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Home in CedarFalls B y the fall of 1861, the war had grown into the largest conflict the nation had yet experienced, and it would not be decided quickly or by the few volunteers called in April and May. President Lincoln had had to call for more troops that summer. Iowa's share was six more regiments of infantry. There was another call in October, and by the end of the year the state had 13 regiments of infantry mustered into service, with five more in the process of formation. State volunteers also raised five regiments of cavalry and three batteries of artillery.' The departure of the Pioneer Greys in June 1861had been the beginning of a summer of military activity in Cedar Falls. Representatives of existing regiments as well as the new regiments just being organized were sent to the town. Soldiers became familiar sights on the streets as new companies were formed and other companies from farther up-country marched into town to meet the Dubuque-bound train. Public celebrations for the departing volunteers continued throughout the summer. When the Lincoln Guards, a company from Chickasaw County, marched into town in the middle of July, they were met by the remaining members of the Pioneer Greys, which continued, under the leadership of Peter Melendy, as the town military organization. Two other partial companies being formed in town also joined the Greys in welcoming the Chickasaw County soldiem2 A few days later, on 20 July, James Q. Rownd's son, George, and 19 others from the Cedar Falls area left town. The group intended to go down the Mississippi River to Burlington and join a partial company of infantry from Keokuk. Once there, they found that they did not care for the Burlington camp or the volunteers from Keokuk. Rather than enlist in a company they did not like, the Cedar Falls recruits chose to enlist instead in the 1st Iowa Battery under Captain C. H. Flet~her.~ Congressman William Vandever of Dubuque resigned his congressional seat and received permission to recruit a regiment of infantry and a battery of artillery. He set up a recruiting office in Cedar Falls, and FROM BLUE MILLS TO COLUMBIA William H. McClure, an attorney, acted as his recruiting agent. By the middle of August, they had more than 50 names on the roll. Vandever's regiment was mustered into service on 24 September as the 9th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Six soldiers from Cedar Falls served in this regiment in C, G, H, and I Companies. Waterloo furnished most of the men in G Company.' William McClure was appointed first lieutenant of the artillery battery. Thirteen men from Cedar Falls were in the battery, which was mustered in as the 3d Iowa Battery under the command of Captain M. M. H a ~ d e n . ~ The suddenness and awful magnitude of the war caught the nation by surprise. There were many volunteers but few facilities for training them, few modern weapons with which to arm them, and a terribly inefficient system of supply. Friends, relatives, and citizens from their hometowns rallied to the support of the soldiers, who without their assistance often sickened and died in camp. The women of Iowa took the lead in providing care for their soldiers . Ladies' Aid Societies and Soldiers' Aid Societies were formed in most towns across the country. There were 7,000 local aid societies formed in Iowa during the war, all organized and run by women. The most famous of the women volunteers from Iowa was Annie Wittenmyer of Keokuk, a widow who organized that town's first aid society and helped it expand into the major coordinating force for Iowa's relief agencies. Most local aid societies were eventually incorporated into the activities of either the U.S. Sanitary Commission, or, especially in Iowa, the Western Sanitary Commission. The Army Sanitary Commission for the State of Iowa, or the Iowa Sanitary Commission, was created in October 1861 and grew to be one of the state's principal means of supplying much-needed assistance to the soldiers." The women of Cedar Falls, who had sewn the first uniforms for their Pioneer Greys, organized both a Ladies' Aid Society and Soldiers' Aid Society. Under the leadership of women such as Barbara Boehmler, whose son, Charles, was a member of the Pioneer Greys, and Elmira Sessions, Fitzroy Session's mother, Mrs. J. B. Powers, and many others, the women of Cedar Falls did all they could to...

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