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An Open Letter Originally privately printed in Fourth Reunion of the Twelfth Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, held at Sioux City, Iowa, May 18th and 19th, 1892 (Norfolk, Neb.: Press of the Daily News, 1892), p. 12. Talcott, S.D., May 3, 1892 D. W. Reed. My Dear Comrade: As the time for the next reunion draws near, I take the liberty to send you the following, as it is possible you might not be aware of all the facts: About the time of our reunion at Waterloo, Iowa [held in 1888], Sergt. Emery Clark of Co. ‘‘C’’ 12th Iowa Infantry, died at the Black Hills, S.D. You will doubtless remember that he was severely wounded, having both jaw bones broken at the battle of Tupelo, Miss., July 14, 1864. He was picked up on the field where he has fallen, unconscious, and kindly cared for by our hospital corps. On July 15 he was taken prisoner with the other wounded of that battle, remained at Tupelo for about a week when all were taken to Mobile, Ala., where they arrived about July 25. On the surrender of Fort Gaines and Morgan to Com. Farragut, all wounded prisoners were removed to Castle Morgan prison, at Cahaba, Ala. He was a prisoner at that place until Nov. 23, 1864, when he started for Charleston , S.C., to be exchanged — an agreement having been entered into for the exchange of 1,000 sick. On the day of his arrival at Macon, Ga., en-route for Charleston, Gen. Sherman, on his glorious ‘‘march to the sea,’’ had cut the road to Charleston. Sergt. Clark was therefore imprisoned at Macon for a short time, when all the prisoners at that place were sent to Andersonville. He was confined at that notorious prison until the close of the war and was released at Jacksonville, Fla., April 29, 1865. It is customary to lavish praise on those who, like the 12th at Shiloh the ‘‘Hornet’s Nest,’’ withstand the desperate attacks of the enemy and call their conduct heroic, and rightly too, but what shall we say of the conduct of Sergt. Clark who daily endured the pangs of a slow starvation while almost rotting away with scurvy in Southern prison pens yet re- { 257 } mained unfalteringly true to the old flag, not yielding to the temptation daily offered, nay, urged upon him, not even when it seemed that his life depended upon it. Such conduct marks a heroism in a man beside which the facing of the enemy in the field pales into insignificance. Not many are called upon to suffer as much for their country as Comrade Clark suffered for his. Let us hope and trust that the God of battles will deal mercifully with him and with us all, and that when the last trumpet shall sound, he may, with all the old 12th Iowa, be found on the ‘‘right side’’ as he was in the hour of our country’s danger. I give you these facts concerning Comrade Clark, as with a single exception — Comrade Kohler of Co. I — I am the only one of the 12th Iowa who was with him all the time of his second imprisonment. You can make such use of them as you desire. I do not know the date nor place of his death, but am assured of the truth of the statement that he died about the time given. I am your old comrade, J. W. Cotes, Late of Co. I, 12th Iowa 258 { prison accounts } ...

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