CHAPTER V.
ANTE-WAR AND WAR PERIODS.
Cass county was in its comparative infancy during the Civil War period, and during the few years immediately preceding it, but her little band of residents lived far enough north to be very positive in their views both on the slavery question and the preservation of the Union. The bitter conflicts between Missouri and Kansas over Free or Slave soil caused intense excitement among the pioneers of the county, among whom were a few radical Abolitionists who proved sturdy assistants of John Brown and his associates.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, although the Democratic party was in the majority in Cass county, it condemned the action of the seceding States, while denying the right of the Government to force them to remain in the Union. When the great Rebellion was actually a fact, they were with the Douglas wing of the party in the efforts of the Government to suppress it, but bitterly opposed emancipation and the principle of the equal rights of white and black.
The vote of Cass county did not vary much from 350 during the Civil War period, but the latter portion of it saw the Republicans in a majority. Whether Democrats or Republicans, however, they responded to the call to arms with equal alacrity, although they might quarrel most furiously at home over their differences in political belief. Considering her very limited fighting strength, the war record of Cass county is one over which she holds up her head with just pride.
Although Cass county was somewhat to the westward of the trunk lines of the "Underground Railway" system, by which the Abolitionists -- or, as the Democrats were fond of calling them, the Black Republicans -- transported runaway slaves from the Gulf and southwestern States to Canada, it had its "stations" and its busy and exciting times, for several years before the Civil War. The negroes assisted on their way to freedom by such enthusiasts as Oliver Mills, D. A. Barnett and Rev. George B. Hitchcock, were usually from Missouri, and were passed along toward the Mississippi valley, generally bringing up for a breathing spell in the vicinity of Quincy, Ill., which was one of the most important "railway centers" in the West. The lines that run out into Iowa, and farther west, may be considered spurs from the trunk which followed the upper valley of the Mississippi. In Cass county the chief station was Lewis.
Sometime during the winter of 1857, old John Brown, of Kansas fame, accompanied by two of his sons and one white man, stopped all night with Mr. Barnett at the "Grove City House." Brown and his party had in charge about eighteen runaway negroes -- men, women and children -- whom they were taking from Missouri to Canada. They had three mule teams, and all the male adults were armed with Sharp's rifles and Colt's navy revolvers. After breakfast they took their leave and traveled eastward. No one but Mr. Barnett knew who they were, or were aware that any negroes were of the party. It may be stated that D. A. Barnett was a late arrival from Ohio, which was a hot-bed of Black Republicanism. He was a large land owner and a man of other property, and his son (J. S. Barnett), who came to Cass county as a boy, was afterward sheriff and a substantial and leading citizen. The elder Barnett died in the county about 1867.
While the Republicans and Democrats, in their State conventions and elsewhere, were throwing hot words, back and forth, over the Missouri Conpromise, the Dred Scott decision and other features of the vital issue, the Underground Railway continued persistently in business, although a glimpse of its operations was only obtained now and then by even its conductors. Ingenuity, faithfulness and bravery were never discounted on the part of those interested, and were such constant qualities that they were accepted as matters of course. Another instance in this connection will bear relating.
In the year 1859 a pair of runaway negro women were traced from Missouri to the vicinity of Lewis. A large reward was offered for their arrest. The sheriff of the county and the man who kept the ferry over the Nishnabotna, at that place, had been posted as to the runaways and were on the lookout for them. It was thought the negroes could not cross the river at any point for many miles north or south, except at Lewis, and passengers on the ferry-boat were watched with unusual interest for many days. One beautiful Sabbath morning a farmer who resided on the west side of the 'Botna, drove down to the ferry, having with him in the wagon two ladies closely veiled. The farmer was apparently on his way to church with the female members of his family, and was ferried to the east bank, without question or investigation. Thency he drove to Lewis, and still eastward to Adair county, where he placed his "veiled ladies" in charge of another station agent of the Underground. The sheriff and keeper of the ferry did not know by what a narrow margin they had missed their reward until years afterward. (Several interesting stories, in this connection, are welsewhere told by Harriet L. Howard, an early settler of Lewis.)
No county in Iowa, in proportion to its population, did more loyal and effective work in support of the Union cause than Cass. Because of its distance from the seat of government, however, its citizens were not included in President Lincoln's first call for 75,000 troops, issued in April, 1861; but they responded to the second, and every succeeding call with alacrity, and their records were among the brightest for ability and bravery.
"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 75-77.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, July, 2015.
