"The History of Decatur County, Iowa: 1839 - 1970"

by Himena V. Hoffman
Published by Decatur County Historical Society, Leon IA, 1970
 
Part II: - The Years of the Civil War 1860 - 1865 Pp. 51-74
Transcription by Sara LeFleur

“At the opening of the war, it became necessary for each man to be
either a supporter of the war or a secessionist. There is no middle ground.”
– History of the Decatur County – 1915
HERMAN SMITH AND JOHN HOWELL, EDITORS
The year was 1860, the early days of the settlement of the county were over. The years of troubled peace would soon be over too.

The little town of Leon had grown since the day that PAMELA PATTERSON wrote in praise of its location. Its proud habitants boasted that is now had over six hundred in population: it had been incorporated in 1858.

It was to the people of that county an interesting place. Though there were no sidewalks and in times of heavy rains there might be a mud hole in front of the the very store where you wanted to stop your team and wagon, but there was quite a choice of places to buy goods or secure services. For the most part the frame buildings were well kept up and, of course, none of them were yet ten years old.

On the north side of the square was the station where the stagecoach stopped. Near it was the Sales House and not far away was the post office. The stage coach now arrived every week day and on its westbound trip brought newspapers and letters from the east and south, put on the coach as it left Keokuk.

Two of the general stores were on the west side of the square: RICHARDS and HALE, STEVENS and STILLWELL; BRADLEY and GARDNERS store was on the opposite corner of the square. On the west side of the street south from the square was Leon’s most imposing building, two stories high. On the first floor was WHARTON and RICHARDS store and on the second floor entered by a stairway at the south was the newspaper office of The Pioneer, established by P. H. and GEORGE BLINKLEY in 1855. If changed ownership several times in ten years and during the war years it would at one time belong to SAM CASTER.

On this block, too, were UPDEGRAFF and GILLHAMS harness shop and the shop where Mr. WOODS both made and repaired shoes. In a small frame building on the east side of the square was the general store of HARROW and Co.

Though this list of stores and shops is incomplete, it does give an idea of Leon’s business streets in 1860.

As to hotels, besides the Sales House, the most important one was on the southeast corner of the square, the PATTERSON House, where on days a good fire always blazed in the fireplace to welcome chilly guests. Its landlord, that good Presbyterian, ROBERT PATTERSON, was famed not only for serving good food, but for his pretty daughters, four of whom became wives of prominent citizens of Leon.

The busiest law office in Leon was that of SAMUEL FORREY, who had studied law with THADDEUS STEPHANS and was the county’s leading Republican, but JOSEPH WARNER had turned from carpentry to law and the signs of JOHN HAWLEY, P. H. BINKLEY, and “TIMBER" WOOD were in evidence. The WARNERs, JOHN and ANDREW, and JOSEPH, were active Democrats as was their brother, JACOB, who farmed.

One the southwest corner of the square was the courthouse with the courtroom on the second floor. There Judge L. H. SALES presided with the same dignity that he welcomed guests to his hotel. Downstairs were the county offices. SAMUEL CUMMINGS was treasurer-recorder; GEORGE T. YOUNG, county clerk; GEORGE WOODBY, sheriff; and THOMAS JACKSON was county superintendendant of schools.

It is probable that the offices of the doctor’s were in their homes. Dr. SAMUEL THOMPSON’s home and office was first in the block just south of the business block. Later he had a home several blocks south. One down the street was the home of Dr. MCCLELLAND, who with his wife, AMANDA, came north to settle first in Decatur and then in Leon. These two were among the leading doctors in the county. Other doctors were JOHN FINLEY, who was to be examining physician at Des Moines during the Civil War; L. H. SALES who was Dr. SALES as well as Judge SALES and Landlord SALES and C. P. MULLINS whose brother was a doctor at Pleasanton (Pleasant Plains) where Dr. MACY also practiced.

As to the churches, the Methodists and the Cumberland Presbyterians had been sharing a room they had plastered in the courthouse ad there was a bell to call people to services. The members of the Christian church had grown in number and talked of a church building. Two blocks south of the jail (a log structure one block west from the northwest corner of the square) the Methodists has a lot. A church building had been started though events would soon take place that would halt the completion of the building, leave the Presbyterians without a pastor, and the end of years the plans of building for member of the Christian Church.

School had been held in various building after the cyclone and during the war the unfinished Methodist Church would be used and the bell would be there until after the war.

On the farms north of Leon the Brethren were now well established. The SEARS, the GARBERs, the KOBs, the GITTINGERs, and GOODMANs were owners of good land and were prosperous farmers in that township. Most, if not all, were devoted members of their church. They, too, thought of a church building.

Down in Woodland township the Irish families had passed through the first hard years and though the older ones still talked of County Kerry, County Cork, or some other home spot in Ireland; they felt very much a part of Decatur County. There number was growing, for that year DENNIS MULLINS' sixth son was born and both the GROGANs and the GRIFFINs had a daughter born that year and christened MARY. THOMAS and ELLA OWENS who had twin daughters, now had two little boys and a baby girl.

The Hungarian settlement in New Buda, however, was not growing. Governor UJHAZY and some of his group had gone south to Texas. IGNACE HAINER was in Missouri teaching French at the University. FRANCIS VARGA wished to move to Leon. It was evident that the city of New Buda would never be built around a Kossuth Square. Some of the Hungarians remained, however, and they and their descendants would play a part in the history of Decatur County in the years to come: FRANCIS VARGA, STEPHEN RADNICH, LADISLAW MADERLASZ and EMORY DOBOZY for instance. IGNACE HAINER would return when the War caused the closing of the University, bringing the gold-headed cane that was the gift of his grateful students. GEORGE POMUTZ, who so often had ridden his white horse over the vast acres he claimed for the Hungarians, would enter the army and not return. Be he became Decatur County’s only Civil War general and the story of his exploits remain a part of its claim to fame.

Eden Township was well settled. The HATFIELDS, the GAMMONs, the CHASTIANs, the MEEKs, ALBAUGHs, TREMBLYs, VANDERPOOLs, and the MCBEEs were among the families represented there, all of them with Leon as their post office according to an old militia list.

As to the other settlements in the county most of them had grown in the years just before the war.

At Garden Grove new settlers were still coming and some of those who had arrived with so little were now able to consider themselves men of property.

GEORGE SHAW talked with HIRAM CHASE about starting a store. A. B. and DAN STEARNS were prospering in various lines of business. The California House was the stopping place for travelers. The Presbyterians, who included among their women members HARRIET BROWN, ELIZABTH CARRITHERS, and MARY BURNS, were planning to build a church ad in spite of the war and because, in part at least, of the determination of its women, it was completed in 1865.

Down at Pleasanton (Pleasant Plains) ROYAL RICHARDSON was getting ready to build a hotel and papers were being circulated to secure money for the building of a place to start a college which it was hoped would become a center of learning in southern Iowa and northern Missouri. The post office had been moved from Nine Eagles to Pleasant Plains, thought mail still came addressed to Nine Eagles.

At Decatur City bitterness still existed over the loss of the county seat to Leon. F. A. FORMAN was publishing a newspaper, The Commoner, Dr. G. W. BAKER was attracting attention, some not favorable, because he insisted on fresh air daily and night for his patient.

Davis City was still Davis Mill operated by WILLIAM DAVIS, who after the death of his first wife, married the widow, ORELNA FLORA. JOHN CLARK had not yet moved there but operated his mill in that vicinity.

Florence, afterwards Van Wert, was ready to build a small church. JAMES BLAIR was a leading Methodist there.

In Richland township the settlement of WESTERVILLE had as leading settlers I. P. LAMB and SAM LANDES.

In High Point township leading settlers include the MENDENHALLs, the BEAVERs, and the FESLERS.

In 1860 besides the settlements mentioned there were other small settlements or at least post office. In fact between 1850 and 1870 such places appear and disappear, change names and sometimes location. Mention has been made of Nine Eagles, that was to moved to Pleasant Planes and become Pleasanton. In 1970 it appears again as a State Park. High Point was at one time Paris (or really Parris, named for an early settler). Crown was north of Leon, New Buda did not become a great city but it was a post office. Franklin, DeKalb, and Tuskeego existed in the same way. None of these became towns but in 1860 settlers had settled around these points, though some of the names came later with the railroads.

All this gives an idea of Decatur County in 1860, ten years after it was organized and at least twenty years after the first white man made their homes here. With a population of about nine thousand, schools established, ad church congregations well organized, many of those who lived here felt that the frontier was much further west.

The years just before had not all been without hardships. In fact each year had brought its problems. Even this far west there had been effects of the panic of 1857. There had been droughts, and there had been floods on the bottom lands. The years 1858-1859 had been “the wet years.” There had been an epidemic of typhoid fever in 1858 and deaths from diphtheria the two previous winters.

But with all this crops had been raised, the settlements were growing. Young men were buying land and going into business. Weddings were planned, new babies admired and goods ordered from the East to bring not only more comfort but some elegance.

It was a year that had its tragedies too. CYNTHIA DAVIS, daughter of miller WILLIAM DAVIS of Davis Mills, married JOHN WARDEN in May and died in July. The death of Mrs. THOMAS WALLER at Decatur left the Reverend WALLER and his six children much bereft. Death came to these and others just as it had the years before.

Of course there was some talk of the issues that were to bring the war and sharp disagreements. JOE WARNER and SAMUEL FORREY argued hotly. Some had read and reread Uncle Tom’s Cabin, wept over little Eva and hated slavery. Some had said prayers the day JOHN BROWN was executed. There is no record however that the bell at Leon tolled that day. Anti-slavery sentiment was not yet strong in a county many of whose leading citizen came from the South. Some of these from the South often spoke with pride of their Southern origin. There were those who spoke with scorn of the Republican party and taunted them with being “nigger lovers.”

Spring passed into summer. There was corn to be plowed, gardens to be planted, houses to be built, hogs to be fattened, and wood to be cut. The fall days came, crops must be harvested and, if trips were to be made, they must be made before winter. A few went to Des Moines, now a thriving place of four thousand, some went to Keokuk to bring goods from this river port. Catholic settlers drove their hogs and cattle to Ottumwa combining business with church obligations for not only could they attend church there, but some were married there or took a child to be christened.

As to politics there [was] now some excitement but [it] must be remembered that mail was irregular and few took out the state newspapers and, though perhaps some of those who travelled through the county in 1860 were those who saw war coming and, wanted no part of in it, were going to the far West, yet few in Decatur County moved on. There were not only no cars nor planes, no telephones, radio or television, but neither the railroads nor the telegraph had come to southern Iowa.

Decatur County was by a large majority Democratic but the number of Republicans had been greatly increasing by 1860. That once lonely Republican, ALFRED CUMMINGS, no longer had but one fellow voter in New Buda township. Garden Grove and Decatur City could hold gatherings of Republicans. SAMUEL FORREY could list Republican candidates for office even if they are not elected. At school BELLE BOBBITT and MARY KNAPP snatched Douglass buttons from ANNE WHARTON and MARTHA JORDAN and in turn had their Lincoln and Hamlin buttons torn from their coats. It is probable that it was at this time that GEORGE MACHLAN and a companion drove a wagon in a Leon parade while they took truns splitting logs to portray “Lincoln the Rail-Splitter.” (This may have taken place in 1864, but it was indicated as in 1860.)

Lincoln was elected, the Republicans rejoice. The Democrats consoled themselves with local victory.

There were those how predicted fire happenings, there were those who argued about the right of secession but war seemed far away that winter. Christmas came and New Year’s Day, observed by some but with little of the holiday spirit of these later years. The year of 1860 was over and the shadow of war, unseen by most, was very near as the events of the early months of 1861 now seemed to have clearly indicated.

Then came April – Fort Sumter! The call for volunteers! Suddenly war had come to Decatur County. Its days of those who had worked long hours through hot summers and cold winters. Many would not return after the War and the plans they had made for the years ahead to be spent in new farm lands or in the little settlement would be buried with them on the battlefields in the South.

It was almost a week before the news of Sumter reached Leon and then it took time for the news to spread from settlement to settlement and from farm to farm. Weeks later a settler down on the line heard that a company was drilling at Pleasanton and inquired, “Injuns again or them Britishers?”

WYLLIS DICKINSON, the recluse, heard it from a passerby but turned without comment to the care of his bees and the reading of his books. SAMUEL GARBER, WILLIAM STOUT, and DANIEL SEARS heart it, and like the rest of the Brethren were torn between opposition to slavery and the teaching of their church against war.

JOHN CLARK heard it and got his mill ready for new demands.

STEPHEN HURST heard it, but continued plans to open a store in Leon.

The Southern Democrats and others who loved the South heard that war had come with mixed feelings. A few had high hopes for the South, some with deep sorrow and some with bitterness knew they faced a tragic future. It was not long before the younger men, who were pro-southern must make a definite choice. They must either go south and enlist or if they did not leave, join The Golden Circle, that organization of friends of the Confederacy that made things difficult for pro-union families particularly those about to enlist.

Of course, too, many who heard the word of the firing on the flag at Fort Sumter and who had opposed war, now made the other choices possible. Some, like IGNACE HAINER, did not enlist but kept the farms, the mills and stores going. Other forced to a choice, enlisted in the Union Forces.

But though Decatur County had those who were either pro-Southern or opposed to war, the pro-Union forces from the first were the majority. For them the news of war meant immediate action, though not immediate enlistment for more than one company. The mills must be kept in operation, food raised, and of course plans for the drilling of men who would form future companies.

The one company that went into service at once was Company D of the Fourth Iowa Volunteer regiment, commanded by GEORGE BURTON, Mexican War Veteran and a native of Dublin, Ireland. JOSEPH WARNER closed his law books and became first lieutenant and JOHN SPRINGER left the farm to be second in command. Others in the company included SAMUEL BOWMAN, who would become a first lieutenant; JAMES FINLEY, later Captain FINELY; WILLIAM HARMAN, ANDREW RUMLEY, FREDERIC TEALE, and WILLIS HINES to name just a few of the seventy some men who were first to volunteer in Decatur County in 1861.

But with all the excitement of war, life went on in Decatur County that year as if there had been no change. ROYAL RICHARDSON continued to build his hotel at Pleasanton; the peaches were gathered at KELLOGG’s and GEORGE YOUNG planted more trees in his orchard. The Masons at Leon, with J. R. MCCLELLAND and GEORGE T. YOUNG among them, met regularly.

There were weddings including that of A. B. STEARNS, who each year was more prosperous.

NATHANIEL CORNETT and his wife, GINCY, after a year in Indiana returned to Iowa so she could be near her family, the HENDERSONs. SPENCER AKERS put in his crop as usual, helped by his sons. His thirteenth child would soon be born, BENJAMIN SPRINGER continued preaching at Decatur City, LYDIA and WILLIAM CASH were proud of their first son, WINFIELD, old enough now to be spoken of “as a bright little fellow.”

But in some way the county had already felt the effect of the war. The independent Order of Odd Fellows had, by the end of the year, lost so many members that they met no more until the War was over. The devout JOHN PATTERSON warned the Methodist minister SAMUEL FARLOW that he had "preached and prayed” the Union causes so fervently that his life was in danger from pro-Southerners, but the Reverend FARLOW recorded that he and his congregation continued to pray “for Honest Abe Lincoln our President.”

Also this year, whether it was related to the war or not, a would-be saloon keeper was put to rout by a group of Leon women who, finding that he had set himself up in business in what is recorded as a “photographer’s wagon” on Main Street, took action. Who the women were has so far not been known to local historians but it is stated that "some of the best women in town” surrounded the wagon, armed with hatchets; the saloon keeper fled and the business came to an end. The soldiers from Leon had not yet gone into battle but a victory had been won on the streets of Leon by women, who long before CARRIE NATION, used threatened force to keep a saloon from doing business.

As to those who had enlisted news came from Company D now at Rolla, Missouri. There were experiences, some amusing and some tragic. There was illness, including epidemics of measles, but as yet no battle causalities.

On September 14, Company L of the Third Volunteer Cavalry was mustered into service with WILLIAM MUDGETT as Captain. In this company were JOHN D. BROWN, afterwards a captain, EDGAR CURRY, EZRA FITCH, WILLIAM DUNN, BENJAMIN and CHARLES KNAPP, JOHN, CHARLES, and FRANCIS THOMPSON, SAMUEL and ABNER WOOLSEY and E. J. SANKEY, whose almost day to day diary kept during the War is cherished by his descendants.

In this company, too, four lives would end before they ever rode their horses into battle. MILTON MCQUARRY died four days before the company was mustered into service. JOHN PARTON died at Keokuk in November and on December 23, WILLIAM HAMMOND died in St. Louis, WILLIAM BRIGHT died on December 29.

Company M with JOHN W. WARNER as captain was also mustered into service in 1861. In this company the roll included: RICHARD, ROBERT, and SAMUEL BLADES; MARION, JOHN, and MONROE GUNTER; JAMES M. and JOHN C. GAMMILL (JOHN was first lieutenant); WESLEY COWLES, JAMES DALE, and WILLIAM BLAKESLEY. In this company, too, were representatives of two other families of early settlers, JEFFERSON MILLER and WILLIAM MCBROOM. Among others there were two members of the BARNES family, JAMES and AUGUSTUS, and ISAAC TEETERS.

While these companies were in service men and boys were drilling and talked of being in service after crops were harvested or after spring planting next year.

The women knitted socks and made hospital supplies. Whenever possible packages were sent to soldiers and letters written. Those received were read and reread.

The first Christmas of the War came with three companies of men already in service and the hope of a brief war had ended.

The first company to be mustered in during 1862 was A of the Seventeenth Infantry that unfortunate Iowa regiment that was “censured at its first battle (the battle of Iuka) and surrendered at its last (Tilton).” The Decatur County company has its captain, JOHN L. YOUNG, young attorney who had arrived in Leon in 1859, JESSE GARRET, first lieutenant and LORENZO SALES, second lieutenant.

In this company were WILLIAM H. H. BLAIR, who became a first lieutenant, JACOB FLORA, JOHN SYLVESTER and JOHN SYLVESTER, JR.., MORDECAI MILLER, and DAVID SEARS. Before the year of 1862 ended the misfortunes of Company A would have begun. Its second lieutenant, LORENZO SALES, who was county judge and owner of the Sales House, was forty-three when he enlisted. In a few moths he was home, discharged too ill to stay in service. GEORGE HOWARD died in September in Mississippi, CHARLES STEWART and W. GREEN died in April and FRANK LEFFLER in November. On the nineteenth of September at the battle of Iuka, HENRY WILLIS was wounded as was DANIEL ARNOLD and JOHN ZERNES.

However, there was good news of Company A also. At the battle of Iuka it was one of the two companies of the Seventeenth Regiment that did not break under fire. Captain YOUNG was put in command of the regiment and remained in command until after the battle of Corinth. Decatur County was very proud of Company A, Seventeenth Iowa Regiment and its commander that fall of 1863.

Though the men of Company A enlisted in the spring, many of the men waited to get in one more crops. They would leave their families provide for to that extent at least. How the crops would be planted and harvested the next year would be left for many a wife to consider her responsibility.

Up at Garden Grove, RACINE KELLOGG sold his cattle for $6000. He was unmarried, so with no family dependent on him, he put the money into a fund he used for Company I 34th Volunteer Infantry which he had recruited. ELI ALEXANDER, Mexican War veteran, was captain. Among those on its roll were WILLIAM SIGLERS, who died in March 1, 1863, WILLIAM BEAVERS, PERRY WOLVERTON, REUBEN and ROYAL BULLARD, DAVID MACY and JOHN MCVEY. The 34th suffered first from a measles epidemic and at Helena, Arkansas from smallpox.

On November twenty-fourth Company K of the thirty-ninth Infantry was mustered in with WILLIAM BENNETT as Captain, MILLIGAN CAIN, first Lieutenant and CORRINGTON PORTOR, second Lieutenant. This company soon went to action for WILLIAM FARNES was killed at Parkers Cross Roads in Tennessee on December thirty-first and JAMES EVANS wounded at the same battle.

All though the year of 1865 news from the battle front was waited for anxiously by those at home. When the stage coach arrived groups gathered to read the causality lists in the papers. Letters brought news of hardships of battle injuries and of sickness too. For measles, fever and pneumonia as well as other diseases claimed their victims.

Besides those already mentioned from Company A of the Seventeenth and Company K of the Thirty-ninth, there had been causalities in the companies that went into service in 1861.

On March 7, 1842, Company D was in active conflict. WILLIAM HARRISON was killed and WILLIAM HAWKINS, JAMES HARROW, ANDREW RUMLEY, WILLIS HINES and HENRY BURNS were wounded at this same battle. JOHN ARNOLD, DAVID MERRICK, WILLIAM COLWELL, ARNOTLD TUCKER, JAMES GILLHAM, JOHN MARCUM, REUBEN WILSON, FRANCIS SMITH were also wounded. Captain BURTIN was severely wounded but was not as unfortunate as JOHN P. FINLEY, whose arm had to be amputated.

The casualty list after this March seventh battle was the longest one for this company but not the last. ALONZO WORK died of injuries at Memphis in November. ROBERT F. KINNEAR died at Helena in September and JAMES ASHBURN was wounded in the head by a shell on December 28.

But all had not been sorrow and loss that year of 1862.

Clark's Mills were in increasing operation. The spinning machines first added in 1859 were busy making cloth for the government and investing the profits in government bonds. At their war time peak Clark’s Mills used 75,000 pounds of wool a year.

Davis’ mills were busy and the little settlement around it was growing.

A. B. LONG, though he told of starting life seven dollars in debt, had opened his store and would purchase land, becoming one of the county’s most prosperous men.

JOHN LOGAN continued to raise fine hogs and cattle. For him the War was a tragedy because he could not accept the invasion of the South.

EPHRAIM VAIL arrived in Garden Grove in 1862, and became the landlord of the Ohio House. Though he was said to have sheltered as many as twenty-five travelers at one time in his two-room house, records do show he built a two story so perhaps it was in use when so many were welcomed.

WILLA and MICHAEL GRIFFIN had a daughter, ELLA, born that year. At Garden Grove the JOHN SIGLERs had arrived and HENRY YOUNG was also born that year.

So life went on at home while more and more of the men went into service. There were births and deaths. There were marriages through in this war it is probable more were postponed than hastened. New settlers came, some moved farther west.

The second year of the war ended.

The Emancipation Proclamation had been issued. GRANT, now in command in the west, was undertaking the siege of Vicksburg. News from the east had been gloomy so far starting with Bull Run in 1861 and with the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville over with so much disaster there was the threat of the capture of the capitol if LEE made the advance north when spring and summer came. While the men from Decatur County were now fighting in the east so far many had relatives who were in the regiments that had fought under MCCLELLAN, BURNSIDES, and HOOKER.

As for invasion from the south, a border patrol was organized in 1862 and by 1863 Decatur County’s Company A, Third Battalion, a home guard company of some one hundred and ten members, was well organized with JAMES SUMNER as captain. It included some veterans of the Mexican War. Among those on the roll were JACOB ALLEN, J. W. CAMPBELL, JOHN BOYD, E. W. FIFER, MICHAEL FOLAND, J. P. CLEAVER, ROBERT and SAMUEL MILLSAP, COLUMBUS ROWELL, WILLIAM RUNLEY, JOHN SCOTT, JOHN and LINEUS STRONG, HIRAM, J. S. and J. D. VAUGHN, DAVID and WILLIAM WITTER and five members of the WHITECAR family.

Through the winter and spring months, death messages continued to come. During January on the steamer, Iatan, CHRISTIAN HARDMAN and MOSES HARDMAN died as did SAMUEL HARDING, JOSEPH WINTERS, JOEL HERSCHBERGER and WILLIAM. GARDNER. The Iatan meant sorry to many that month. Over crowded and dirty, it was a place where disease flourished.

From Company D came word in February of the death of ABIJAH FORTNER and ELIJAH FOLKER, JOHN MARSHAL died on February 24 on the steamer D. A. January.

Company A lost ABRAHAM JOHNSON in March. Also that month WILLIAM SILVERS died less than four month STEPHEN SILVERS’ death. The company also reported during the winter months the death of DANIEL STILES and JOHN ROGERS.

Death messages came to the families of JAMES CRAFT, ALONZO FULLER, JOSEPH LIMING, WILLIAM MCCLURE, WILLIAM MCDONALD, ORA MATHES, JOHN MERCER, and CORNELIUS SLY, all of Company I of the Thirty-fourth.

From Company K death took ROBERT AMACK, JOHN CLEAR, GEORGE COMSTOCK, and GEORGE MERCER.

In Company A of the unlucky Seventeenth GEORGE MILLER was killed in action at Jackson on May 14 as was ELIPHALET JOSEPH, ASA SLAUGHTER, and JOHN WADSWORTH and at least eight taken prisoner. Two of this company deserted in the early spring and doubtless their families felt anxiety and perhaps disgrace.

As summer came fighting was almost continuous.

Company K of the Third Missouri Cavalry included so many Decatur County men that it was considered an Iowa Company and it, too, was in active service now. On its roll were four of the HATFIELD family, two of the KEMPS.

July 4, also brought grief to Decatur County when BENJAMIN JENKINS was so severely wounded at Vicksburg that he died a few weeks later. During the last weeks of siege, WILLIAM BIRD, HUGH DAVIS, and JAMES NORMAN were among those wounded.

After the capture of Vicksburg the casually lists continued to come WILLIAM KIZZIER died on July 30 at Vicksburg, ALBERT GIBLER died the same week in Louisiana. In September Lieutenant HENRY WALTON was taken prisoner. Sergeant DAVID BECK died on August 3. NOAH GREEN was killed on picket duty. HUGH DAVIS, who had been wounded at Vicksburg, was missing in action after Missionary Ridge, and died in the Confederate prison at Andersonville. SAMUEL MUSSER was more fortunate for he was killed at Missionary Ridge and so died without suffering at Andersonville.

The list given of those who died in 1863 is incomplete but those given indicate what happened that year.

But in spite of the sorrow that had come to some many families, life went on for those still at home.

G. P. ARNOLD was a Deputy U. S. Marshal. SAMUEL HAMILTON was driving the stage that came to Leon.

School was held in the unfinished Methodist Church at Leon. Pupils who gathered around the teacher in differed corners of the room include the three BELLES (BOBBITT, BURNS, and THOMPSON) SARAH SALES, BILL KIRKPATRICK, MARTHA JORDAN, BILLY BOONE, REUBEN WELDON, and CAL HOFFMAN.

At Pleasanton the building that was to have been used as a college served as a school and SAMUEL BOWMAN taught at Davis City. Garden Grove considered their school the best in the county.

In the churches as in everything else, the War was a dominant factor. Decatur Methodist was still the strongest church. The Methodist and Presbyterians vied in Garden Grove where a few Episcopalians read their prayer books. Christenings continued to be frequent among the Catholic families in Eden [township] and mass was held at the JOHN BARRETT home.

The situation in the Methodist Church in Leon indicates how the feeling had changed by 1863 from the tolerant attitude toward those who were either from the South and so kept their state loyalty or who oppose invasion, either because they wanted no part in the War, or they believed in the right of secession.

This resolution adopted on November 11 at the quarterly conference of the Methodist Church in Leon and as recorded by NATHAN PERDEW unanimously adopted indicates what this feeling was:

“Whereas, it is evident that there are persons in Decatur County who sympathize with the rebels and show by their acts that they would sooner have them succeed then to have the Union Army put down the rebellion, who also declare themselves ready to oppose the powers that be to wit the present administration and laws of the United States, therefore to show our utter abhorrence of all who hold or utter treasonable sentiments we the official Board of Leon Circuit in quarterly conference assembled.

“Resolve: That, as our fathers, brothers, and sons, have had to fall upon the field of battle in order to subdue this ungodly rebellion and sustain the best government the sun ever shone upon.

“Therefore – In view of this we cannot fellowship with members of the church, male or female, who in any manner knowingly give aid and comfort to the enemy.

“Resolved second – That we are highly pleased with loyalty both to the church and the Union of all the church papers particularly the Central Christian Advocate.

Resolved third – That we render unto God thanks, and then to the brave boys who have so admirable acquitted themselves in the battle fields, thereby giving us hope and success.”

Not only did these church records give this evidence of feeling but they also give an idea of the prices of staples. Because the minister’s salary of $463.50 per year was partly paid in produce, the values for staples were fixed: wood $1.50 a cord, corn 20c a bushel, potatoes 40c a bushel, molasses 40c per gallon, pork $2.50.

It is interesting, too, to find that, scarce as money was, the church papers still were being read. For instance, in the Leon Circuit (Leon, Eden Smith, Pleasantville, Davis Mills, Kestlings, and Allens) one hundred and twenty were on the subscription list. Of these fifty subscribed for the Missionary Advocate, thirty-one for the Central Christian Advocate, eleven for the Sunday School Advocate and for the Ladies Repository.

The summer of 1863 was hot and dry. Men rode or walked through the dust into the little settlements to get the mail, hear the news, and say good-bye to those who left for service.

While no new company was recruited in Decatur [County], men left for war that year, some to enlist in companies being formed elsewhere or to fill depleted ranks.

Besides those leaving there were those who came home, some wounded, some ill, some who found they could not sustain the hardships of the military life. I have already mentioned the brief service of LORENZO SALES. I. N. CLARK, too, found his age and an asthmatic condition forced him to return home. Both JOHN and JOSEPH WARNER resigned their commissions and their law offices were again open. Captain GIBSON had also resigned. Major RACINE KELLOGG had returned to Garden Grove. WILL JORDAN, too ill to recover, had come home to die.

Some who came home during 1863 were either on furlough or re-entered the service. BENJAMIN NORMAN, who was so small when he first attempted to enlist that he was twice rejected, came home a veteran of Vicksburg, married JULIA SYLVESTER and, after a three-day honeymoon, returned to service. JOHN YOUNG, out of uniform, too ill to serve, recovered his health, accepted another commission and re-entered the army. His bride, LIBBIE WOODBURY, was one of the few wives of Civil War men to be able to go with her husband. She was with him for some months before she returned home to Garden Grove. After the War she and her little son again rejoined Major YOUNG and were with him until he returned him in 1866.

There were two marriages in the SPRINGER family that summer for both JOHN and OLIVER, home on furlough, married. JOHN’s bride was SARAH MCCROSY, and OLIVER’s was MAXIMILLA JOHNSON.

In many homes in Decatur County the Christmas of 1863 was particularly sad, not only because there had been so many deaths messages during that year but because there had been so many from Decatur County on SHERMAN’s march to the sea, and no word had come from them. Even word of SHERMAN’s Christmas message to Lincoln would not reach Leon until the first of the year and while that told of the end of the march and the capture of Atlanta, it did not tell what had happened to the men, who died and who survived.

In the years to come these Decatur County men who followed SHERMAN through Georgia would tell of it as if it had been a thrilling hike or a prolonged picnic. Each year at reunion dinners called by the G. A. R. a ‘campfire stove” would be told and retold until they became legend and tales of daring or mischief would be changed to apply to this one or that one, depending on who had the first chance to speak, but in 1863 it had bee a grim affair marked by pillage and burning, weeks of hardship and suffering, and death always nearby. There was little of the humor of the anecdote of the Southern girl who tipped a beehive on one soldier but fed his companion biscuits and honey or the drama of the one that told of the midnight when some Decatur County boys were awakened to face SHERMAN himself who had taken personal charge of a search for a certain cow. With SHERMAN was a beautiful Southern girl who had gotten to SHERMAN with her story of the orphaned baby, whose milk supply had been taken away. The tale ended with SHERMAN’s order that the cow, which these Decatur County boys had driven into camp, be returned and that the girl and her baby be guarded until they could be escorted to a place of safety.

Such were the stories that would be told when the boys who marched with SHERMAN to the sea would be old men, but the letters that came from them in the early months of 1864 would be few and tell little of this.

While the decisive battles of the War were over, fighting continued, and Decatur County men were stationed in the South, marching westward, or in active combat in the west.

In the summer of 1864 Company C of the Forty-eighth Iowa Infantry was mustered in for one hundred days service. There was no longer fear of invasion and a number of the men, as well as the Captain JAMES SUMMERS, been in the border patrol. There were sixty or seventy in this company that include JEPTHA ADAIR, Young CURTIS ALEXANDER, son of Captain ELI ALEXANDER, a handsome young man who in his later years would often be mistaken for “BUFFALO BILL,” GEORGE OWNBY of Decatur WILLIAM H. DOWNEY, BENJAMIN FARNES, who died in less that three months, ROBERT SCHOONOVER, JAMES VANDERPOOL, JOHN A. STRONG, and two of the WHITECARS.

This Company was the last of those recruited in Decatur County but as has been mentioned before, Decatur County men enlisted in other companies so that by 1864 it is estimated that between eight and nine hundred men had been in service.

Eleven from this county were in Company K, Tenth Kansas Infantry, including ALLEN SCOTT, JOHN R. SCOTT, and PETER SCOTT, GEORGE MOREY and FRANKLIN, all from families of the early settlers.

Company G, Sixth Calvary, Missouri Militia had on its rolls JAMES and GILLIARD SIMPSON. JACOB ZIMMERMAN was with the Thirty-fourth Missouri Infantry. Both WILLIAM GARY and ALEXANDER WALLER were in Illinois regiments.

Three Decatur County men who joined the Thirty fifth Missouri deserted, but WILLIAM OSBORN and three of the WYANT family served faithfully as did others from the County that were in this company.

Through the summer news from Decatur County men was good with but a few deaths reported. JOHN HAYES died in June and THOMAS GREY in July. GEROGE AKER’S leg was amputated, and he died August 4. In September INCREASE WHITTEN died. After the battle of Altoona on October 5, news came that WILLIAM FARNES, FRANCIS GIBLER, and JOHN KING had been killed in action and at least seven taken prison, including AARON COZAD, JAMES CLARK, and JESSE BUTTS. On October 13 the Seventeenth Regiment was forced to surrender at Tilton. Of that Company A that had stood so firmly at Iuka and fought so bravely at Corinth, at least eleven were taken prisoner and JOSEPH BOZARTH was killed. Of course, what had happened to those taken prisoner at these October battles was not known until months later.

But that was not all that concerned Decatur County people in 1864. Political activity started in the spring, and the campaign resulted in a close election and the first county victory for the Republicans, for the County had always been strongly Democratic, even when in 1862 the Republicans nominated I. P. MARTIN, an erstwhile Democrat who had come home from Shiloh seriously wounded, NATHAN PERDEW had been elected by the Democrats to the office of county clerk. That same year SAMUEL CUMMINS was elected treasurer-recorder; GEORGE WOODBURY, sheriff; and J. C. PORTER, county superintendent. There was a least one gain by the Republicans that election: I. P. MARTIN had become a stalwart Republican. In 1864 while the out come of the election was doubtful until all the votes were counted, SAMUEL FORREY, Dr. JOHN FINLEY, and GEORGE HALE could at least celebrate a political victory. FRANCIS VARGA, the Hungarian who had settled in New Buda township, was elected as clerk; IRA RYAN defeated GEORGE WOODBURY and became sheriff; C. G. BRIDGES was State Senator; JOHN ANDREWS was elected to the State House of Representatives, and office that RACINE KELLOGG had held since 1860 though in the arm part of his term.

There were other events that year.

RACINE KELLOGG married ELIZABETH YOUNG uniting two families prominent in Garden Grove. CYNTHIA WOOD, whose parents were early settlers, married ADAM MCCLAIN of another pioneer family. The MCCLAINS and WOODS had settled near each other in 1854.

There were new settlers in the County in 1864. Just to mention two of these, WILLIAM FROST came that year as did JAMES GUERNSEY. Both of these families soon became connected by marriage with families of earlier settlers. WILLIAM GITTINGER, whose parents were married in Decatur County in 1853, married a FROST. Two of her sisters married into the EVANS families, and a brother married CECILE BRACEWELL.

As for the GUERNSEYs, their daughter ALIDA married NEWTON JUDD.

WYLLIS DICKINSON still lived his secluded life but by 1864 the War had brought grief to him, just as it had to those who had not attempted to live undisturbed. The nephew, who had at times lived with him and who he had intended to name as heir to his land, died at Island Number Ten. Mr. DICKISON the offered the son of a neighbor a deed to forty acres of land if he would go into service, but it seems the offer was refused.

Up in Center Township LEWIS KOB became an elder in the Brethren Church, serving with SAMUEL GARBER and WILLIAM STOUT.

Down at Pleasanton the War brought about the tragic death of EDWARD PURCEL who was killed by members of DIKES Missouri Militia. Whether these men were on furlough or had simply crossed over from Missouri they were on the streets of Pleasanton demanding cheers for Abraham Lincoln. PURCELL refused and was murdered. There was much bitterness over this brutal act.

The cemetery at Leon still (1970) has a stone whose inscription records the bitterness of another family.
“JOSEPH BREESE
Died December 16, 1864
Dear JOSEPH thou wert a blooming youth
When driven from thy home
From east to west they banished thee
And all for war alone
Thy body now lies cold in clay
While friends and acquaintances are far away
Though JOSEPH we remember thee
Though Thy dear face we cannot see
They body now lies moldering here
Marshals and war no more to fear
We hope you’re with Jesus on high
Where cruel marshals cannot come nigh.”
 Legend has it that JOSEPH slept [while on] post duty and was executed, but his name is not on the records as a Union soldier. In the W. P. A. survey his grave is listed as that of a Confederate who died in service.

ELBERT ERNEST, who had enlisted in 1862, returned in 1864, blind from smallpox. His wife died a few weeks after his return, and his three little girls were left to be cared by a man who could not see his pretty daughters.

The year of 1864 brought much of grief and sorrow to Decatur County, but one woman, a war widow, would remember it as a year of accomplishment. WILL JORDAN came home to die in 1863. After his death his widow had their four little girls for whom to provide. She was determined that they should have a house of their own, so she hauled logs to the mill, brought back the lumber, and with little help built a small house. That year, too, she plowed the ground with her team of oxen, planted the corn and tended it with a hoe. When the year ended, the widow JORDAN and her children had their own home and food to eat.

There were new babies, new settlers, and weddings in 1864. There were wounded men; there were widow and always death messages. Some accepted them with proud sorrow and some with bitterness and despair.

So the year 1864 came to an end.

Then came 1865. The end of the War was near, but death messages still came. One of the last of these was for the OSBORN family when JOHN OSBORN died at Savannah.

In April the bell which served both the Methodist Church and the school house rang three times. The first time it was the joyous peal of victory when news came that LEE had surrendered. Then came a day when it tolled the sad news that had come that morning. ABRAHAM LINCOLN was dead. On the day of his funeral it was tolled during the hour of the service and could be heard over the open prairie as far north as where the GARBER homestead was.

Now the War was over and the men were coming home, some from the South up the Mississippi, a few from stations in the Far West, and more from the East. Of those who came from the East there were those who would tell with pride in later years of how they had marched in the Grand Review in Washington and had a last glimpse of ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

But from whatever direction the men came, or after what experiences they returned, there was no quick and easy journey home. Whether they were discharged at Houston, Texas; Leavenworth, Kansas; Atlanta, Georgia; Washington, D. C., of some other place they happened to be, they made their own way home. Company K of the Thirty-seventh Infantry was deactivated at Louisville, Kentucky.

Company I of the Thirty-fourth left he service August 13 at Houston, Texas. Company K of the Thirty-ninth were in the Grand Review and were mustered out June 5 at Washington, D. C.

However, wherever they were they could now come home, not by plane or automobile and not even by train to Leon. some came in mid-summer, some not until late fall and a few remained in service until 1886 as did Captain JOHN GAMMILL who was put in charge of a Negro company, and Major YOUNG, whose wife and little son joined him in the South.

A survey made by a Leon High School student, who interviewed Civil War veterans seventy years later, indicated that some came by boat up the Mississippi to Keokuk and Burlington, some came by train as far as possible, some arrived in Leon on the stage, a good many walked part of the way.

While many of the sick and wounded had returned home long before the War ended there were those who came discharged from Army hospitals.

Those who came from the prisons were in pathetic condition. J. H. GREY was one of those who survived imprisonment in Andersonville.

Not all retuned from the Army, for even inland Iowa had some in the Navy. Tow of these served part of their time together, “Captain” JENKS and TAD GROGAN. “Captain” JENKS never tired of telling how young TAD saved his life by throwing over board a shell that was about that explode on deck of a ship on which they both served. TAD enlisted in March of 1865 an as he was not quite sixteen, served as a powder boy on the gun boat Nymph. At the close of the War he served on four other boats until discharged in November, 1865.

It would be impossible to list all that returned home crippled or broken in heath, but to tell of a few will indicate what happened to many strong men or teenage boys who left Decatur County for war.

BILLIE SULLIVAN had but one arm now. E. J. SANKEY, unable to walk, soon had a leg amputated; ELBERT ERNEST was blind; and JACOB ALLEN was lame, suffering from gun shot wounds. W. D. COCKERHAM’s eyesight was impaired; V. W. PIERCY had been injured by a fall from a train while in the army; and JACOB COZAD was lame and never recovered from the effects of his wounds. JOHN SPRINGER lived for years but died from the effects of his war sufferings. Neither CHARLES MOORE nor GARRET GIBSON would ever again be in good health. Young JAMES SWAN came home ill and died after two years of suffering.

One of the most dramatic stories of those who returned wounded was that of Captain CHARLES JOHNSON who was terribly wounded in battle and taken to a hospital in Atlanta. His mother, MRS. JAMES KELLOGG JOHNSON, hearing where he was, managed to get to Atlanta and cared for him until Atlanta was captured and he was no longer a prisoner. Her nice, JOSEPHINE KELLOGG, joined her, and they were able to bring him home.

He was unable to walk or even sit and lay almost always on his stomach on a cork mattress placed on an army cot. CHARLES JOHNSON lived almost fifteen years after the War ended. He went for rides in a wagon on which his cot was placed, he drove the team, even learned to hunt game lying prone. He read, he visited with friends and before he died he married a girl who had come to love him after he was brought back from war. SARA MANNEY knelt by his cot where he lay in front of the altar of an Episcopal Church and became the wife of the man who at twenty had enlisted and twenty-three was a captain and at the battle of Jackson stood erect for the last time.

But no matter what their condition all of the men who had left home for war must have been eager to return.

For instance, Company M arrived in Illinois across the river form Keokuk. They were so eager to be on Iowa soil that they attempted to cross the river on the ice. Misunderstanding shouts of warning for those of welcome, they were out on the ice before they realized it would not bear their weight. Some who had survived the dangers of war almost drowned before they could be rescued.

Perhaps no one's retun caused more surprise and joy that that of HERNY BRIGHT who had been reported dead after the battle of Altoona which had been so disastrous for a Decatur County company. Seriously wounded and a prisoner, he could get no word to his family. When he arrived home, he was “greeted as one returned from the dead” to quote an old chronicle of his family.

Such were the stories told of those who returned ill and crippled. Of course there were others who like ABLE CHASE could say that they had never missed a roll call though in many battles had never been wounded.

Of many of the returned soldiers it could be said as of JOHN BOWMAN who enlisted when twelve years old that “he went away as a boy and returned a man,” for many had enlisted as teenage boys. The time in service made them much older that their years.

A few of those who returned had much to tell during those first months at home, but more of them had little to say of war experiences as they returned to civilian life. Not until they were old men, and even then sometimes reluctantly, they told of what it meant to be a soldier in the Civil War.

There were those who were not veterans who did not care to talk about the War.

Some of those who were most silent had been members of The Knights of the Golden Circle, made up of those who opposed the War and were Southern sympathizers. Of this Mrs. KELLOGG says, “The Knights of the Golden Circle were first exposed at Pleasanton and in less than four days the effect was felt all along our lines form Kansas to the sea.” But as to when and how this happened nor who was involved she does not tell. Her statement, the Resolution of the Methodist Conference already quoted, and a few incidents in the period of the War are all that it seems possible to find about this Southern underground in the county, though doubtless there are in existence family letters and other records though doubtless there are in existence family letters and other records that would tell more but those who have them, like those of the Knights at the close of the War, have no eagerness to give them publicity.

There were others who had not been sympathetic towards the South who were not interested in talking about the War, because they had not war experience to remember or recount though there were few families that did not have some member who had been in service.

Down in the Irish settlement young TAD GRIFFIN was the war hero and related to most of the families there; EMORY DOBOZY represented the Hungarians; and DAVID SEARS of the Brethren family of SEARS had enlisted.

JOHN LOGAN remained with the Methodist Church South and there were doubtless others who did not return to churches that had condemned the Southerners.

Of course, too, there was much else besides the War to talk about in 1865.

There were marriages, some of them weddings that had been postponed because of the War and some of them because returned soldiers made looking for a wife their immediate interest. G. R. BATHE married MARY MCDONALD; JOHN MCLAUGHLIN married MARY WOODMANSEE; HESTER STILES, cousin of General CUSTER and a war widow, married JAMES HITCHCOCK who had five sons in service. Dr. MACY, whose second wife had died, now had MARGARET CRUIKSHANK MACY as his wife. ROBERT HOUSTON married AMANDA WRAY, whose father was killed in battle; WILLIAM BOZARTH was courting MARTHA FRANCIS; EDWARD TAFT, who had marched with SHERMAN to the sea and returned home with a crippled arm, married SARAH MCGREW; A. C. NORTHRUP married MELISSA BROWN, sister of Captain JOHN BROWN; WILLIAM BIGGS married CAROLINE CLARK, daughter of JOHN CLARK and MARGARET GAMMIN CLARK, just to mention a few of the weddings of the year.

There were babies born that were the first in some families since the start of the War.

Babies died that year too for infant mortality was still high. ALFRED and BATHSHEBA CUMMING, whose son had died at nine months in 1863, buried another son beside him in 1865. JOHN and MARY DAVIS could sympathize with them for nearby was buried ROELLIA DAVIS who died in 1863 and her sister RACHEL who died in 1864.

New families came to Decatur County in 1865, very welcome because the population decreased during the War. J. W. LILLIARD and his family came that year, adding another Methodist family to the county. Mr. and Mrs. LILLIARD had eleven children, some born in this county. JORDAN KOGER came that year with $3500 in cash and $2500 in stock. Of his sixteen children six died in infancy before he came to Iowa; JOHN and HARRIET EIKER arrived in 1865 with their son JOHN and daughter MIRANDA. These and other arrivals were topics of conversation. New settlers were needed. The census of 1865 credited the county with only 8052, over 600 less than in 1860.

Politics, too, could always be discussed. Though the county offices that year were for the most part held by Republicans, the election that fall favored the Democrats. SAMUEL THOMPSON made a successful campaign for treasurer and W. W. ELLIS for recorder, which became a separate office that year. FRACIS VARGA, Republican, continued as clerk of court.

There had been four years of war, and many wished to forget that is had ever been and yet, however fervent the wish, it had cut too deeply no to leave scars.

Over nine hundred men had enlisted, nearly a hundred and died, scores were crippled or broken in health. For years there would be bitterness and recrimination.

Each election time the war records of the candidates would be praised or derided and lacking adequate pensions, the war crippled would be compensated with public office.

There were widows and orphans for whom the War was not over and aged parent who were left without the care of a son who died in service would have given them.

The War that had divided the County and cost so dearly in lives lost could not be forgotten even with all the new interests.

For years even the little first graders would know the names of the men who marched in blue uniforms on Memorial Day, know those who carried swards and be thrilled as BOB GOOD, Negro barber, Civil War veteran and “English” JIM EVANS played the fife drum.

Years would pass and each year the ranks of the Grand Army of the Republican grew thinner. Men who had marched with SHERMAN to the sea were too feeble to walk up the hill to the cemetery and at the end of the line came a carriage for those not too proud to ride.

A man who served in PICKETT’s Brigade visited his daughter, wife of the Methodist minister, and was welcomed at G. A. R. meeting. Agony on the battle field was forgotten as was the bitter hat of war. The ties between the old soldiers grew stronger and stretched to include even the enemy.

Then came a year when there were no G. A. R.’S able to march on Memorial day. There were other wars and veterans of wars in other lands. Soon there were no living veterans of the Civil War and each year fewer who remembered.

Then and only then was the War of the Rebellion really over in Decatur County.
 
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