CHAPTER XII

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WAR OF THE REBELLION

    The subject of our civil war naturally divides itself into two parts; how we became involved in the great conflict and how it was fought to a glorious conclusion. The elimination of millions of facts which seem important, and the presentation, in just proportions, of a few thousand which have a general and abiding interest, is not here attempted. "The momentous struggle was on such a gigantic scale, the events so many, its area so vast and its duration so considerable" as to give one thoughtful hesitation.

    The whole field has been surveyed from every point of view by conscientious historians, and their conclusions duly recorded. Some of them emphasize the importance of the declarations of the political leaders and platforms of the contending parties, and others place the emphasis upon military campaigns, sieges and decisive battles. During the continuance of the war, it occupied the center of the world's stage, and grave questions, as they arose form time to time, were discussed by the newspaper press; for here, more vividly than elsewhere are all public questions fully debated. From this wide field, space forbids us to enter and glean facts and conclusions for the purpose of this chapter. From the earliest period of our national history, thoughtful people deplored the existence of human slavery. They recognized the incongruity of a government, founded upon the principle of universal freedom from oppression, and at the same time holding the negro in bondage

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and depriving him of his rights. The problem of the moral evil of slavery is not here discussed, but the institution existed in many of the colonies.

    In the formation of our American Constitution, slavery was a perplexing problem that was only solved, for the time being, by a mutual agreement to its recognition. The word slave was so obnoxious that its substitute, "persons held to service or labor," was employed in the wording of the instrument. From that early compromise measure, up to the beginning of the civil war, slavery was a constant source of irritation and contention between the slave holding and non-slave holding states of the American Union. The former, through the cohesive power of capital, had grown in power and influence. At the inception of the war, three hundred thousand slave holders constituted an oligarchy so powerful that they had control of all the departments of the government and these arrogantly contended that as slaves were property, by terms of the Constitution, they had the right to take and hold them as such wherever they chose to go in the American Union. The moral sentiment of the North protested against this assumption, and would not consent that there should be one foot of slave territory beyond what the old thirteen states held at the formation of the Union.

    Kansas, free territory, became the battle ground between freedom and slavery. It was here that the opposing forces met. It was here that the war of ideas was fought to finish, and the attempt to establish slavery upon free soil by force, fraud and intimidation, came to naught. The people, ultimately, in an orderly election, settled the controversy for all time. During what is known as the "Kansas War," the excitement of the entire country was at fever heat. The pulpit and the press, north and south, entered the controversy with vigor and determination. The publication of Harper's "Impending Crisis" and Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin;" the unequivocal utterances of William H.

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Seward in the "Irrepressible Conflict;" the brutal assault upon Sumner in the United States Senate; the John Brown raid upon Harper's Ferry, and the utterance of Abraham Lincoln that the country could not permanently exist "half slave and half free," were some of the great events that occupied the public mind.

    The state of South Carolina seceded and led a revolt against the Union, hereby leading to the establishment of a rival government. Once before, during the administration of President Jackson, South Carolina attempted to annul the laws of the Untied States—an act of disunion and against the letter and spirit of the Constitution. President Jackson, in unambiguous terms, summed up his objections to this act of "Nullification," and coerced obedience to National authority. He said, "I consider the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one state, incompatible with the existance [existence] of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed. To say that any state may, at pleasure, secede from the Union, is to say that the United States is not a nation, because it would be a solecism to contend that any part of a nation might dissolve its connection with the other parts, to their injury or ruin, without committing any offense. The right to make treaties, and to exercise judicial and legislative powers, are all functions of sovereign power," and, after stating that the Union was brought into being by mutual sacrifice of interests and opinions and that it was formed for the benefit of all, he concludes with an eloquent tribute to the people of South Carolina, in words of warning and entreaty that will live forever:

    "Contemplate the conditions of that country of which you still form an important part; consider its government, uniting in one bond of common interest and general protection. So many different states, giving to all their inhabitants the proud title of

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American citizens, protecting their commerce, securing their literature, their arts, facilitating their inter-communication, defending their frontiers and making their name respected in the remotest parts of the earth. Consider the extent of its territory, its increasing and happy population, its advance in the arts which render life agreeable, and the sciences which elevate the mind. See education spreading the light of religion, humanity and general information into every college in this wide extent of our territories and states. Behold it as the asylum where the wretched and the oppressed find a refuge and support; look on this picture of happiness and say, 'We, too, are citizens of America. Carolina is one of these proud states; her arms have defended, her best blood has cemented this happy Union,' and then add,if you can, without horror and remorse, 'This picture of peace and prosperity we will deface; this free intercourse we will interrupt; these fertile fields we will deluge with blood; the protection of that glorious flag we renounce. The very name of America we discard, and for what mistake?' Men! For what do you throw away these inestimable blessings? For what do you exchange your share in the advantages and honor of the Union? For the dream of a separate existence, a dream interrupted by bloody conflict with your neighbors and a vile dependence on foreign power."

    The people of the North generally held that the Government was something more than a contract to be made and violated without general consent, and something more than a "League," as claimed by Jefferson Davies, President of the Confederacy. Lincoln held that all the power confided to him would be used to "hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the Government." This, he declared in his first inaugural address to Congress, would be his single purpose; distinctly disclaiming any intention of interfering, directly or indirectly, with the institution of slavery in the states where it existed; that he

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had no lawful right nor inclination to do so; and that the property, peace and security of no section would be endangered by the incoming administration. And, like his distinguished predecessor, Andrew Jackson, he made an earnest and pathetic plea to those who contemplated the destruction of the Nation, with all its memories, benefits and hopes. He implored them to "think calmly and well" before committing such wickedness and folly.

    Words of warning and entreaty, by patriotic statesmen in Congress and through the press were inadequate to prevent the irreparable harm to State and Nation, and all such appeals fell upon deaf ears. A reign of tyranny had been established in South Carolina and could not be overthrown except by resort to arms, as the sequel showed. Her attempt to be freed from what she counted vexatious restraints had long been contemplated, but threats of disunion were considered by the great body of the people of the North so absurd as to receive but slight attention—yet one state after another followed her lead in seceding from the Union, justifying their acts upon the theory so completely exploded by Jackson, Webster, and many others, that the states were "sovereign," and could retire at will. They repudiated the authority of Congress or any other national authority that should contravene their sovereign will.

    Reasonable and unreasonable concessions were made them. The peace conference, composed of representatives of all the northern states, was held at Washington upon the unanimous invitation of the Legislature of Virginia, and met there a month prior to the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln. Thirteen free states were represented (James Harlan was representative for Iowa) for the adjustment of the difficulties between the states, to the end that harmony might be restored and the Union preserved. Amendments to the Constitution were proposed and various projects were discussed by that able body of men, but it all availed nothing. Humiliating concessions were made, but to no purpose. There was undisguised exultation among the

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secessionists upon the arrival of news that South Carolina had passed a secession ordinance.

    The event was hailed with instant and general exultation by the friends of disunion throughout the entire slave-holding states. There were parades, celebrations, music, cannon firing, and speeches. Celebrations were held in New Orleans, Mobile, and Memphis—where Senator Andrew Johnsons was burned in effigy. At places where secessionists were few, like Wilmington, Dela. the event was honored by one hundred guns. When it was announced in the lower house, three or four southern members clapped their hands. Their orators were full of the joyous anticipations of success for their cause and the success of a confederation of states with slavery as the chief corner stone of its superstructure.

    Thoughtful, liberty-loving people were amazed at such a departure from the fundamental theory of the Republic. The thought seemed too absurd to be entertained. In the progress of events, the time had arrived when no heed was given to the discussion of abstract governmental principles.

    The blow had fallen. Fort Sumpter had been fired upon, and self preservation, that first law of nature, asserted itself. A task herculean in its nature, and requiring bravery, self sacrifice and determination, confronted the Nation, which was ill prepared to meet a resourceful foe, strongly entrenched by well planned preparation.

    The defensive fortifications located within the seceded states were "thirty in number, mounting over three thousand guns, and having cost at least twenty million dollars." These were nearly all in the hands of the Confederates before Mr. Lincoln became President, his immediate predecessor, Buchanan, having sanctioned the transfer of much of this property to the South. Fortress Monroe, Va., Fort Sumpter, S. C., Fort Pickings, Fla., and the fortresses at Key West, were in the possession of the National Government. The insurgents had

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full possession of the government property in North Carolina and the costly and extensive Navy Yard at Pensacola. The South held within its borders the government arms, munitions, trains, arsenals, provisions, the Southern revenue cutters, mints, custom houses, and sub-treasuries, (over half a million of dollars in gold having been seized at New Orleans alone). It may safely be estimated that the Rebellion had possession, itself, of thirty millions' worth of Federal property before Mr. Buchanan left the White House. This was increased to forty millions by the seizure of Harper's Ferry arsenal and Norfolk Navy Yard, with its ships of war and two thousand cannon, before a single blow was struck on the side of the Union.

    Added to this was the fact that for many years no public opposition to the "peculiar institutions" of the South had been permitted. The journals, religious organizations, and the political parties, were alike subservient to the slave power. The patronage of the Government, throughout the slave states, had been bestowed upon the adherents of Buchanan's administration, making a cohesive, arrogant and defiant power, which in legislatures and conventions unanimously resolved against exclusion of slavery from the territories. The governors of the Southern States were heart and soul in this conspiracy. The Confederates were united. They had a positive creed, a definite purpose, and were thoroughly in earnest. Their adherents and sympathizers were the aristocrats, Tories—the "hereditary masters and chief priests of the old world," and the downfall of the Republic would have been hailed by them with delight. The Confederate armies could be filled with the poor whites, using the labor of the slaves to feed and clothe them; there was a fair prospect that the maritime powers of Europe would need their staple crop, cotton, and would speedily recognize the independence of the Confederacy.

    The loyal North, though appalled in the presence of these difficulties, heroically determined to defend the Union. The

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heart of the loyal millions, obeying the patriotic impulse, surmounted every obstacle, and those who survived the conflict were permitted to see the symbol of national authority and power wave in triumph, accepted and beloved by a free and reunited people. It was, indeed, "the new birth of freedom." This inestimable blessing is due to "the valor of our soldiers, the constancy of our ruling statesmen, the patriotic faith and courage of those citizens who, within a period of three years, loaned more than two billion of dollars to their Government, when it seemed to many just tottering on the brink of ruin"—yet more than all else to the favor and blessing of Almighty God.

    Horace Greeley, in his "American Conflict," (Page 759, Vol. II) states that the whole number of men from time to time called into the National service during the war was 2,688,523; that it is probable that not more than 1,500,000 effectively participated in suppressing the Rebellion. Of this number, 56,000 fell dead in the field, 35,000 more are recorded as dying of wounds in hospitals, while 184,000 perished by disease, and enough died after discharge, from causes traceable to the service, to make an aggregate loss by the war 300,000. Mr. Greeley estimates that the total subtraction from the productive forces of our country, north and south, and reached the stupendous aggregate of one million men. It was a conflict unparalleled in the history of civilization. The Sanitary Commission and the Christian Commission disbursed about $5,000,000 in cash and $9,000,00 in supplies, and Mr. Greeley says it would be quite within the truth to estimate the aggregate of free will offerings in aid of the National cause at $5,000,000, or equal to one hundred dollars for each family inhabiting the loyal states of the Union.

    In the gigantic struggle for National Supremacy, the state of Iowa was among the foremost, if not the foremost. She did not falter nor hesitate to engage in the trying ordeal that awaited

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her and the Nation. The first call of President Lincoln was for 75,000 troops, April 15, 1861, "to maintain the honor, integrity and existence of our National Union," and the perpetuity of popular government.

    In this crisis, the state was fortunate in having a governor who was equal to the demands of the occasion; a leader and organizer without a peer—Samuel J. Kirkwood, a grand man, commanding the confidence of the people; independent, honest, fearless and fully aroused to the importance and magnitude of the struggle upon which the Nation was entering. Party lines were forgotten and the people were actuated by a common patriotic cause.

    Iowa, the first free state of the Missouri Compromise, had already made a record of loyalty by an act of the General Assembly as early as 1851, and by joint resolution declared that the state of Iowa was "bound to maintain the Union of these states by all the means in her power." The same year she furnished a block of marble for the Washington Monument at the National Capitol, by order of the General Assembly, with this inscription, "Iowa—her affections, like the rivers of her borders, flow to an inseparable Union."

    The time was fully ripe when these declarations were to be put to a practical test. Our citizens were not only ready and willing, but eager to respond, and within thirty days after the President's call for troops, the first Iowa regiment was mustered into the service of the United States and a second regiment was in camp awaiting orders. A special session of the Legislature was convened on the 15th day of May and every resource of man and means was duly pledged to the National cause. A loan of $800,000.00 was authorized to meet the new emergency. Two additional regiments were raised and were eager to go to the front. In the month of May, one hundred and seventy companies had been tendered the Government. The first regiment and a part of the second were fitted out with such

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clothings as could be obtained in the state, donated by individuals—mostly loyal women. A citizen of McGregor, Iowa, offered to provide clothing for three regiments, taking pay therefore in State Bonds at par. He ordered the goods from Boston, Mass., and they were delivered at Keokuk, Iowa, in exactly one month from the time he entered into the contract with the State. Unfortunately, the color of the uniforms was gray, Iowa was not alone in this respect, however, as other loyal states had selected this color before an official color was adopted. Henceforth, blue was the color of distinction and honor.

    A conservative estimate of the number of men in the state liable to render military service, was 150,000. From this number there were formed thirty-nine regiments of infantry, nine regiments of cavalry, and four companies of artillery, composed, of "three year" men; one regiment composed of "three months" men, and four regiments and one battalion of infantry composed of "one hundred day" men. In no instance was Iowa, as a whole, found to be indebted to the general Government for men, on settlement of her quota accounts. Draft was enforced where sub-districts failed to respond to the call of the general Government for troops. As a state, Iowa did more than was required. Three regiments of infantry—the 17th, 18th and 37th—and four regiments of cavalry—the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th—were enrolled, not to meet the call, but voluntarily, as they were in excess of all demands that could be lawfully made.

    The original enlistments in these various organizations, including 1,727 men raised by draft, numbered a little more than 69,000. The re-enlistments, including upwards of 7,000 veterans, numbered nearly 8,000 men. The enlistments in the Regular Army and Navy, and organizations of other states, will, if added, raise the total to upward of 80,000. In 1862, under the authority of the General Assembly, the Northern and Southern Brigades were organized; the one for the protection

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of the northwest part of the state from the invasion of dissatisfied Indians, and the other against Guerilla bands along the entire southern border—a necessary precaution, the expense being borne by the state during the two years of their existence. The state contributed a large number of men and many officers to regiments in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and out of 2,000 arms-bearing colored citizens, was raised nearly a whole regiment. There were a number of Iowa citizens in the Regular Army and in the different staff departments of the Volunteer Army in different states.

    The people of Montgomery County were fully alive to the issue involved. They realized that if the principle of secession should establish itself, they, with all other Iowans, would be isolated, and the principal artery of commerce, the Mississippi River, would be severed and fall into the hands of a foreign power; that confusion and anarchy would exist among contending petty sovereignties; that without a constitution and without courts to settle disputes, the sword would be their only arbitrator. The county was sparsely settled, one township not having one man liable to military duty and several others not enough for a corporal's guard. Despite this fact, Montgomery County had a larger per cent of enlistments in the Union Army than any other county in the State, although it could not furnish a full company. Two of its volunteers had the distinction of being commissioned officers. One of these was Charles B. George, of Villisca, now a resident of Beaver City, Neb., who was Captain of Company F, Twenty-third Regiment of Iowa Infantry. This regiment was engaged at Vicksburg, Port Gibson, Black River, Champion Hills, Mill's River Bend and Fort Blakely, and was mustered out in Texas in July 1865. Its Colonel was William Dewey of Fremont County, Iowa, and W. H. Kinsman of Council Bluffs, Iowa was its Lieutenant Colonel. The other commissioned officer of the county was David Ellison, who was made Lieutenant of Company E,

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Sixth Iowa Cavalry. About twenty men from different parts of the county became members of his company. The regiment including this company operated with Gen. Sully's command, going up the Missouri River as far as Fort Pierre and marching west as far as the Yellowstone. It had an engagement and severely punished a band of hostile Indians at White Stone Hill (Ta-kaek-ootah). Mr. Ellison served on the staff of Gen. Sully as Quartermaster, Adjutant, Judge Advocate and Ordinance Officer. While in command of his company, he was ordered up the Platte River as far as Julesburg, one hundred and fifty miles east of Denver. The regiment was mustered out of service at Fort Leavenworth late in the spring of 1865. Mr. Ellison did not return to the county to practice his profession, law, Kansas City, Mo., presenting a more attractive field than Frankfort, situated in a wilderness of prairie.

    The Adjutant General's report of enlistment (see report) shows that they were represented in companies raised in adjoining counties and in other states. It is quite impossible to give an adequate account of the battles, sieges and marches participated in by those who were never permitted to join their families and witness the victories of peace. Daniel C. Powell, a courteous and accomplished gentleman, former Clerk of the District Court, fills a patriot's grave. James Rogers, a teacher, was slain on the plains of Dakota, his body pierced with Indian arrows. The young son of C. A. Gordon was killed in the taking of Arkansas Post; James Bond fell at the battle of Black River Bridge, and Milton Bond at Chattanooga. Leonard Lott, a brother of H. S. Lott of Villisca, was swept away from a Government Transport in the Gulf of Mexico and drowned. The histories of the 4th and 20th regiments of Iowa Volunteer Infantry, containing many of the young men of Montgomery County, is found in the Adjutant General's Report, which, however, is meager and leaves unrecorded deeds of sacrifice

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and heroism worth of greater consideration than is here given. They were brave men and true patriots: