Excerpts from An Illustrated History of Monroe County, Iowa - 1896

CHAPTER VI ~ IN DEFENSE of the FLAG.

On the breaking out of the Civil War, Monroe County, from her close proximity to the pro-slavery border, was one of those new counties upon which the evil stroke of war fell with a heavy hand. She was ill prepared at the time to make the great sacrifice, but the record of her soldier boys, and of her fathers, upon whose locks time had left its frost marks, shows that they not only took their lives in their own hands,but bowed to a still greater sacrifice, in leaving behind, in privation, their wives and little ones, to battle with hunger and possibly to suffer at the hands of guerrilla hordes from across the Missouri border.

. . . There were many trials and hardships that the soldier of Monroe County had to meet and undergo which were not experienced by many of those enlisting from older counties. This county was still new, and domestic improvement had not progressed far enough to secure to the settlers many of the comforts of life. Most people were poor. Everybody came to the county poor, a few years previous, and the great majority of those who enlisted were men who were either clearing out homes for themselves and families, on the wild prairies, or were helping dependent parents to establish a home for their old age.

The volunteer's pay of thirteen or fourteen dollars a month was of course inadequate for the support of a family during his absence, and e felt that at best he would have to return at the close of the war and begin anew with the privations which he had just begun to surmount when his country called for his aid. He was offering too, to the Union, the best part of his life—a time when he should be laying the foundation for his calling.

Monroe County's quota [of volunteers to be furnished by Iowa under the Federal call] was 630, of which 619 were raised without drafting, leaving a deficit of only 11 to be raised by draft or voluntary enlistment.

The following roster of Monroe County volunteers is compiled mainly from the Adjutant-General's Reports and is a nearly correct as it is possible to get them. The Adjutant-General's Reports contain frequent inaccuracies, which it has been the aim of the author to herein correct.

The greater portion of volunteers enlisting in the service from Monroe County were mustered into the Sixth, Twenty-second and Thirty-sixth Infantry, and the First Cavalry.

Company E of the Sixth was composed very largely of Monroe County men. The list of volunteers for this company overran the maximum limit of enrollment, and a number of men were assigned to other companies.

The greater portion of volunteers enlisting in the service from Monroe County were mustered into the Sixth, Twenty-second and Thirty-sixth Infantry, and the First Cavalry.

Civil War Soldiers of Monroe County

Source: Hickenlooper, Frank. An Illustrated History of Monroe County, Iowa: A Complete Civil, Political, and Military History of the County, From Its Earliest Period of Organization Down to 1896. Chapt. 6. p. 43-47. Albia, Iowa. 1896.

Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2010