North should volunteer immediately, and not wait until they are compelled to go, whether they want to or not. Some will object to enlisting on account of negroes being allowed to enlist, but if they should happen to be drafted, before they are in the service six months they will wish that there were a few more 'n------' to work on entrenchments and let them rest. The army needs at least 150,000 negroes to work on fortifications, and do the drudgery of the camp. We are now having a big time in St. Louis. Every man that is able to bear arms is called into the service of the State. The 'dandys' have a hard time of it-they can't leave the city without a pass, and they can't get that. The office of the British consul is crowded from morning till night with persons claiming British protection, and wanting passports to Canada. Irish, that have been voting here for the last fifteen or twenty years, swear they have never been naturalized, and claim British protection. There are two strings of soldiers from the door of the office reaching across the street, and whenever a man gets a passport, he must run the gauntlet, subject to a kick from each of the bystanders. The Union Aid Society of St. Louis, composed of ladies, took pity on us the other day, and presented each of us with a towel, handkerchief, fine comb and a cake of soap; we stood greatly in need of these articles, for we are rather a dirty set."
About this time a new company was formed by D. P. Ballard, and largely of Story County men. Said he, in a letter from Des Moines, August 15, 1862: " Company A, Twenty-third Iowa Infantry, is now full-numbering 101 able-bodied men. Our officers are L. B. Houston, captain; D. P. Ballard, first lieutenant; T. G. Cree, second lieutenant, with our old friend, S. P. O'Brien, as orderly. Story County can claim from fifty-five to sixty of the men of this company, and consequently she must share one-half the honor or dishonor of its doings. One thousand Enfield rifles, with other paraphernalia are here, and our brass coats with blue buttons ' are on the road." Their after career will appear, with the sketch of the Twenty-third Infantry. The Story County men were D. P. Ballard, S. P. O'Brien, Richard Jones, Ira Bailey, Charles P. Miller, G. W. Smiley, N. A. Alfred, Charles M. Banning, H. P. Banning, J. E. Banning, G. C. Baldock, J. Bevington, J. O. Booth, J. Born, P. Brown, A. C. Chamberlain, I. H. Craig, A. Cofman, J. J. Deal, N. V. Foote, D. V. Foster, J. R. Foster, S. W. Gossard, J. A. Grove, T. J. Harrison, T. Hegland, I. P. Helphrey, I. Helphrey, Jr., H. J. Hiestand, A. Hiestand, C. Hussong, J. Howard, J. P. Jenkins, A. Kintsley, R. May, T. J. Miller, D. W. McCoy, C. Ness, T. Opstoet, L. Stratton, O. Scott, C. Snyder, G. W. Taylor, S. Teastel, C. Torkelson, D. J. Walters, O. Weeks, J. J. Wiltse and P. Zenon. They were mustered into service September 19, 1862.
About the same time (August, 1862) a fourth company, was formed, for the Thirty second Iowa Infantry, with the following officers: Joseph Cadwalader, captain; Gideon Wheeler, first lieutenant, and George Child, second lieutenant. Their Story members were as follows: Joseph Cadwalader (of Iowa Center), George Child (of Nevada), V. Tomlinson, J. Burger, Nat. A. Mount, I. S. French, F. M. Anderson, Jonas Duea, W. M. Edwards, G. H. Dunlap, Cyrus Davis, A. Prouty, A. O. Hall, H. Applegate, J. M. Applegate, I. N. Alderman, L. F. Brown, S. M. Childs, N. A. Cole, O. Egeland, W. M. Edwards, H. Eliasson, P. Egeland, R. French, D. Funk, E. A. Grubb, J. L. Harkness, H. B. Henryson, E. Hefley, G. F. Hilton, H. S. Halleck, J. A. Howard, J. R. Hand, J. B. Jacobson, A. Josleyn, T. A. Lein, E. R. Larson, J. P. Mecum, W. McGuire, D. A. Moore,