The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1917-09-27
sEsTI.ABII.Is' 3
I I!|llf 3QD VA CAVALRY

fS- fsss' 81 e 81
Held Twenty-fiohth Reunion in thi
City last Week. Next Reunion
Goes to Bloomfield, Iowa.
The .wentyeghth rrud Fsu9qn Of tn
Iowa Cavalry, was, held in Leon OF
week. there being 50 of the surviv
ors in attendance, II of them accom-
panied by their wives and one by 6
son and one by daughter. The sur
youngest being about q years o1
age. They had a dandy good time
s white here, the best of which was
the meeting of old comrades, some o1
whom had not seen each other fol
twenty years.
come was made by Mayor Gardner
President A. G. Barker, of Mt. Zion
Iowa. The response by Capt. B. F.
Craill, of Fairfield. Wednesday ev-
ening there. was a camp fire at the
by Mrs. Isaac s. Hills, Daughter OF
the Regiment. Music during the re
union was furnished by the K of p.
band, the Leon High School and a
fife and drum corps.
Thursday morning was spent in
short talks by number of the COM
rades, and the reading of letter
from pr: James Dunlavy, of Mara
mec, Oklahoma, who was unable to
tOyed and is published in full as fol-
lows.
Maramec, Okla, Sept. IA, 1917.
Dear Comrades: ASS can not be
with you. if you will allow me to
Ing Of April o, 1s65-dismounted
and marching with the grand old 3rd
Iowa, down on Selma, Alabama.
can yet almost see that heavy siege
see it now belch forth like volcano,
its fire and smoke raising in the air.
now hear the shell shrek high
above our heads and exploding in
the air. You remember how thank
full we were when we realized that
It. It was sitting at an elevation
and they did not know how to lower
it, which was God send to US. And
as it was the only shot fired it was
evident that thev did not know how.
to reload.
: L see that grand old regiment now
tile>.O the right and form line OF bat=
tie in that beautiful green gree eost;FGas pasture
works with logs lying on top to pro-
tect the mems heads I see that
I. stockade some six feet high with the
tops sharpened, and In front that
large line of cheval-de-fries.. l see
in front of this the three lines Of
sharpened stakes, sitting in the
the belt, and again in that broad
: space one ~of two hundred feet of
stakes driven in the ground about
two feet high and about the same
distance apart, with ropes and barks
and chains around the tops to impede
mander, Colonel John w. Noble,
standing in front of his regiment just
awaiting his orders to assault the
works. / see that cool determined
countenance so characteristic of the
man when facing the enemy. But
now to our right the peal upon peal
of that heavy. cannonading. of the
heavy siege pieces as if the very
earth would rend assunder. General
Long had attacked the enemy's left.
Now hear the small arms open vol
ley after volley: AS we stand await
ing our turn we hear thousand boys
in blue cheering. General Long is
all is quiet. we know. that General
the works. But now to our front,
where Is that battle-fag, that regi-
mental flag, those bayonets that
were bristling go gayly just few
retreat before General Long swings
around and captures the whole army.
Colonel Noble orders forward. You
remember what time we had in
getting through this obstruction
when we knew that we had nothing
to fear. We remember as we were
looking at the works we saw how
plenty IF ammunition could have
killed 20 men before they could have
: gotten to the works. / hear to my left
that blast of the bugle, IL is sounding
charge. You remember as we LOOK
ed we saw the mounted cavalry COM
on, they come. AS they pass we see
that guides on. We see the drawn
saber glistening in the descending
sun. ,On, on they go as fest as the
noble steeds can carry. them. We
hear them cheering in the city. we
see the enemy's flag coming down
the city is ours. Now our lead horses
are brought up. We march to a
place where we camp for the night;
We water our horses. unsaddlc and
feed them. We build little fires,
sharpen stick, take from our hav-
ersacks a piece of bacon (you re-
member we had another name for
that hold it over the fire to roast.
Our little cans of coffee are sleeping,
this with a few hard tack is our
supper. Taps sound With mother
earth for a bed and the starry heav-
en- as cover we lie down for the
night. Reveille sounds. We are on
our feet. Feed our horses. get break
Fast Major Kirkendalrs battalion,
: OF which had the honor OF being
n0itering expedition. We pass out
ffroneh the works. that General
IDng had carried the evening before
& They were carrying out the dead
fso1 forbid that should see such
sirht again. Well / remember here
IN one place were two long lines OF