In the early part of the 1900's Webster City was home to a special person who went by the name Shiloh. He was a concern to residents whenever floods threatened his shack on an island in the Boone River. People would align the banks of the river and stand on the bridge to watch. Sometimes people would row to the island and try to coax Shiloh to leave his home. At other times, when he refused to leave, ropes would be fastened to his house. These were tied off to trees along the river bank to keep it from floating away.

Shiloh arrived in Webster City one night in 1867 playing his drum. Townspeople were awakened to the noise and some ventured out in nightclothes to investigage. There they saw a ragged boy, who kept telling them, "They told me to play my drums. I am the drummer boy of Shiloh." Some people thought him insane, others were even a little afraid of him. Some said that he was so young that he could not have fought in the Battle of Shiloh. Others told each other that very young boys did serve during the war, some as young as 14. Shiloh was not even that old. Maybe he did play a drum during the battle. Young lads were used to carry messages, so it was possible that he tagged along with the battle and did play his drum as he insisted he had.

After a few years, people began to look upon him more kindly. He built himself a shack on an island about 50 yards south of the Dubuque Street Bridge (now called the Bank Street Bridge.) The Catholic Church, located at the northeast corner of the bridge, was demolished in 1900 when the congregation moved to their new church on Des Moines Street. The scrap building materials were collected to add to Shiloh's cabin. Eventually, it became a two-story building of sorts. The upper portion was a sleeping loft.

Shiloh was a storyteller, fisherman, and recluse. He was kind to children who came by, sharing his rowboat if they helped him gather firewood. He wandered about town in search of anything discarded by residents. Much of his food was gathered from the garbage cans behind the grocery stores and restaurants in town. He was often seen collecting cabbages, carrots, and other produce that had been discarded. In later years, some restaurants would save good food until they knew that Shiloh was about. Then they set it out for him to find. They were especially happy if they could save back a piece of pie or cake for a special treat for him.

Whenever housewives cleaned out their closets, they would send their husbands to find Shiloh and leave bundles of clothing for him to sort through. Though Shiloh never had much, it was obvious that the townspeople adopted him and looked out for him.

MacKinlay Kantor was a young lad who was intrigued by Shiloh's stories about the Civil War, a topic that Kantor later wrote much about. He spent a lot of his time with Shiloh as they explored the riverbank. Shiloh taught Kantor much about the plants and animals they found.

Shiloh died on December 7, 1913. Kanter asked his mother, Effie, if she would not take him to the interment at Graceland Cemetery. Kanter later related that only four people were in attendance on that cold winter day. One was the pastor, one was an identified man, and Kantor and his mother. At this time, Kantor was about 9 years old. Shiloh was buried in an unmarked grave. This grave remained unmarked until 1976.

Lloyd Oakland came back to Webster City, after retiring as the head of the music department at the University of Montana. He became interested in the Shiloh story and started researching it. It was discovered that Shiloh's name was Charles Olmstead. He was the son of Charles Olmstead, Sr., who was buried on the same lot. Oakland then canvassed the town for assistance in getting a permanent marker for Shiloh's grave. It was placed on the lot on November 3, 1976.

A picture of Shiloh's cabin, similar to the picture with this story, was placed on many postcards that were sold in town. His picture also appeared in the Daily Freeman Journal at many times, and was also printed in the book, "Webster City, Then and Now." Shiloh's story spans much of our 20th Century.