Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1913-05-13
EVENTS OF CIVIL
WAR PERIOD
Company Organized in Webster
City in lS61-Sworn in by
J. M. Jones, County
MEN WHO THEN ENLISTED
The Company Numbered About Six
ty Men and Were Ordered in
Camp at Davenport.
MEN WHO THEN ENLISTED

now the mutterings of civil wal
Ibegan to be heard through the land
Citizens became wild to procure thu
--latest news. 1t seemed hardly posi-
'}ble that the south would have the
!hardihood to precipitate war with
the north upon so small preteXt a:
they claimed to have. But wher
Abraham Lincoln was inauguratec
president of the United States, or
the 4th of March, 1861, many of the
sou thern states had already passed
the Ordinance of Secession, anC
when but a short time after Lin.
coins inau guratiOn, Forts Sumter
and Pickens were attacked and the
Federal garrison forced to surrend-
er, and evacuate while other acts OF
violence and treason were daily oc-
curing, an intense feeling and eX-
citement in the north was aroused
When Lincoln issued his proclama-
ton calling for $1,000 troops, the
country was at once ablaze with pa
triotism. James Buchanan APPROX
ed Lincoln's course and gave $4,000
to equip troops. Stephen A. Douglas
threw the weight of his influence IN
favor of the union, and in Webster
City, we find a public meeting called
oh, ~
ed with the greatest enthusiasm.
Speeches were made by Judge Port
er, Peter Hepburn, John A. Hull,
Granville Burnley, John F. Dun
combe, Jacob Skinner and many
others, all breathing the highest
patriotism. Five months before
these men had been nearly equally
divided, and engaged in a political
canvass of great earnestness and
bitterness. Now that the country
was in danger, they stood like
brothers, determined that treason
should die. In neighboring coun-
| ty, the republican and democratic
flag poles were taken down, spliced
to gether and raised again amid the
widest enthusiasm. How grand that
act. How suggestive Of the pur-
poses then in view. Iowa was call
ed on for only one regiment, but five
were raised and offered, and as the
news flashed over the country of the
disastrous defeat at Bull Run, en-
thusiasm and patriotism burned still
more fiercely and the grand refrain,
Were coming, Father Abraham,
three hundred thousand more" was
more than reality. From every
avenue in life, the citizens came
forth and became the soldier, and
the civilized world stood aghast at
the marvellous rapidity with which
the armies formed, and how they
| fou ght like veterans though only a
few weeks or months in the service.
Without an army, one rose up as If
by magic. and the endurance, brav-
/ cry and skill it showed was some
thing new in the history Of war.
Hamilton county people shared in
the excitement, patriotism and en-
thusiasm. The board of supervisors
at the June session, 1861, appropri-
ated $1,000 to be used in expenses
of volunteers and caring for the
families of all who enlisted or might
enlist.
THE FIRST MAN TO ENLIST.
Perhaps the very first Hamilton
county man to enlist was Captain H.
B. Martin of the Frontier Guard,
east, and joined a Kentucky COM
pany OF which he was made First
Lieutenant. He was shot through
the leg at the battle of Barbersville,
Va, one of the first conflicts of the
war, and did not recover until the
three months term for which he en-
listed had expired. While conva-
lescing, he went on a furlough to
visit friends in Ohio and all traces
Of him seem to have been lost
The second man most probably
was George Grechoneke, who be-
came captain of a company in Gen.
Sickles Brigade. So far as we have
been able to learn, he never return
ed TO this county, and nothing more
was heard of him.
The next two to enlist were Har-
riS Hoover and Isaac Soule. who
went to Eldora and Joined Capt.
Thompson's Cavalry, Company G,
First Iowa Cavalry, which was to be
attached to the regiment being rails