The North Iowa Times publishes an obituary notice of John Lyon, a private in Co. C, 3d regiment Infantry who died at the St. Louis Military Hospital, and says:
He was at the battle of Blue Mills Landing, and behaved himself like a true soldier. He leaves a wife and three children at McGregor. It will be remembered that he did not enlist till the morning of the departure of the company, and while the steamer Canada was lying at our wharf ready to carry “the boys” to Keokuk, the writer of this tribute to his memory met him on that morning in soldier’s clothes and inquired where he was going. The reply was, “I am going to fight for my adopted country.” “But,” said I, “John, why didn’t you enlist a month ago, like most of your comrades, and not surprise your friends in this way?” “Because, sir,” said the noble-hearted soldier, “I am too proud to let Relief Committees take care of my wife and children, while I have stout arms to labor for them. I intended from the first to enlist, but I chose to provide for my little home, rather than to tramp up and down the streets and idle away that time, while they and myself would be dependent upon the liberality of the who public.”
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, February 20, 1862, p. 2
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