and we are compelled to speak but generally of those things which we would be glad to mention more minutely.

On account of the freedom with which men volunteered in this county, there was occasion for but little trouble in regard to drafts. We believe there was but one draft in Jackson County, and in that no difficulty was experienced, save in Butler Township. Here an attempt was made to resist the draft, or, rather, to escape it. The enrolling officers found it an impossibility to make an enrollment. Butler Township is largely a timber district, and it
was with little difficulty the natives could hide, on the approach of the officer, where they could not be found. The families of those who were liable to draft would refuse to give their names, and irate daughters of Erin would threaten a salute with hot water unless the offending parties would make their absence more conspicuous than they themselves. Joseph Eaton was appointed a Deputy Provost Marshal for the county and the matter given into his charge. With the assistance of the Assessor's books, he finally succeeded in making an enrollment. Nine men were drafted in Butler Township, and due notice served, according to law, notifying them to report at the county seat within five days. Only two reported, one of whom proved to be a cripple, and the other, for some reason, unfit for service. Efforts to find the other seven proved fruitless. At last, Deputy Marshal Eaton got a squad of soldiers, and, proceeding to Butler Township, encamped in the barn of one of the richest farmers there.

The soldiers helped themselves to what they needed, and Eaton informed the citizens they had come to stay ; that unless the drafted men were forthcoming, they would make another draft, and that they would continue to draw until they filled the quota with men who could be found, otherwise, the entire township would have to become fugitives. This began to look like business, and, at a meeting appointed for the following day, some $6,000 were raised to hire substitutes, within two hours. The quota was made up of hired men, and the soldiers were withdrawn without any difficulty having occurred. One. of the fugitives from this township fled to Boston to visit his brother, and had just entered the latter's house when a Deputy Marshal, who had been notified by telegraph, arrested him and started him back to Iowa.

We will sketch, in brief, the history of the regiments in which most of the
Jackson County men were enlisted.