STATEMENT OF THE VOTE OF MILLS COUNTY, CAST AT NOVEMBER ELECTION, 1880.
FROM THE OFFICIAL ABSTRACT.

54 81

83

40 138

10

42 138

10 42

142

142

48

17

56 135

15

57 135

15 50

136

136

69

Mills county was not represented in the general assembly until that body convened for the fourth time. This session began at Iowa City, December 6, 1852. The member for Mills, who also represented Montgomery, Adams, Page, Union, Ringgold, Taylor and Fremont counties, was William C. Means. With him, as "floating member," was associated J. L. Sharp, who represented thirty counties, or nearly one-third of the state! The senator for the fourth general assembly was G. W. Lucas, of Fremont county.

In the fifth general assembly, convened at Iowa City, December 4, 1854, the same senator occupied his seat. In the house would have been Richard Tutt, who was a resident of this county, but who died before taking his seat. At the extra session of the legislature, July 2, 1856, W. Russell, a resident of Glenwood, filled the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Tutt. December 1, 1856, the sixth general assembly was convened at Iowa City, and in the senate, representing Mills, Fremont, Page, Taylor, Montgomery, Ringgold, Adams and Union counties, was Samuel Dalle, of Taylor county. In the house was Samuel H. Moore, of Mills. In the seventh general assembly, which convened at Des Moines, January 11, 1858, the senator was John W. Warner. In the house was John M. Daws, a lawyer, who subsequently became a resident of Kansas City. The eighth general assembly convened at Des Moines, January 8, 1860. Harvey W. English was the senator, and Washington Darling the member in the house. In 1862, the same senator, H. W. English, and A. R. Wright, a farmer, cared for the interests of the county. Mr. Wright was the first member who represented Mills county alone. In the tenth general assembly was Senator L. W. Ross, of Pottawattamie, and Representative William Hall. There was no change for the eleventh general assembly, and these gentlemen were again members of the house, Mr. Hale being speaker pro tem. In the senate of the twelfth general assembly was Jefferson P. Casady, of Pottawattamie, in the house, the Hon. John Y. Stone, of Glenwood. From this date on the records in the election book, hereinbefore given, the succeeding members and senators are given.

It will be possible for the interested reader to make from these statistics, various instructive comparisons relative to increase of population and changes in public opinion, especially the sense of the people in matters of public moment and marked importance.

MILLS COUNTY IN THE CAMP AND ON THE FIELD.

Active military operations, as comprehended in the single word "war," have, unfortunately been the essence of history from the earliest times. No nation has escaped participation in these great tragedies. Their names and those of their founders have come down to us on a sea of blood, and for centuries they embroidered the historic tapestry with battle scenes and ruins, until they actually battled away existence and found annihilation.

The stately monuments in national cemeteries, and the thousands of solitary and unnoticed hillocks beneath which rest the remains of armies of heroes, proclaim the cost at which the great rebellion which threatened the national life was subdued. This war, with all its vast and incalculable losses and sacrifices, formed a chapter in the nation's life, not be easily forgotten. Lest history report itself in errors and a stolid world refuse to learn wisdom from the voice of the past, the chapter must be handed down to posterity.

The memorable political canvass of 1860 heing over the people of Iowa, with their usual patriotic spirit, accepted the result. In the southern states, however, leading men at once sought to make practical their favorite theories of secession; theories, the abstract correctness of which will always be admitted, but the excution of which was perhaps utterly impolitic and prejudicial to the best interests of the nation. The senator from South Carolina made the initial move by the resignation of his seat in Congress, three days after the presidential election. Six weeks later his. state passed an ordinance of seccesion, then came the memorable occupancy of Fort Moultrie, and the year 1860 and the first of a long series of historic events came to an end together. The following year, 1861, opened inauspiciously for peace. Public men north and south alike hastened the course of events to the threshold of war.

On Friday, the twelfth day of April, war was inaugurated, and the first gun sent its ponderous missive over the walls of Sumter. At half past one o'clock of Saturday the thirteenth, Sumter fell, the gallant Anderson surrendered, and the first tragedy had ended. Nor the rush of events was thick and fast, for the war had actually begun; men in the north, who dreamed not but that the threat of the southerner died with its last echo stood appalled, but up from the south came the bustle and preparation of war, and the activities and energies of these idle dreamers were at once awakened to the terrible emergency.

The President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, issued the following proclamation, April 15, 1861:

WHEREAS, The laws of the United States have been, and now are opposed in several states by combinations too powerful to be suppressed in an ordinary way, I therefore call upon the militia of the several states of the union to the aggregate number of 75,000 to suppress said combination and execute the laws. I appeal to all loyal citizens for state aid in this effort to maintain the laws, integrity, national union, and perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places and property which have been seized from the union; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country; and I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the constitution, convene both houses of congress. The senators and representatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble at their respective chambers at 12 o'clock noon on Thursday, the 4th day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as in their wisdom the public safety and interest may seem to demand.

Done at the city of Washington this 15th day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. By the President,

WM. H. SEWARD, Sec'y of State.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

When this proclamation was issued by the president the excitement, which had long been at fever heat, broke forth in unexampled patriotism. The whole north set to work with energy to prepare for the struggle before it, and the people of this county were not slow in coming to their country's aid. There had been "Douglas democrats" and "Breckenridge democrats," a few "Bell men,” and “Republicans," but now were forgotten political strife and contention, and most, if not all, were for the Union, and prepared to give to the government a prompt and effectual support. Earnest, honest-hearted men sincerely desired to do their duty to the country. While of ardent nature, strong convictions, and indomitable will, they added to the lustre of these endowments by subjecting them to the severest tests one may know-that of the camp and battlefield. In June, 1861, company A, fourth Iowa infantry was organized at Glenwood, and from that city alone there were eighty enlistments in the company. The sound of the drum and fife, and the tread of martial men

filled all the county with the bustle of war, and the long dormant spirit of 1776 found expression again as her sons prepared to go forth to war. There were many who placed their names on the enrollment list that there performed their last great act, for they died on the field of battle. The war was all the topic of discussion. Men left their plows and women their spinning-wheels, to learn the news, talk over the situation, and to counsel with their neighbors. The women became animated with the war spirit, and bade their husbands and sons go to the defense of the flag they loved. Many a Mills county soldier went forth to battle, animated by the patriotic words of lover or kinswomen. Many a husband and father went with the blessing and "God speed thee" of the wife. Mothers gave their first-born to do battle for home and country, and adjured him to be brave and die, if die he must, a soldier, a name more honored than which there is none.

But there was work to be done at home, and the women were not slow to perceive where and how they might be useful. There were sanitary stores to be provided, lint and bandages to be prepared, a thousand little conveniences to men in the field to be gathered and sent. All this they did and more, while husbands and sons and lovers were in the field they, at home, were praying for the success of those who bore arms in the loyal cause. Letters were to be written, taking words of comfort and cheer to the sick and wounded, or inspiring renewed zeal and courage in the hearts of such as were weary with fighting or the march, and last of all, but not least, there were homes to be kept in order for for the coming of peace. Who shall say the hearts and loves of the women of Mills county were not interested in this struggle, the greatest the world has ever known. Many buried their fondest hopes, their greatest joy, months before the dawn of peace, and when the glad news came that the flag they loved so well had been redeemed, though at the cost of some of the best blood of the nation, both north and south, if now there comes an occasional pang when the memory of loved ones steals in the mind, as come these recollections will, it should be remembered that these were all they had to give a gift which even the dawn of peace cannot alone recompense. But so long as the nation endures, the heroes of Shiloh and the two Corinths, of Vicksburg and Helena, of Prairie De 'Orme and Mission Ridge, shall be remembered, when those who have founded nations shall have been forgotten. A land free in all its bounds to every class and condition of men is the best, the most enduring monument to their sacrifice and their valor. Of each one's resting place, may it justly be said:

"Within this lonely grave a conqueror lies;

And yet the monument proclaims it not,

Nor round the sleeper's name hath chisel wrought
The emblems of a faith that never dies-