Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-03-29

ply or his life, to be preserved
as matter of record among
/" his children and grandchildren.
While it was written with no
intention of being made public, =
yet his life has been filled with
4 such varied experiences, dating
. from his birth in England, boy =
4hood, soldier, clergyman, legis- =
~lator, ETC., that we find much =
(which we believe will be read '
...nith interest by the public, and .
sTe will therefore from time to .
.1ime as space permits publish '
tsections of this autobiography, =
should it prove of sufficient in y
terest to continued :
=
4 (Continued from last week.
Immediately upon receipt of the
news that Fort Sumter had been
lred upon by the seceeders, men
Everywhere sprang to arms, Offer
Ying their services to the government.
n Republicans and Democrats alike
4 Wed with each other in patriotic
fervor.
The Clinton County Guards. a
company of young men from Lyons
: and Clinton, Iowa, and the sur
\ rounding country was recruited un-
der the presidents call of April 15,
1861, asking for 5000 volunteers
to serve for three months The
company was not long in perfecting
an organization, which was effected
by the election of H. p. Cox, Cap
tain; N. B. Howard, First Lieuten-
ant. and Thomas Snowden, Second
lieutenant. Four Sergeants were
also chosen and four Corporals, OF
whom was one. The company was
Z enrolled May 6, 1851, and ordered
to report at Keokuk, Ijwa soon af-
gterward.
a CHAPTER X.
y There was much of romance
Nthrown around the enlistments of
Vthe volunteers in those first days
u of the war. We were feted and
IA
A neighbors with all the glamour and
u pomp and circumstance accorded
! the Knights of old who were about
to embark on crusade to the Holy
\ Land, under the far famed Richard
of the Lien Heart. The ladies of
Lyons and Clinton were quite as
y patriotic and quite as enthusiastic
as We're the men; they assembled at
the city hall and with needles and
thread and thimbles helped the tail
ors TO get us into uniforms as soon
as possible. We were presented
with uniform of gray, the pants
were adorned with stripes OF red,
quite three-fourths of an inch in
width and ran from the top to the
bottom. Ny goodness, how proud
we were; at first we strutted
(around like so many turkey COB
= lers, puffed up by our finery. And
why not? Were we not soldiers of
United States, and were we not
going to war? Yes, sir,s and in
three months we would be back
again with the rebels whipped and
the rebelliox states all in the
Union once more.
The Lyons Mirror. whose editor.
Mr. w. D. Eaton, has been per-
sonal friend of mine over fifty years,
speaks of an incident connected with
the first day of the company as fol-
lows:
Co. was organized at Lyons.
with twenty-five men from Clinton,
and others from the SURROUNDING
country, and failing to get into the
First Iowa under the three months
call, waited and entered the Second
for three years. many of its MEM
bers continuing in the field through
the war.
The files OF the Mirror for those
1days having been destroyed by the
Xfire Of 1870, we fall back on the
Advocate of May 18th, 1861. in
(which an account is given of the
4 departure of the company for Keo-
kuk, on the steamer Northerner, at
four O'clock on the morning of the
17th. After speaking of the infan-
| try band visiting Clinton in the. fore
noon of the 18th. under escort .of
\ the cavalry recruits afterwards be-
coming Co. b, First Iowa Cavalry,
y the Advocate said:
In the afternoon they assembled
and marched to their narade ground,
accompanied by the Hawkeye Rang
ers. Cant. Lefflngwell. and the fire
companies, when a beautiful silk
banner was presented them by the
ladies OF the city. The presenta-
tion was made in behalf Of the
ladies by Capt w. II. Leffingwell.
who made a speech in his usual
nappy style perfectly appropriate to
lthe occasion. The banner was re-
Iceived and reply made in behalf
LOT the volunteers by Rev. A. j.
IKynett, which was also one fitting