Ringgold County’s first veterans
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[Complied and written by the Iowa Writers’ Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Iowa, Sponsored by Ringgold County Superintendent of Schools, Mount Ayr, Iowa. 1942. Published with permission from Ringgold County Gen Web iagenweb.org/ringgold]
When the Civil War erupted, Mount Ayr was a village with only 250 residents. Editor George Burton and publisher P. O. James had established the newspaper, The Mount Ayr Republican however the paper ceased publication when both men enlisted in the Union Army and did not return to Mount Ayr.
Time seemed to have stopped for Ringgold County during the Civil War. Ringgold County volunteers joined companies which were formed in neighboring counties. By June of 1861, Ringgold County’s enlistment quota had been set with a fair number of men enlisting and called into quarters on July 4, 1861 at Mount Ayr.
Patriotic fervor was high durng Ringgold County’s first first Independence Day celebration, July 4, 1861. For the occasion, Mrs. G. M. Lesan, assisted by her sister Sybil and Aunt Maggie, made a flag of 13 stars from blue delcino, white muslin, and red calico. As the flag was raised in the city park, Jowett Bastow sang a new song, “The Star Spangled Banner.” A picnic lunch followed. Mrs. Lesan’s flag was given to the city of Mount Ayr sixty-five years later in 1927.
The men from Ringgold County had barely marched off to War before “loyalists” from Missouri poured across the state line, pushed by threats from their “secessionists” neighbors. The newly established Home Guards rushed to their aid. Three times during the Civil War the Home Guards went into Missouri. During one occasion the Home Guards fell back to an area near Allendale, Missouri, where they threw up breastworks. Reinforcements of 2,000 men from the Iowa border counties helped them push Confederate troops back as far as St. Joseph, Missouri.
In 1862, the State of Iowa commissioned the Home Guards as the Southern Border Brigade. The men from Middle Fork Township formed Company C of the 3rd Battalion. Once the Confederates had retired to St. Joseph, ten men from this Brigade guarded the Ringgold County boundary each night. Every ten days, they were relieved of their post. When the danger had passed, the patrol was discontinued about three months later.
In 1862, the citizens of Mount Ayr received word that 50 guerrilla raiders were on their way through the Merritt settlement to burn down the town. The boys and old men who were left behind, took up old blunderbusses and rifles that had been deemed unfit for warfare. Thus armed, they set out. While they were waiting in ambush, the sound of galloping hooves started them around 11 p.m. Believing that a wild cavalry charge was headed their way, they stood their ground with the exception of little Charlie Dunning. Frightened, the young boy broke rank and started to run back home. After a minute or two, young Charlie realized that the oncoming charge was from 50 of his father’s mules who had gotten out and were stampeding his way in a race for home ground. Mount Ayr’s defenders, realizing that the stampeding mules didn’t pose any threat to their lives and limbs, resumed their posts. The men pledged one another that they would keep the “charge” in deep secrecy. Years later the men told the tale on themselves with great gusto to anyone who would listen.
Before the close of the Civil War, a family of slaves and a single male slave arrived in Ringgold County. They came from Albany, Missouri, having been freed by Mrs. Murphy. Keeping their end of the bargain, they piled into an old wagon drawn by a team of elderly horses courtesy of Mrs. Murphy, and left the State of Missouri. Sam, the family’s head, his wife Sarah and two of their children, Tom and Martha, lived in a log cabin near the Lesan school. George, the other freed man who accompanied them, resided with the family. The children attended school while the adults worked for families in the neighborhood. After Sam and George’s deaths, Sarah and the children were afraid to spend the night in their cabin. They waited until nightfall, then slipped into David Lesan’s barn where they slept in the haymow. Upon discovering the situation, David gave them permission to live in a cabin near his home. Eventually Sarah and her children moved to Mount Ayr.
The veterans from Ringgold County were mustered out of service in August of 1865. They returned home, rejoined their families, and resumed their life’s professions.
With the onset of the Civil War, there had not been a 4th of July celebration in Mount Ayr for several years. The citizens and veterans decided to hold a Grand Rally of the Veterans of the Civil War on July 4, 1878. Soldiers from most of the townships met with D. B. Marshall on July 3rd to finalize the plans. The Mount Ayr band, at the time considered one of the best in the state, prepared their instruments for the rally. The day started with the reveille at sunrise. Sick call was held at 8 o’clock, the grand mount at 9, followed by company drill at 9:30. Battalion drill was held at 11:30; skirmish drill at 2 p.m.; and dress parade at 3 p.m. Even though the skies were cloudy with the threat of rain, more than 5,000 people joined the festivities. Edward B. Heaton, well-known to the residents of Ringgold County where he had been a farmer, preacher, school teacher, writer, song master, and solider, was the keynote speaker of the day. The following week, the veterans met again with the purpose of forming a permanent organization.
On November 3, 1880, eighteen veterans founded the Ellis G. Miller Post, Grand Army of the Republic. The post was named in honor of Lieutenant Miller of Company G of the 4th Iowa Infantry. Lt. Miller, the first commissioned officer from Mount Ayr who died in service, was killed at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou at Vicksburg, Mississippi on December 29, 1862. By July 1926, the GAR post had a membership of 246.
