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Shelby County |
Home 1889 History Index |
Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon Counties
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If there is any one thing more than another of which the people of the northern States have reason to be proud, it is the bright record they made during the dark and bloody days of the Rebellion. When this great civil war was forced upon the country the people were quietly pursuing the even tenor of their ways, doing whatever their hand found to do -- making farms, cultivating those already improved, erecting homes, founding cities and towns, building shops and factories -- in short, the country was alive with industry and buoyant with hopes of the future. While they were imediately surrounded with peace and tranquillity, they paid but little attention to the rumored plots and plans of those who grew rich from the sweat and toil, blook and flesh of others; aye, even trafficking in their own offspring. But, like a fierce thunder-storm, came the world's greatest war. The last words of Lincoln's proclamation calling for men hardly ceased to vibrate along the telegraphic wires before the quota was full -- 75,000 men only too ready to defend the Union of States! Patriotism thrilled and pulsated through every heart -- the farm, the shop, the office, the store, the factory, the bar, the pulpit -- aye, even college and school-room offered their best men, their lives and fortunes, in defense of the unity and honor of their government and its flag. Party lines were for the time lost sight of -- all with one accord rushed to the rescue, repeating in spirit the oath of America's soldier-statesman, "By the Great Eternal, the Union must and shall be preserved." At the time Fort Sumter was fired upon by rebel arms Shelby County had only a population of about 800 people, men, women and children, all poor people who had come hither to build homes for themselves in this then wild, undeveloped country, far from railroads and market places. Yet they were not so far that they did not hear and heed the call for troops. Out of a population averaging during the war about 300 men, she sent nearly fifty to the service. Local history is a record of events, and no better authority for such events can possibly be obtained than those to be found in public records and documents furnished at the time by county, State and national officials. Especially is this true of war records. In preparing a list of those who served as soldiers from Shelby County during the Rebellion, all possible caution has been exercised to publish a complete list; but it should be understood that the local historian has no safer guide to aid him in such long-ago data than the Adjutant-General's reports for Iowa, which contain but few errors. The following is extracted from such reports: THE FOURTH INFANTRY, COMPANY "B."--Benjamin T. Lakin, Hiram Simmons, veteran. William Longeor, Daniel White, James E. Reed (died), Elias Monroe, John E. Knott, James Harwell, William Cuppy (died). THE THIRTEENTH INFANTRY (UNASSIGNED).--Charles E. Butterworth, William H. Buckhold, Albert Crandell, Alfred Jackson, Samuel W. Kemp, Milton Lirich, William Frantz, veteran. THE FIFTEENTH INFANTRY, COMPANY "H."--Henry Frantz. THE TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY, COMPANY "I."--Jesse Casteel, Merriam Carlton, David Duckett, Martin Obrecht, William A. Rigg, Milton H. Stanton, Ed. A. Sweeney, Harvey Inglesbee, H. N. Baughman, William Frantz, George Castell. THE TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY, COMPANY "C."--George W. Hedge, First Lieutenant, Company "c;" Charles W. Oden, Quartermaster; David Romig, William B. Tarkington. THE NINTH CAVALRY, COMPANY "M."--Harvey Ingelsbe, John Deweell, J. N. Wyland, James G. Kemp, Peter H. Longcor, Joseph A. Bunnell, Daniel S. Bowman, Samuel Cammel, John Fritz, Luther Ingelsbe, Robertson Kairns, James Rhodes, Warren Wicks, Daniel Watesbury, Michael White. THE FOURTH CAVALRY, COMPANY "L."--I. L. Leoney (died). FOURTH CAVALRY.--Charles C. Rice, Colonel; Nicholas White. |
| Prev <=== Continue Reading ===> Next Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass February, 2015 from "Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon Counties", Chicago: W. S. Dunbar & Co., 1889, pg. 249-250. |
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