Company K.
Dr. Thos. H. Barnes was born at Coshocton, Ohio, in 1832, and was reared on a farm until he was twenty years old, when he began the study of medicine at Oakland, Ohio, and afterwards graduated at the Iowa State University. He settled at Volney, Iowa, about 1855, and moved to Waukon about 1858. He enlisted as a private in Company K, First Iowa Cavalry, April 15th, 1861, and resigned as Captain December 16th, 1864. He returned to Waukon, and again entered upon his profession, in which he was very successful. He spent a great deal of time and money in experimental farming, and built the first silo in Iowa, in 1881.
During 1871-2-3 he was chairman of the board of supervisors of Allamakee county, and in 1880 was elected to the State Legislature as Representative. His health failed soon after, caused mainly by injuries to the eyes received in service of his country.
Dr. Barnes was married in 1854 to Miss Julia A. Orr, who died in 1859. leaving one daughter. Ida, now Mrs. L. A. Culbertson, of Ottumwa, Iowa, In 1862 he married Miss Marion E. Ferris, of Waukon, who died November 1st, 1886, leaving three children, Callie, William and Florence.
Dr. Barnes was a man of great liberality, a benefactor to the poor, and few men had more genuine friends in Allamakee county than he. He moved to his ranche [sic] near Lattin, Nebraska, in 1887, where he died June 2d, 1889, of general debility, caused by the hardships and wounds received in the service of his country. He was buried between two large pine trees on a sunny hillside — a place of his own choosing — on his ranch, where his body sleeps waiting the last great roll call.
SOURCE: Charles H. Lothrop, A History Of The First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, p. 346-7
Company H.
Walter S. Handley was born in Kanawha county, West Virginia, May 17th, 1838. Was educated near Indianapolis, Indiana, Enlisted in Company H June 13th, 1861, at Albia, Monroe county, Iowa. Reenlisted in same company January 4th, 1864, at Little Rock, Arkansas. Was mustered out of service at Austin, Texas, February 15th, 1866.
SOURCE: Charles H. Lothrop, A History Of The First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, p. 345
Company H.
Samuel T. Craig was born March 22d, 1835, in Corydon. Harrison county, Indiana, His parents, Dr. Thomas and Mary E. Craig, emigrated to Waveland. Montgomery county, Indiana, while he was a mere child, where he received a common school education and learned the carriage making trade with N. Glover. Ho emigrated with his parents to Albia, Monroe county, Iowa, in the spring of 1855, being in his twentieth year. He manufactured the first buggy made in Monroe county, Iowa,
In the spring of 1858 he and his brother David traveled overland in an open buggy to St. Paul, Minnesota, there being no railroad west of the Mississippi river except a short line from Burlington to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and the city of Minneapolis was but a village.
He was one of the unfortunate gold hunters during the Pike's Peak excitement in 1859-60. He returned home to Albia, Iowa, in the fall of 1860, with a view of returning to the gold fields early in the spring of 1861. The late war of the rebellion of '61, and the call of President Lincoln for volunteers to defend the National flag, changed his base of action, and at the fall of Fort Sumter declared his intentions to defend the Government.
He enlisted as private of Company H, First Iowa Cavalry Volunteers, June 13th, 1861. Was promoted after about two years' service to orderly sergeant, thence to Second Lieutenant, thence to First Lieutenant — all in same company and regiment.
He served on staff of Colonel J. M. Glover, commanding Second Brigade Cavalry Division, for nearly a year. Was first in the city at the capture of Little Rock, Arkansas, and captured several prisoners. Served on staffs of General Cyrus Bussey, Carr and Davidson, at Little Rock, Arkansas, and on staffs of Generals E. D. Osband and B. N. Roberts, commanding cavalry division at Memphis. Tennessee. Participated in nearly all the engagements with the enemy west of the Mississippi river, including Prairie Grove, Van Buren, Little Rock, Prairie DeAnne, Poison Springs, Camden, near Mark's Mill, Saline River, el al. Was mustered out of service while under the command of General Custer, at Austin. Texas, February 15th. 1866 — having served four years, eight months and three days.
He cast his first vote for John C. Fremont, republican candidate for President; also voted for Lincoln and Grant twice, Hayes, Garfield, Blaine and Harrison for same office. Was a consistent republican as well as a prohibitionist. Was elected county auditor on the republican ticket in 1869, '71, '73 and '75, four consecutive terms, serving eight years. He has since been engaged in the mercantile business at Albia, Iowa. Married May 17th, 1870, to Miss Helen B. Higgins, from Chardron, Ohio, and had sons, Samuel T. and Charles H., and daughters, Helen and Laura, and are members of the Christian Church.
SOURCE: Charles H. Lothrop, A History Of The First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, p. 344-5
Company G.
Thomas S. Heller, Menomonie, Wisconsin, was born in Salona, Clinton county, Pennsylvania, in September, 1840. He went to Burlington in 1857, where he attended a commercial college. He went to Reed's Landing, Minnesota, the following year and kept the books of T. B. Wilson & Co., then a branch of the lumber firm of Knapp, Stout & Co., for about one year. He then became a student of Alleghany College, at Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he remained about one year. He came to Dunnville, then the county seat of Dunn county, in Wisconsin, in 1860, and kept the hotel known as the Painter House, and was deputy county treasurer that year, doing the business for his father, who was county treasurer. He went east, attended the first inauguration of President Lincoln in 1861, and returned home with war fever, and desiring to join a cavalry regiment closed out his successful business and went to Burlington, Iowa, where he enlisted in the First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Volunteers, being mustered in with his regiment in July, 1861. He took violently ill in Fremont's march to Springfield, and was left with many other sick soldiers in a church on the Osage river, many of whom quickly died with the raging fever, and want of proper care. He, being fortunate in reaching the hospitals at Sedalia and St. Louis, finally recovered, and then rejoined his company in the field, where he served until in June, 1863, when he was detailed on special service by command of Major General Schofield, as clerk at the headquarters Department of the Missouri, at St. Louis, and to report to Major A. G. Brackett, Asst. Com. of Musters. He was married to Mary Helen Tillotson, of Terre Haut, Indiana, in May, 1864, and was at work in the office of the Provost Marshal General when ordered to be mustered out of service, July, 1864, his term of three years having expired. He came to Menomonie, Wisconsin, at the expiration of his term of service, and kept the Menomonie House for one year; thence to Chicago for a year or two. Has been a resident of Menomonie, Wisconsin, since that time. He was assessor in 1870, town clerk for four or five years, and elected mayor of Menomonie in 1887. He does a large fire insurance business, representing many of the best companies in this country and in England. He has six children — two sons and four daughters. One daughter is married; his wife is dead.
SOURCE: Charles H. Lothrop, A History Of The First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, p. 343
Company G.
Ben. F. Skinner was born in Middleburg, Indiana, December 3d, 1842, and lived there until he was eleven yearn old. The family then removed to Delaware county, Iowa. His father was a shoemaker by trade. After arriving in Iowa his father entered a large tract of land and went to farming. This did not suit the taste of the boy Ben, so he was apprenticed to the tinner's trade, at which he was at work when he enlisted as a private in Company G, First Iowa Cavalry, at Burlington, Iowa, August 15th, 1861. During his term of service was on duty at General Herron's headquarters for nine months. Returned to his company when the expedition to capture Little Rock was organized. Was sunstruck at Clarendon, Arkansas, and nearly lost, his life. The Camden expedition nearly used him up, as he was sick nigh unto death until discharged at Davenport, Iowa, September 9th, 1864, as high private, and then he thanked God his soldier days were over. He is now a robust G. A. R. man, a tinner by trade, and lives at Manchester, Iowa; and if any of old Company G pass his way, he invites them to be sure and call.
SOURCE: Charles H. Lothrop, A History Of The First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, p. 341
Company G.
Was born in Steuben county, New York, on the 27th of June, 1836. When ten years old his parents moved to Wisconsin, and in 1852 he moved to Delaware county, Iowa, and lived on a farm until 1858, when he learned the carpenter's trade. Received a common school education, and when the war broke out, on the 13th day of June, 1861, he enlisted in Company G, First Iowa Cavalry, serving three years and three months. Mustered out as corporal at Davenport, September 9th, 1864. Has followed contracting and building ever since.
SOURCE: Charles H. Lothrop, A History Of The First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, p. 341
Company G.Company F.
Enlisted at the age of eighteen years in Company F, First Iowa Cavalry, August 1st, 1861. Re-enlisted as veteran January 1st, 1864, for three years. Promoted corporal October 31st, 1864. Participated in the most of the engagements, raids, etc., for which the regiment was noted. He was with his company when they charged Newton's rebel regiment, whilst in pursuit of Marmaduke, and in the celebrated “moonlight charge." When the command reached Little Rock, Arkansas, the then Governor of that State was raising a Union cavalry regiment, and his officers unanimously recommended Mr. Klein for a commission, which was declined, he preferring to remain with his command. His First Lieutenant wrote a letter in which he said. "No better cavalry soldier ever mounted a horse; always ready for duty, with no hospital record." He is a well known business man of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and is a member of James M. Lytle Post, 128, G. A. R. The title of Major was bestowed upon him since the war.
SOURCE: Charles H. Lothrop, A History Of The First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, p. 336
Company F.
Lieutenant Charles W. W. Dow is a native of the State of Maine, and was born in the city of Augusta on the 17th day of May, 1838, being the third son of Wm. N. and Sarah Dow. His boyhood days were passed in Massachusetts, and he was educated in part at Boston, and at the Oliver Grammar School at Lawrence in that State. In 1854 we find him at Newport, Rhode Island, where he lived and learned the trade of an upholsterer. And again in 1856, at Iowa City, Johnson county, Iowa, where he resided until 1859. In far off New Mexico we find him engaged in campaigning against the hostile Navajoes [sic] of New Mexico and Northern Arizona. Returning from his second campaign in February, 1861, after having all but lost his life by starvation — the party eating all their riding and pack animals, three of his comrades dying of starvation and three going crazy by the same cause, (his adventures in the southwest would fill a good sized volume) — June found him at Iowa City, Iowa, having ridden his mustang pony from Lower New Mexico to Plattsmouth, Nebraska, all alone; twice escaping the hostile Sioux, first by strategy. and once by the speed of his pony; having accomplished a journey of over one thousand miles.
Again, three days after his arrival home, we find him enlisted as a private in Company F, First Iowa Cavalry, for three years unless sooner discharged; being promoted to first sergeant of his company on September 1st, 1862. Commanded the first platoon at the now celebrated moonlight charge at midnight on Newton's rebel regiment, at Jackson. Missouri, April 28th, 1863. Promoted to be Second Lieutenant July 18th, 1863. Severely wounded in the head by rifle ball, at Holley Bottom, Little Missouri river, Arkansas, on the 4th day of April, 1864. Remained with his company and regiment after its re-muster as veterans, and promoted First Lieutenant February 7th. 1865.
While on leave of absence (sick leave) was married, on April 30th to Lucy E. North, of Iowa City, Johnson county, Iowa, a graduate of the normal department of the State University of Iowa.
Returned to his regiment and served until the end of the war and discharge of the regiment, at Austin, Texas, the 28th day of February, 1866; after which he engaged in farming at Pleasant Valley, Johnson county, Iowa. In 1872 took a Government homestead in Nobles county, Minnesota, where he is now engaged in farming and stock raising. Served over ten years as justice of the peace and town clerk; also as deputy clerk of the district court and deputy sheriff; and in November, 1888, was elected judge of the probate court for his county. He is now the father of twelve children, three boys and nine girls.
The Lieutenant is a pensioner since 1874 for wounds received in action, and present post office address is at Rushmore, Nobles county, Minnesota.
SOURCE: Charles H. Lothrop, A History Of The First Regiment Iowa Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, p. 335-6
