Co. D, 39th Iowa Volunteers

This Co. left this place on Wednesday Sept. 23d for quarters at Des Moines, and with them went the prayers and well wishes of many a sad heart.  We are personally acquainted with the officers and most of the privates that belong to this company, and it is not enough to say of them that they will render a good account of themselves hereafter.  The officers are gentlemen, have souls, and are proud of their men.  The privates, so far as we are acquainted with them, are high minded patriots, moral, and many of them pious.

The resolution passed by the company since they left us (which may be seen in Mr. Starbuck’s letter in another column) will be a source of satisfaction to their many relations and friends at home, as well as the assurance which I received while paying them a hasty visit on Tuesday last, that the privates all love their officers.  This is as it should be, and as we hope it will continue to be.  We can have no better evidence than this that they will succeed in whatever they undertake.  God be with them, is the prayer of every human heart.

Below are the names of the officers as furnished me with then left.  Mr. Oldham (Formerly Editor of the “Courier,”) is now Sergt. Major.

I have not learned who takes his place as 2d Sergt. But think it is David Johnson, who was next below him in office.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS:

Captain,	L. D. Bennett
1st Lieutenant,	Wm. T. Mathews
2nd Lieutenant,	C. Carter

NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICERS:

1st Sergeant,	G. L. Pike
2d Sergeant,	T. R. Oldham
[3d Sergeant]	david johnson
[4th Sergeant]	j. l. millard
[5th Sergeant]	able chaCe
[6th Sergeant]	thomas trent
[1stCorporal]	[j]ames denny
[2d Corporal]	[ROBER]t Hamilton
[3d Corporal]	[REUBE]n harper
[4th Corporal]	[LEVI ga]rdner
[5th Corporal]	[cHARLES b]lack

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[Editors Note: This page of the Union Sentinel was torn from the middle of the left side diagonally to the lower right side.  Therefore items appearing within brackets have been reconstructed using the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database along with the Roster And Records Of Iowa Soldiers In The War Of The Rebellion, Volume 4.  There are some minor inconsistencies between this article, the Soldiers and Sailors Data Base and the Roster.  What appears above is as I believe what appeared in The Union Sentinel.  The Roster lists Levi Gardner as the 3rd Corporal, Charles Black the 4th Corporal and Reuben Harper the 5th Corporal.  I have numbered them in the order they were given as logically they would not have been listed in a random fashion.]

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Saturday, October 18, 1862, p. 2

Casper Carter

CASPER CARTER, one of the prominent and successful farmers of Clarke County, residing in Osceola Township, was born in Decatur County, Indiana, in April, 1827, the only son of Dr. Abraham and Harriet Carter, of whom the mother is still living in her eighty-fifth year, having been a resident of Osceola since 1856.  Casper Carter was reared and educated in the schools of Greensburgh, in his native county, and on attaining his majority he married Miss Clara C. Spencer, of Sumner, Illinois. They have had eight children born to them – Harriet A., married Enoch Shawver, who is now deceased; Elizabeth P.; Adelia, wife of J. P. Cady; Sarah H., at home, and Loyd P. The others died several years since.  Mr. Carter came with his family to Clarke County, Iowa, in 1856, where he followed farming till the breaking out of the war, when he enlisted in Company D., Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry. After serving eighteen months he was transferred to Company E, of the same regiment, and was then mustered as Captain of the company serving till the close of the war. He participated with his regiment in the battles of Parker’s Cross Roads, Town Creek, Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, siege of Atlanta, and was with Sherman on his march to the sea. He received an honorable discharge at Washington, District of Columbia, in June, 1865, and soon after returned to Clarke County, where he has since followed agricultural pursuits.  He is a thorough, practical farmer, and in all his undertakings has met with success, and is now the owner of 600 acres of valuable land, which is under good cultivation. His land is well fenced, and the greater part seeded down to grass. He has devoted considerable attention to the raising of cattle and hogs, which he fed and fattened on his own farm, and has lately turned his attention to raising high-grade short-horn cattle and Poland-China hogs, and is also raising horses and buying and shipping them to Dakota. He has a good residence, surrounded with shade and ornamental trees, and comfortable and commodious farm buildings for the accommodation of his stock.  For many years he has furnished the agricultural statistics and reports of his township to the Secretary of State. Previous to the war Mr. Carter was clerk of Osceola Township, and for many years has served his township as trustee, with credit to himself and satisfaction to his constituents.

SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Record of Clarke County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1886 p. 346-51