Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-04-18
Iowa Shiloh Monument Com
mission Glad to Have the
Work Completed
DEDICATION TAKES PLACE MAY 80
Men Who Have Served on the Com
mission Were Veterans of the Great
Battle and Had Personal Interest
Much GroundIess criticism-The
Bronze Tablets.
Special to Times-Republican.

Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, April 1S.-The members
of the Iowa commission on the battle
field monuments at Shiloh, will be
greatly relieved when the dedication
ceremonies are over, and the monument
work is all closed up. 1t has been trying
task for them. and only owing to the
fact that they have felt personal IN
terest in the work, each one having
been in the battles at Shiloh, they have
kept at the work. The dedication date
has been fixed for May 80. For this the
commission was criticised, as a number
insisted that it should be on the an
lniversary of the battle of Shiloh-but
the monuments could not be got ready
at that time. The event in May will be
portunity to get a good crowd much
better The monuments are now be-
ing erected on the ground. The bases
for the monuments have been set by
the United States and the contractors
have only to erect the monuments
which have been cut and prepared in
the shops elsewhere. The heavy stones
are taken up the Tennessee river by
boat and transported to the battlefield
on wagons. The work will all be done
before the date of the dedication. The
commission will go to Paducah, thence
by steamboat to the scene. Formal an
nouncement of the plans will not be
made for some time, but there will be
no change in the program. 1t is prob
able that not as good rates can now be
secured for the Iowa party as has been
promised previous to the dedication of
the Indiana monuments. The fact is
that the Indiana dedication about two
weeks ago was a good deal of a frost.
The Indiana commission had planned
for 5000 to 5000 Indiana soldiers 10 go
to the ceremonies and q fine program
had been arranged. Six steamboats, had
been engaged to go up the Tennessee
river and carry the people. AS a mat
ter of fact about 450 soldiers went on
the trip, from Paducah, and the steam
boat companies are out of pocket be-
cause of the extravagant expectations
Of the Indiana people. The trip from
Indiana points was much shorten than
from Iowa, and the steamboat con1pan-
les feel that it is safe to assume that
not as many will go from Iowa as went
from Indiana. So they are discounting
the promises of the Iowa commission.
1t will mean that the Iowa commission
will have to charter the steamboats, and
take the responsibility Of paying for
the same, or the commission will have
to require deposit in advance from
every person who intends going and
berths will have to be reserved and
paid for in advance. 1t will be impos-
sible, after the Indiana experience, to
get the steamboat companies to take
any risk on the Iowa trip.
The Iowa monuments on the battle
field at Shiloh will bear bronze tablets
on which will be engraven the regimen
tai histories. This work of securing
concise histories OF the regiments, ac-
curate and reliable. approved by the
war department and satisfactory to
the participants of the battle, has been
no easy task for the commission. The
regimental histories have been prepared
by persons who participated In the bat
tie. but all such had to be submitted to
the war department where experts nave
compared all the statements with the
actual war records and have had veto
on eXtravagant claims. In regard to
two regiments the historical story is
not yet agreed upon. Ihese are the
tiftieth and sixtieth regiments Oh IN
fantry According to the reports or
their officers and the accepted history
in this state among the survivors, these
regiments came upon the battlefield and
got into action as early as lO:30 a. m.
But when the war department experts
made examination of the records and
found that at 10:30 o'clock the line
which the Iowa soldiers claimed to oc-
cupy was in fact occupied by confed-
crates or by other regiments. revision
was necessary. The war department
claims that it was at least at late as
11:3O that the two regiments named got
into the fight. This is a small matter
apparently, but the old soldlers are
stickers for an exact record. Iney want
Justice done or a little more. 1t has been
in disposing of just such little controv-
ersies as this that the commission has
had great difficulty.
Col. w. Is. Bell, OF WaSHlHSloii, WIZ
was of Company c, Eighth Iowa is
about as we'll pleased as any man could
we'll be with the result of the his
torical research incident to the Shiloh
monument work Il was pleased to
find" he said, that the record was all
right as to my regiment. had always
felt that we were right in the famous
Hornets nest You know the Hornets
nest was named by the confederates
because it was where they came up
against the hardest fighting of the en-
tire Tennessee campaign, so they said.
and where the union soldiers held out
longest on that fateful day when the
south for a time overwhelmed the
north. Now, we went down there and
located the regiments and found where
each one did it's best lighting. we
worked in connection with the war de-
partment historians who have all the
records at their command. And it was
found that the stakes they have set
to indicate the line of the Hornets
nest show that our regiment was right
at the apex of that much dreaded
place. There can be no mistake about