a final decision upon the true location of the southern boundary of the State. This act made it the duty of the Governor to cause to be procured all evidence which might be necessary to the legal and proper decision of such a suit, and to employ counsel and do whatever else might be necessary to maintain the rights of the State. Charles Mason was employed on the part of Iowa, who hunted up and prepared the testimony of the trial, and he got Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, to assist him in arguing the case before the Court. The State of Missouri filed the original bill against the State of Iowa, and Iowa filed a cross-bill against Missouri.

"This case was tried at the December term of 1848, and the Supreme Court decided that the line as surveyed by Sullivan was the northern boundary of Missouri, which decision gave Iowa all the territory she claimed. The Court appointed Henry B. Hendershott, of Iowa, and Joseph C. Brown, of Missouri, Commissioners to run out and mark the boundary line. Brown having died before the work was commenced, Robert W. Wells was appointed in his place, but he resigned the trust, and William G. Minor received the appointment on the part of Missouri.

The Commissioners, for the purpose of making the necessary arrangements for the survey, met at St. Louis in March, 1850, and selected their surveyors. William Dewey was selected on the part of Iowa, and Robert Walker for Missouri. The Commissioners made their arrangements to meet with their surveyors and other parties, at the point where Sullivan had established the northwest corner of Missouri. They left their respective homes on the 10th of April and met on the 28th. To aid them in their work before they started, they obtained from the office of the Surveyor General at St. Louis a copy of the field-notes of Sullivan's survey; but the space of nearly thirty-four years having elapsed since this work was done, the marks of the survey being nearly all obliterated, they could not readily find the spot they sought. No precise traces of the old northwest corner remained; the witness-trees to it were on the margin of a vast prairie, and had apparently been destroyed years before; consequently its exact position could not be ascertained from anything visible near the spot. The point known as the old northwest corner of Missouri was the northern termination of Sullivan's line, running north and south, run by him in 1816, and was 100 miles north of the mouth of the Kansas River, and the point at which he turned east run to the Des Moines River. His field-notes showed that his miles were numbered north from the Kansas River, and east from the northwest corner of the State, beginning anew at that corner. Finding no conclusive evidence of the exact site or the required corner, they undertook to trace those lines for the purpose of finding some evidence of the old survey.

"Near the supposed spot of the location of the ninety-ninth mile-corner, on the north line, they found a decayed tree and stump, which corresponded in course, distance and description with the witness-trees to that corner, and cutting into the tree, they saw what they supposed to be the remains of an old blaze, upon which was preserved a part, apparently, of the letter M. This supposition was verified by their measuring two miles further south to a point which they found to be Sullivan's ninety-seventh mile-corner, from one witness-tree, which was perfectly sound; the marks upon it two or three inches beneath the bark, were plain and legible. On the east line they found the witness-tree to the third mile-corner; the wood upon which the marks had been inscribed was decayed, but their reversed impression appeared upon the new growth which covered the old blaze, and was cut out in a solid block. Prolonging these lines three miles from the point thus determined, their intersection was assumed as

the desired corner, and at that point was planted a monument, designating the northwest corner of Missouri as the boundary existed before acquiring that tract of land known as the Plat Purchase,' lying between the old west line of that State and the Missouri River, which point was found to be in the northeast quarter of Section 35, in Township 67 north, Range 33 west, in latitude 40°, 34', 40" north, and in longitude about 94° 30' west from Greenwich.

6

"At this point they planted a large cast-iron pillar, weighing between fifteen and sixteen hundred pounds, four feet six inches long, twelve inches square at the base, and eight inches at the top. This pillar was legibly marked with the words Missouri on the south side, Iowa' on the north side, and State Line' on the east. From this corner they ran one west, keeping on the same parallel of latitude on which the pillar was erected, till they reached the Missouri River. They commenced the survey on the 24th of May, and reached the river, a distance of sixty miles and sixty-one chains, on the 12th of July. At the terminus of the sixtieth mile, as near the bank of the Missouri River as the perishable nature of the soil would permit, they planted a monument similar to the one erected at the old northwest corner of Missouri, the words State Line facing the east.

"The Commissioners then returned to the old northwest corner, and commenced to run the line east, and, by close examination, they were enabled to discover abundant blazes and many witness-trees of the old survey, by which they easily found and re-marked the line run by Sullivan in 1816. The surveying of the eastern portion of the line was commenced on the 13th of August, and terminated on the 18th of September, it being a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, forty-one chains and eight links, which, with the sixty miles and sixty-one chains first surveyed, makes the southern boundary of the State, between the Missouri and Des Moines Rivers, two hundred and eleven miles, thirty-two chains and eight links.

"Near the west bank of the Des Moines River, where the boundary terminates, on the line was planted a cast-iron pillar, similar to the other two, with the words "State Line" fronting the west. The line was also designated by cast-iron pillars, four feet long, eight inches square at the base and five inches at the top, placed at intervals of thirty miles apart; and one four feet long, seven inches square at the base and four at the top, at intermediate spaces of ten miles apart; all of which pillars mark in iron monument every ten miles the whole length of the boundary line.

"Sullivan's line was found in some places to deviate from a true east and west line, which was corrected by the surveyors. The iron pillars were planted in Sullivan's line, as found at the particular points; but as the line was bending in the ten-mile spaces between the pillars, it was found necessary to erect wooden posts at the termination of each mile, in order to mark the line with more accuracy. In the prairies, the mile-posts were marked with the letters B. L.' facing the east, the letter 'I.' facing the north, and the letter 'M.' facing the south, and the number of miles on the west face of the post. Where timber exists, the number of the mile is marked on witness-trees, or pointers, with letters appropriate to each stake, there being one tree marked on each side of the line wherever it was possible to do so. The front of each witness-tree is marked with the letters B. L.' In all cases where the posts are set in mounds, the post is invariably nine links west, to designate it from other surveys. This line, as surveyed and designated under the direction of the Commissioners Hendershott and Minor, was adjudged and decreed by the Supreme Court to be the true and proper boundary line between Missouri and Iowa. And thus closed

a long and vexed dispute between the two authorities about the extent of their jurisdiction. To defray the expenses of establishing and running this line, the State of Iowa and the State of Missouri, each placed at the disposal of the Commissioners the sum of $2,000. But this was not sufficient to meet their expenses, for they were engaged in the work 180 days, and the Supreme Court allowed the Commissioners each the sum of $10 per day for their services, and $2 per day for their expenses, and each of the surveyors $8 per day. These allowances, with other expenses, cost over $10,000, which left over $3,000 apiece for each of the States to pay. The Legislatures of both States made up the deficiencies, and that was an end to the boundary war."

DES MOINES COUNTY DURING THE WAR.

The honor of writing the history of Des Moines County from 1861 to the close of the war should fall to the lot of one of those brave men who participated in the scenes of those days. The value of the history will depend upon the exhaustiveness of the work undertaken. In such cases, details form the chief interest, and no one is able to furnish those except the men who help to perform the acts. We offer this suggestion: let some one who has a knowledge of the events compile them before it is too late. As time rolls on, the difficulties of doing so desirable a labor will be increased, and speedy preparations should be made to preserve the grand record of the county from oblivion. It is true that the history of the regiments is saved in the Adjutant General's Reports, and many sketches have been written concerning life in the field; but we refer now not so much to the history of the regiments as to the history of people who inspired the formation of those regiments. Let some one who can write the story of the heroism of fathers, mothers, sisters and wives—that vast host of loyal men and women who said: "Go; and may God protect you and our nation!" Tell of the devotion of the women, who, while their hearts were bleeding, smiled a farewell, lest the soldier be disheartened! Tell of the long weeks of anguish which followed the departure of the loved one; write of the deeds of bravery that have never been told. The soldler who sleeps beneath the Southern sod, in an unknown grave, deserves the plaudits of his fellow-men; and does not the grief-stricken widow merit a share in the volume of praise?

The youth, who so readily accepted the trust of defending the nation from its foe, learned the meaning of patriotism from the history of the Revolution. The artist's pencil, the poet's pen, the historian's glowing words, portrayed to his mind the duties of an American. Shall we not, then, expect the future strength of loyal men to grow by feeding upon the record of patriotism during the days of the rebellion?

The people of Des Moines are worthy of especial praise. Dwelling upon the border of a Slave State, and holding daily intercourse with those who maintained the righteousness of slavery, they naturally imbibed the sentiments peculiar to the South on that grave subject. But when the stroke was made which aimed the dagger at the nation's heart, there was no wavering between two opinions. The Union must be preserved, even if slavery perished in the attempt to perpetuate the nation. When the war was forced upon the country, the people were quietly pursuing the even tenor of their ways, doing whatever their hands found to do-working the mines, making farms or culti vating those already made, erecting houses, founding cities and towns, building shops and manufactories-in short, the country was alive with industry and

hopes for the future. The people were just recovering from the depression and losses incident to the financial panic of 1857. The future looked bright and promising, and the industrious and patriotic sons and daughters of the Free States were buoyant with hope, looking forward to the perfecting of new plans for the insurement of comfort and competence in their declining years; they little heeded the mutterings and threatenings of treason's children in the Slave States of the South. True sons and descendants of the heroes of the "times that tried men's souls"-the struggle for American Independence they never dreamed that there was even one so base as to dare attempt the destruction of the Union of their fathers-a government baptized with the best blood the world ever knew. While immediately surrounded with peace and tranquillity, they paid but little attention to the rumored plots and plans of those who lived and grew rich from the sweat and toil, blood and flesh of others—aye, even trafficking in the offspring of their own loins. Nevertheless, the war came, with all its attendant horrors..

April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter, at Charleston, South Carolina, Maj. Anderson, U. S. A., Commandant, was fired on by rebels in arms. Although basest treason, this first act in the bloody reality that followed, was looked upon as the mere bravado of a few hot-heads-the act of a few fire-eaters whose sectional bias and hatred were crazed by the excessive indulgence in intoxicating potaWhen, a day later, the news was borne along the telegraph wires that Maj. Anderson had been forced to surrender to what had first been regarded as a drunken mob, the patriotic people of the North were startled from their dreams of the future, from undertakings half completed, and made to realize that behind that mob there was a dark, deep and well-organized purpose to destroy the Government, rend the Union in twain, and out of its ruins erect a slave oligarchy, wherein no one should dare to question their right to hold in bondage the sons and daughters of men whose skins were black, or who, perchance, through practices of lustful natures, were half or quarter removed from the color that God, for His own purposes, had given them. But they "reckoned without their host." Their dreams of the future, their plans for the establishment of an independent confederacy, were doomed from their inception to sad and bitter disappointment.

When the Southern rebels fired upon Fort Sumter, they found this vast North unarmed, untrained in the art of war, and in a state of such profound peace as to warrant the belief that hostilities could not be begun by those who had, since the foundation of this Union, boasted loudly of their loyalty to the Constitution of the United States. The rumors of disaffection that had alarmed the more watchful had aroused but trifling fears in the breasts of the great mass of Northern citizens. War between the States had, prior to that time, been deemed an impossibility. The sentiments of fraternal unity were so deepabiding in the hearts of the North that treason was regarded as an improbable crime, and overt acts of antagonism to the Government too base in their intent to be worthy of serious consideration.

But the hand of the aged Ruffin, as he laid the blazing torch upon the gun within Stevens' battery, lighted a flame which spread throughout the land with electric rapidity, and illumined the nation with a glare that revealed the truth of rebel threats The boom of the first gun awakened the passive people to the dread reality of their position. From Maine to Oregon, from Superior to the Ohio, the country arose, as with a single impulse, to respond to the demands of the hour. There was no need of prompting them, no need of canvassing for strength, no hesitating as to measures, no thought of compromise. But one

course could be pursued, and that the people comprehended as though inspired by some higher mentor. The Union must be preserved. Each individual member of society felt the urgent necessity of prompt and concerted action. Towns did not wait to hear tidings from sister-towns; each heard in the roar of brave old Sumter's guns a summons direct, imperative and irresistible, for aid in the defense of the nation's honor. Rivals in business and in politics grasped each other's hands and hurried forth, side by side, rivals no longer, save in their eagerness to enroll first their names upon the list of citizen-soldiery.

Almost simultaneous with the news of the attack upon Sumter came the call from President Lincoln for troops. In the remote towns and rural localities, where telegraphic communication had not then penetrated, the appeal and the response were recorded at the same time.

On the 15th of April, the President issued his call for 75,000 ninety-days troops. The State of Iowa was particularly fortunate in having for its Chief Executive Samuel J. Kirkwood, whose loyalty and unceasing devotion to the cause of the Union have embalmed his name forever in the annals of the State. Within thirty days after the President's demand was made public, Iowa had a regiment in the field.

If it was within the province of this work to relate the story of Des Moines' loyalty, the limits of this volume would be extended far beyond those anticipated by the publishers. Some future historian, we have no doubt, will find a fruitful topic in this record of war, and lay before the people of this county a narrative of unsurpassed interest. Surely the opportunity exists and awaits the patient labors of a competent writer.

The county lay so near the line of the Slave States that party feeling ran high throughout all the war. Local agitations were frequent over rumored invasions. The loyalty of the county was all the more marked because of the hazard of entertaining such sentiments.

The long list of brave men who formed the volunteer companies from Des Moines County is here appended:

VOLUNTEER ROSTER.

TAKEN PRINCIPALLY FROM ADJUTANT GENERAL'S REPORTS.

FIRST INFANTRY.

Veteran Reserve Corps wounded