That numerous descendants of the Doane family are to be found in north central Kansas today in only a reflection of a wider movement of Quaker pioneers over a period of many years. The original settlement in Pennsylvania saw a Daniel Doane migrate there from Massachusetts, then, being dissatisfied with the insistence that he abandon his interest in astronomy, moved to North Carolina; Jesse Doane, finding that his abolitionist views were unwelcome, moved with other Quakers to a settlement near Knoxville;^{^[1]} Robert Doane moved to Indiana, then to Iowa; finally E.B. Doane emigrated to Kansas, there to leave his Quaker faith for lack of fellow co-religionists. This background of pioneer ancestry with a deep commitment to a difficult faith explains much about the central figure of this investigation, Eleazar Bales Doane.

Eleazar Bales Doane lived in a crisis moment in American history. The movement west and the conflict over slavery were at their height, and he was involved in both. As America grew, and changed, and suffered, he grew, and changed, and suffered with her.

Eleazar Bales Doane was born in Morgan County, Indiana, April 24, 1840, in a frontier community of Quakers. His father, Robert, had come to Indiana with friends and relatives at the age of twenty-three and leased a farm. Two years later, on June 12, 1839, Robert married his cousin, Rachel Doane. Eleazar was the eldest child of seven, but only four survived infancy: Eleazar (1840), Ithamar (1841), David (1847), and Mary (1849). The names chosen for the children illustrate the parents’ deep knowledge of and respect for the Bible, an attitude they passed in to the children.

Eleazar’s memory of Indiana was to be dim, however, because pioneers were always eager to be on the move westward, and his family was in the pioneer tradition. In 1847 His parents migrated to southeastern Iowa, where large numbers of Quakers were settling around the town of Salem. Robert Doane set out alone, first purchasing land in Cedar township of Lee County, building a log cabin, and then putting in his first crop. Afterwards he sent for his family.^{^[2]}

Thus it was that the Doanes came to Iowa. It was a good land, but untamed, and life was primitive. In 1850, when Eleazar was but ten years old, an eastern Quaker described it:

The residences of the settlers in this place, scattered over the prairie land, are chiefly log buildings; the settlement being several miles in extent. In the summer season, while the grass is green, the country, with the cabins and little surrounding improvements dotted over it, has a picturesque appearance; yet to the stranger it gives a sensation of lonesomeness.^{^[3]}

Eleazar was young, but in those days everyone worked, and the eldest son of a pioneer family undoubtedly had many chores thrust upon him. While his father worked the two hundred and twelve acre farm, Eleazar probably assisted his mother in caring for the animals and the garden. Later he would work in the fields. There being but a year’s difference in age, his brother Ithamar was probably a constant companion in work and play, and a firm friendship bound them together. Unhappily, in 1852, when Eleazar was twelve, his mother and his infant sister died. His life was greatly affected by this tragedy.

Robert Doane accepted the loss of his wife and help-mate. On the frontier there was little time to mourn. Life was hard, and many died young. The survivors had work to do, and Eleazar’s father devoted himself to the rearing of his four young children. He never remarried. He never traveled much. But he built a model farm, with a fine house and barn. And he was a well-read man, deeply versed in the Bible and the classics. He was interested in politics, and was undoubtedly an early member of the Republican party. And he brought up his family to be likewise involved in important ideas and issues.^{^[4]}

Robert Doane was not, however, what Quakers call a “weighty Friend.” He had been disowned by White Lick Monthly Meeting in Indiana before his removal to Iowa, and now his farm lay several miles from the Meeting House in Salem, separated by a creek bed impassible in bad weather. It was a difficult enough journey in good times, and Robert had much work to make his farm support his family. Apparently he and Rachel had notified the Salem Meeting of their intention to unite in membership there in 1851, but Robert submitted his request that he and his minor children (David, Mary and Sarah Elizabeth, who had died in April) be united with Salem Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends. This request was discussed at length by the membership. At that time in Quaker history, Friends were much concerned with maintaining their purity, which meant separation from the “world’s people.” Quakers were extremely strict Christians. They wore the plain clothing, used the plain talk, and pursued lives of utmost simplicity and piety. They disowned members for “marrying out of unity with Friends,” cursing, going to court, dancing, participating in military activities, and other “worldly” activities. They held strong positive testimonies as well, taking unpopular stands against human slavery and for fair treatment of the Indians. If one did not measure up to these testimonies in every way, it did not mean that one was not an exemplary Christian by other, more conventional standards. Furthermore, there was a schism among Iowa Friends were demanding a more militant stand on the question of Abolition. As early as 1845 numbers of these Friends had felt constrained to withdraw from Salem Monthly Meeting over this issue and, although many reunited with Salem Monthly Meeting in succeeding years, antagonism still remained.

Since Robert Doane seems to have adhered to this abolitionist party (or, at least, to its principles), the reluctance of Salem Friends to admit him to membership is understandable. Indeed, Rachel Doane was buried in the Friends’ burial ground held by the Anti-slavery Meeting until 1862, when it was sold to Salem Meeting. When Robert Doane and his minor children were finally united with Salem Monthly Meeting, the resulting ties were not close. The occasion of their admittance into membership was also the last time that these Doanes were mentioned in the minutes of the Monthly Meeting.^{^[5]} Perhaps they were among that group the answer to the Queries castigated: “there is a manifest lack in others in so frequently neglecting the attendance of our religious Meeting.^{^[6]} Nevertheless, there were preparatory Meetings closer to Robert Doane’s residence and he did retain his membership in the Society of Friends to his death in 1889. Always he was known as a devout and well-educated man, and he gave his children a firm knowledge of the Bible and other religious works.

Eleazar’s maternal grandparents, David and Ruth Doane, farmed one hundred and sixty acres not far away. As a young man David had worked wherever he could to support his family, but could not afford a farm until he emigrated to Iowa in 1848. By the time of his death in 1862 he had become moderately prosperous.^{^[7]} David was not a model Friend either. Early in 1852 he was disowned by Salem Meeting “for using unbecoming language,” and reunited only in 1858.^{^[8]}

It is of some interest that young Eleazar and Ithamar did not request membership in Salem Meeting. Although they shared many of the testimonies common to Friends, they did not share the adversion to warCthey were willing to participate in that evil in order to eliminate a greater one, human slavery. Certainly, although Eleazar received good religious training, he was never closely associated with the Society of Friends in a formal capacity and apparently frequented the social activities at nearby Sharon Presbyterian Church. However, he was deeply beholden to Friends for their strong testimony against slavery and their independence of spirit.

Slavery was the central and crucial question of that era. Much earlier, when William Penn invited the German settlers into Pennsylvania, the new immigrants asked how slavery was to be reconciled with the Golden Rule. Friends became concerned and opposition to slavery was a widely accepted testimony before the Revolutionary War. All Eleazar’s Quaker ancestors shared this attitude. A great-grandfather left the North Carolina because of hatred for slavery, and many Doanes were active in the underground railroad in Indiana. Salem, Iowa, was a hotbed of Abolitionist activity. Some Quakers there formed one of the four quarterly meetings of the Indiana Yearly Meeting of Anti-Slavery Friends, and they made Salem into a major center for the underground railroad, smuggling escaped slaves out of Missouri into Canada. For obvious reasons, participation in such illegal activities was kept secret, but it is quite likely that the Doanes assisted in violations of the Fugitive Slave Act.^{^[9]} Their farm lay on the road from Missouri to Salem.

Eleazar’s education emphasized the importance of the slavery issue. Among the first settlers of Salem was a prominent anti-slavery Quaker educator who founded a school in that settlement. Unfortunately, he died shortly afterward; however, he left behind a tradition that led to the foundation of a short-lived college in Salem.^{^[10]} Ten miles to the north, in Mount Pleasant, a noted Abolitionist named Samuel Luke Howe opened a High School for boys and an Academy for girls. His newspapers, the Iowa Freeman and the Iowa True Democrat, strongly opposed the Compromise of 1850 and all subsequent acts which tended to keep slavery alive. Howe was in Kansas in 1856, helping Free Soilers defend Lawrence against the Border Ruffians from Missouri, and often thereafter he was in the company of John Brown. Though variously called a “madman, fanatic, and agitator,” he was an influential figure. General Sherman, his pupil in Ohio, later wrote: “Prof. Howe I consider to be the best teacher in the United States.” Another former student wrote: “The students in Prof. Howe’s school drew in Abolitionism with their Latin and their mathematics....To the end of their lives will his students to be proud to admit the molding influence of that mastermind.”^{^[11]} Eleazar Doane studied under Samuel Luke Howe.^{^[12]}

This anti-slavery attitude was widely held among Iowans in general, but often for very different reasons. Many workers feared that the extension of slavery would lower wages. These hated and feared even the Free Negroes, because Negroes would work wherever they could for whatever wages they could obtain. Therefore, some whites sought not only to eliminate slavery, but also to eliminate the Negro. Others saw slavery as a threat to democracy. Only the rich could afford slaves, and in the South plantation owners appeared to have disproportionate political influence. Iowans, being largely yeoman farmers, hated slavery for the economic, political, and social threat it represented. As early as 1854 the Whig candidate for governor was elected on an anti-slavery platform. That same year the Republican party, and even its candidate for President in 1860, Abraham Lincoln, was not an Abolition party. In fact, Republican leaders were careful to emphasize that their party did not advocate Abolition, but only opposed the extension of slavery into the territories.

Eleazar Doane, a young man approaching maturity in these turbulent years, had opportunity to participate in these exciting political developments. Nearby in Illinois, within a day’s ride, Lincoln and Douglas debated. In Iowa, pro- and anti-slavery orators spoke before large audiences, and the ready communications afforded by the Mississippi River kept Iowans informed as to public opinion in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri, areas where talk of secession was becoming increasing serious. The Democratic party was badly divided; the Whig party was dying; and thus the Republican party became the party of Union, the party of patriotism. Eleazar Doane was undoubtedly a Republican from the beginning, for that party endorsed unity and opposed slavery.

Therefore, when war broke out between the North and the South in 1861, Eleazar Doane and his family were deeply concerned. Not backward in any way, he attempted to enlist immediately. His declaration read:

I, Eleazar Doane, desiring to enlist in the army of the United States for the period of three years and 5 months of age, that I have never been discharged from the United States service on account of disability, or by sentence of court-martial, or by order before the expiration of a term of enlistment, and I know of no impediment to my serving honestly and faithfully as a soldier for three years or during the present war.

I, Eleazar B. Doane do solemnly swear, that I will true allegiance to the United States of America; and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever, and observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the rules and articles for the government of the armies of the United States.

But Eleazar’s enlistment was not accepted. The Iowa enlistment was filled to the legal limits, and the surplus volunteers were told to wait; perhaps they would yet be needed. So he returned to teaching. Probably he and his family hoped for a quick Union victory. Avid readers, they followed the course of events through the local newspapers, especially the Weekly Gate City, an abolitionist paper from Keokuk.

Most persons in the North believed that the South would be overwhelmed in a few weeks, but the Battle of Bull Run snuffed their hopes for an easy victory. As the North began to raise a larger force for another invasion of Virginia, the South also used this time to train new troops, so that when General McClellan moved south again in the summer of 1862, Lee was able to check him at the Seven Days Battlefield. It then became obvious that a national effort was needed, and on July 2nd, 1862, President Lincoln asked for 300,000 volunteers.

Within a fortnight Iowa’s Republican governor issued a proclamation:”The time has come when men must make, as many have already made, sacrifices of ease, comfort, and business for the cause of the country.”^{^[14]} The anti-war agitation of Vallandingham and other Democrats was overwhelmed by Republican editorials such as this one in the Burlington Hawkeye:

THERE IS A WAR—Little by little, day by day, the country is finding out there is a war going on. For fifteen months armies have been in the field...But the great mass of the people have not yet realized the gigantic importance of the contest...The time seems to have come for greater exertion—a more thorough awakening and a deeper determination.^{^[15]}

Eleazar Doane had made his decision earlier, and now that Iowans were authorized to raise twenty-two regiments, Eleazar Doane and his brother Ithamar enlisted in the first of the volunteer units to form, the 19^th Iowa Infantry, which mobilized in August in Keokuk.^{^[16]}

Eleazar Doane gave up much to enlist. His farming and his teaching could wait, but would a young lady named Amelia Cahill? She had come to Iowa with her mother, sister, and step-father, and resided in Harrison township of Lee County, just south of the Doane farm in Cedar Township.^{^[17]} Her brother had remained in Cincinnati to be reared in their grandfather’s strict Irish Catholic home, but Amelia and Mary Jane apparently attended services at Sharon Presbyterian Church (although their names do not appear on the poorly-kept membership lists there). Amelia was just eighteen, and would soon begin to teach school at nearby Primrose and Farmington. Perhaps she promised to write to the young warrior. That was not uncommon and, to be sure, some young ladies wrote to so many acquaintances in the army as to cause a local scandal.^{^[18]}

Eleazar Doane was so determined to enlist that he left his farm, his schooling, and his romantic interests behind and went to war with a number of his Henry County friends. One of these was Richard Root, a capable surveyor and scout of some thirty years of age. He had spent several years in the Rockies, apparently for adventure, and returned to Iowa to enlist as Lieutenant. Another was W.I. Babb, made Hospital Steward of the 2nd Battalion because of his more advanced education. Ithamar Doane, because of his education and connection with Prof. Howe, perhaps because of his firmly expressed beliefs, was made 2nd Sergeant of Captain Roderick’s Company. At this time Eleazar abandoned his cumbersome given name and called himself simply E. B. Doane.

An intense, serious young man, E.B. went to fight for his conviction that slavery was wrong and Union was right. Twenty-two years of age, 2nd Sergeant of Captain Roderick’s company, he was very patriotic, but interestingly enough, he accepted the twenty-five dollar bounty for enlistment, and collected the two dollar bounty for bringing in an enlistment!^{^[19]}

The 19^th Iowa Volunteer Infantry was mustered in September 3rd, 1862. The Editor of the Keokuk paper reported:

DRESS PARADE. B. Crabb, Colonel, and G.G. Bennett, Adjutant of the 19^th regiment arrived in town yesterday morning. They visited the camp during the day, and in the evening officiated at the dress parade, when the Colonel made a short speech, and complemented the men on their fine appearance, and expressed the ardent hope that the 19^th might be the best regiment that ever left the State. The Colonel may well be proud of his men. It is generally remarked that a regiment of better men has not appeared in this city.^{^[20]}

Three months after his enlistment and two weeks after muster, E. B. Doane and the 19^th Iowa Infantry were shipped by river to St. Louis.

Fortunately for the men of the 19^th Iowa, they remained at the disease-ridden Benton Barracks less than a week before proceeding to Rolla, Missouri. Probably they traveled south on the South West Branch Pacific Railroad. If so, they were spared marching through interminable miles of rolling red Missouri hills covered with scrub forests of small oaks and maples. But the railroad ended at Rolla, and as many miles lay ahead of them as lay behind. They transversed nother one hundred and fifty miles of uninhabited and useless Ozark mountains, red and dry, by September 25th. As the forest opened to reveal the beautiful valleys and fields of this corner of Missouri and Arkansas, the troops must have breathed sighs of relief. The beauties of the Ozarks in early autumn were, after all, the announcement of the annual death of nature, a reflection congenial to that generation of mankind (and hardly to console soldiers fresh in the field), and the barren mountains possibly concealed hostile armies.

Springfield was a bustling young city, the key to the southwestern frontier. The second battle of the war had been fought here, to save Missouri for the Union. The 19^th Iowa was assigned to construct fortifications and to act as prison guards. These duties were necessary, but amid these activities, combat training was somewhat neglected.

In October the Army of the Frontier was organized under General Herron with the duty of protecting the western states from southern invasion and of occupying as much rebel territory as possible. General Herron gave orders to march south. The weather was wet, windy, and cold, the worst possible for a campaign in the Ozark mountains.

The first difficulty arose at the Arkansas line. The Missouri militia units refused to march further south, saying that they had enlisted for service in their own state only. The 20th Wisconsin fixed bayonets and the 19^th Iowa took up a position in the rear of the militia and “the militia were given to understand they would have a more relentless foe in their rear than front, if they refused to do their duty.”^{^[21]} A young member of the 19^th described the march into Arkansas:

Our division then moved west into Benton County, Arkansas, and encamped on Sugar Creek, to the right of Pea Ridge battle ground... Here we remained two days, when, on Monday evening at dusk, October 20th, we again took up our line of march. Slowly we moved out, at first on the main road, then bearing southwardly until we struck the battle ground of Pea Ridge, which we crossed in silence at midnight. Making a short pause at Elk Horn Tavern, (now rendered historic from its location on the battlefield), we pushed on southeast, halting and resting an hour before day-light, and then resuming the line of march. All day we pushed our way down through the ravines and finally up a spur of the Ozark camps on the banks of the White River. We had marched all night and all day without anything to eat, and you may well imagine our appetites were keen. But you may take my remark about “pitching camp,” as purely “sarcastical.” Not a tent was allowed to be taken from the wagons, and only one hour in which to get supper and prepare a day’s rations for the morrow. Of course, it was all that could possibly be done to get enough cooked for our suppers. We then fell into line, an hour or two after dark, marched down to the river, which was quite swift and deep, partly stripped ourselves and forded it—It was a cold bath, but the men took it without a word of complaint. It was a scene for an Artist’s pencil—that crossing the White River at night. A huge fire on the opposite bank cast a glare over the water, and lighted up the faces and bare limbs and glistening guns of the soldiers, as with many a laugh and shout they stumbled their way across. Once all over, large fires were built up, and from midnight till 4 o’clock we shivered and slept around them. An hour then for breakfast, and just as day began to break, we were on the way. Another long day’s march over rocky spurs and down long ravines, where gurgling springs rushed out from the rocks to refresh us, but with nary a sign of welcome from human face... An hour before dark we stopped, got a hasty supper, and then, to the surprise of the army, instead of going on to Huntsville, which we were near, we filled to the right and marched hastily west. On we went, now pausing while the cavalry dashed to the front, or to open the way for our battery wagons, occasionally making a short halt for rest. About 2 o’clock at night we reached White River again, and then rested till 5. This gave a chance for our trains to get up, and for the poor, foot-sore, tired and worn out stragglers from the column also to catch up. At daylight we started on without anything to eat, crossed the river again, ascended the hill, and word came that the Rebels were several thousand strong a few miles in front. A march of nearly ten miles, much of the way on double-quick, brought us to the main road from Elk Horn to Fayetteville, about 13 miles below the former place. Here we were drawn up in line of battle—the 19^th Iowa on the left and the 20^th Wisconsin on the right of our battery, while the gallant 1st Calvary led a dashing charge down the road three or four miles, scattering the rebels and causing them to make exceedingly fast time toward Fayetteville...I venture to assert that no regiment from Iowa has done more hard marching than we of the 19^th, for the time we have been in service. To resume, we marched three days and the greater part of three nights, over the roughest roads in America, with only three hastily prepared meals during the whole time—72 hours—and traveling upwards of a hundred miles.^{^[22]}

The 19^th Iowa Infantry left Rolla, Mo. on the 16^th say of September, and since that time have marched 370 miles over mountainous country...The 19^th is a fine regiment of men, but to use them up in this God-forsaken country by such marches and countermarches as they have been performing is indeed a pity.^{^[23]}

And it got worse, not better. It rained for days on end, and the roads almost disappeared in mud. The baggage trains were left far behind, the supplies did not arrive on time, and many nights were spent cold, wet, and hungry with only the expectation of continuing the march the next dreary morning.^{^[24]}

On December 6, 1862, the Army of the Frontier was a few miles southwest of Fayetteville, Arkansas, after a march of one hundred and ten miles in three days through mountainous and heavily forested country. As the long columns of troops neared the river, scouts saw Confederate entrenchments covering a ridge on the opposite bank. General Herron drew away the defenders’ attention with a feint and audaciously crossed the river and formed his army opposite the enemy. Only then did the danger of the situation become apparent. The Confederate force was four times the size of the attackers, and the nearest Union brigade was ten miles distant. Nevertheless, relying on his initiative, General Herron ordered an attack by the 19^th Iowa and the 20^th Wisconsin. Ingersoll described the attack:

It was a grand sight. The batteries advances across the open field, belching forth and smoke, and sending shell, and grape, and canister into the woods in front as they moved up, and gallantly supported by the Nineteenth Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel McFarland, and the Twentieth Wisconsin. A rebel battery near the edge of the hill, and a heavy force of infantry constantly fired on the audacious brigade, thinning its ranks at every volley, but it pressed on steadily and firmly till within a hundred paces of the base of the hill. There the artillery halted and the infantry dashed ahead in one of the bravest charges ever made. Moving across the rest of the open field with bayonets fixed, the brave men of the Nineteenth Iowa and Twentieth Wisconsin rushed up the hill, drove the infantry support from the battery, captured the guns, and moved on against the enemy higher up the hill. Overpowered by numbers they were driven back; but rallying under the cheering voice of McFarland they again attempted to carry the position, but were again overwhelmed by numbers and compelled to retire, but not till the undaunted McFarland and hundreds of his gallant comrades had fallen on that fatal field. It was as brave a fight as men ever made, but here it did not avail.^{^[25]}

The battle raged back and forth all day. Union reinforcement saved the army from disaster, and nightfall brought an end to the carnage. In the dark the Confederates, still outnumbering the Union forces three to one, slipped away, leaving over one thousand bodies on the battlefield. In the morning the Unionists counted over one thousand casualties of their own, of whom one hundred and eighty-seven were dead. E.B. Doane’s Company was hard hit, and his brother Ithamar was wounded in the shoulder.^{^[26]}

I cannot speak too highly of the gallant conduct of the officers and men of the Nineteenth Iowa, for after being repulsed with great loss by an overwhelming force of the enemy, they rallied and brought from the field the colors of the Twentieth Wisconsin Regiment. Captain (S.F.) Roderick, of the Nineteenth Iowa, deserves special mention for his meritorious conduct. He gathered together some 70 men of his regiment, after it was broken and scattered; rallied them around the regimental colors, and, under my direction, formed them to the left of the Ninety-fourth Illinois, where they did good service, and only retired from the field when ordered to fall back. Lieut. Richard Root, acting adjutant of the regiment, is also entitled to honorable mention. By direction of his commanding officer, and at the request of his captains, he took command of three companies of skirmishers, and maneuvered them with great bravery and skill.^{^[27]}

It can be assumed that E.B. Doane fought under his immediate superior, Lieut. Root.

Once recovered from the fighting, the 19^th Iowa resumed the advance. E.B. Doane was with the regiment December 28^th, when it captured Van Buren, Arkansas.^{^[28]} The Confederates had hoped that the mountains themselves would defend this highly strategic point where the Arkansas River breaks into the Ozarks right on the edge of the Indian Territory. It controlled the route from southwest Missouri into Texas and access to the Indians, whose alliance was desired by both North and South. But in a long night march the 19^th Iowa crossed the rugged Boston Mountains and occupied Van Buren. By the 31^st the unit had returned to Prairie Grove, where Gen. Schofield reviewed the troops on January 2^nd.^{^[29]}

On January 3, 1863, Sergeant E.B. Doane was detached from Co. K of the 19^th Iowa infantry on recruiting duty, and returned to Iowa in company with his friend and commander, Lt. Richard Root. They reported to Capt. Hendershot, the Superintendent of the Recruiting Service in Iowa, and were assigned to a small town in Henry County, New London. They set up their recruiting station in Perry Frank’s Boot and Shoe Store, but presumably they also traveled around seeking out enlistees. They advertised:

In May they were reassigned by the new Superintendent to Mount Pleasant, where they established their post in the Brazelton House.^{^[30]}

Without doubt, recruiting duty allowed both men opportunity to visit friends and family, and even to do some “sparking.” E.B. Doane took advantage of his opportunities. He must have made many trips down into Lee County to court Miss Amelia Cahill. Certainly, on the Fourth of July he escorted Amelia to the Independence Day Celebration. This was traditionally the biggest holiday of the year, and the war made it even larger. Everyone went to the Fair. And that evening she accepted his offer of marriage.^{^[31]}

However, marriage had to wait. When Lt. Root and Sergeant Doane were offered commissions in a new cavalry unit being formed, they accepted with alacrity. Soon thereafter, on August 1^st, Special Order 105 discharged them from the 19^th Iowa so they could concentrate on recruiting men. Already they had signed up a number of men from Henry County, the first on July 4^th; now Captain Root and First Lieutenant Doane hurried to fill the ranks of Company E, 8^th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry.^{^[32]}

As commander of this new regiment the Secretary of War chose Lieutenant Joseph B. Dorr. Dorr had been a noted Democratic editor in Dubuque, and in the presidential campaign of 1860 Stephen Douglas had written the “Dorr Letter” to him. He had volunteered for the first units organized, had accepted a minor commission, fought bravely at Shiloh, and escaped from prison camp. So many volunteers flocked to join his unit that many had to be sent to other regiments. Many veterans such as E.B. Doane were advanced to officer rank, and new equipment issued, so that the 8^th Iowa was considered one of the finest regiments ever raised in the state.^{^[33]}

I arrived here safe this morning. Everything is all right. The order to muster me out for Promotion has come from the war department and I will probably be mustered out tomorrow. I was ordered to take command of the company this morning. Mendenhall has been thrown out and Charles Sanderson from Keokuk of the 9^th Iowa Infantry is 2nd Lieut. of the Co. Lieut. Anderson is acting Adjutant of the Regt and I have all the Responsibility of the Co. to face alone. Capt. Root is here but can’t take command yet. But will soon take the command of a Battalion as Major. The Boys are mostly well, none in the hospital. Orderly Durham I understand he is pretty sick. I haven’t seen him yet.

Father I want you to take charge of my corn and I hereby authorize you to do so and to sell it. Do just whatever you think best under the circumstances. If the affair can be settled honorably by letting P. John have the corn, all right, and if he attempts to make trouble about it, I want you to enter suit against him for the corn he has taken and Garnish the money in King’s hands for the pay or the corn and the maintenance of the suit. But if he will come up and act the man and do me justice, give him a chance and if not take the start of him in the suit. See King and so the best you can and see that Patterson gets the money that I failed to get in Salem. If it can’t be had there in a week write and let me know and I will send it down from here. Write soon and let me know how things are prospering about that corn. Prince is all right. I got along finely with him on the Boat. He made friends of all the sick hands on the Boat. No more at Present, but remain as ever yours.

This letter indicates that young Lieutenant Doane was very much a man of his era—eager, ambitious, somewhat quarrelsome, and sentimental, particularly over his horse, who was a pet, not a beast of burden. His proposed lawsuit further shows how little Quaker principles affected him—Friends did not enter suits at law.

The regiment was mustered at Camp Hendershott in Davenport on September 30, 1863, and transported to Louisville, Kentucky, on October 17-21. It was his first experience in command of a company. Capt. Root was absent Oct. 16-31st, and E.B. Doane replaced him without difficulties of any kind.^{^[35]} On November 4^th the 8^th Iowa began the march south to Nashville, a journey of almost two weeks through country badly devastated by war.^{^[36]} They were to escort a heavy forage train and the First Kansas battery (old comrades-in-arms from Prairie Grove battlefield). All were in fine spirits. Indeed, some had too many spirits and were more than mildly intoxicated. As it happened, the Quartermaster of the 8^th Iowa become a little drowsy and decide to take a short nap just off the road. Unfortunately for him, he did not awake before the last wagons and the rear guard had passed far down the dusty road. His first sight on regaining his faculties was of a tough and ragged group of Confederate guerrillas who had been trailing the Union force and had spotted him dozing in the grass. They stripped him of weapons and clothing, brought out a rope and threatened to hang him unless he told them about the unit’s strength and destination. After he told them what they wanted, they turned him loose, naked and horseless, to make his way to the camp. Captain Root joked, “We had quite a gay time over his returning in the plight he was.”^{^[37]}

Later, some persons objected to the veracity of this account, but Captain Root affirmed that it was the truth, and accompanied his letter with an affidavit signed by several officers, among whom was E.B. Doane.^{^[38]}

Late in November the unit received its carbines,^{^[39]} so the men expected to join the main army immediately. Instead, the 8^th Iowa was assigned to guard the communication lines west of Nashville. This was an important and dangerous duty, but hardly glamorous. Without doubt, the men grumbled. Wars, however, are not won by raw courage alone. Food, ammunition, medicine must be available to the troops at all times and in spite of all difficulties. Hundreds of thousands of men labored to bring supplies to the battlefront. Every case of biscuits, every canister of shot was loaded and unloaded onto a succession of wagons, steamers, trains and mules until it arrived at its destination hundreds of miles away, perhaps unusable because of mishandling somewhere along the line. The problem of bringing supplies to the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga was almost insuperable. Major battles had been fought at Shiloh and Corinth to occupy the lower reaches of the Tennessee River, but farther up it remained closed to steamers. That left the rail line, which was fairly safe south of Nashville, thanks to the large numbers of Union troops; to the north, however, on the Louisville and Nashville R. R., Confederate guerrilla forces had almost halted traffic. That would not be serious if the Cumberland River had been navigable year around, but low water made the Harpeth shoals and other points impassible. If the army at Chattanooga was to be supplied, a new route had to be opened. Army engineers chose to finish a spur of the Memphis-Nashville railroad from Nashville to Waverly and add a short to a landing on the Tennessee River at Johnsonville. This allowed supplies to be shipped from Paducah to Johnsonville by steamer, and then loaded onto trains and sent to the great arsenals at Nashville for trans-shipment south. Of course, this attracted Confederate attention. When guerrillas and even regular Rebel units began to raid the line, the Eighth Iowa was stationed there to protect it.^{^[40]}

Col. Dorr divided his command, placing the three battalions approximately thirty miles apart along the railway. He broke up the First Kansas Battery among the battalions, two guns to each, for additional firepower. E.B. Doane’s 2nd battalion was stationed thirty miles west of Nashville. Most attention, however, was centered on Waverly, where Col. Dorr established his headquarters.^{^[41]}

Our battalion (the 1^st) have invited themselves to spend some time, perhaps the winter, with the good people of this place. If our sensibilities had not been blunted by soldiering we might have thought we were not very welcome guests, for our reception was not very cordial. They used very abusive epithet to the men; said we had just come to plunder them and destroy their property, and that their gallant defenders would not permit us to hold the town many days. By the way, the only manifestation of the presence of the aforesaid “gallant defenders” we have had is when under the cover of darkness they have concealed themselves and fired on our pickets, but we wouldn’t take the hint, and we stayed.

This is the county seat of Humphies County, and at the commencement of the war was in flourishing condition, but like every other Southern town, is reaping the fruit of secession... There has never been any Union troops here before, and the inhabitants have very appropriately named it the “Rebel Heaven”. Here they have met and organized their plundering expeditions with perfect safety, for there were no Federal troops closer than Fort Donelson, and when forced to retreat from other parts of the State, have come here for protection... Almost daily Col. Dorr has companies out scouring the country in all direction. The good results of this system are already manifesting themselves. Every day the town is crowded with citizens. Nothing more is required of those who have never aided the rebellion than taking the oath, but the others are placed under heavy bond, and as they all have property in this immediate vicinity, their bonds can be depended upon.³⁹

Because of the constant patrolling and the large number of guerrilla forces, it was not long before E.B. Doane saw combat. His commander, Captain Root, described a “picket fight we had on the 7^th in”.⁴⁰

It having been ascertained by an intelligent contraband that came into camp about 5 o’clock on the 7^th, that there was a band of guerrillas hovering around our camp, it being too late in the day to send a force (sic) out after them, Maj. Thompson in command, concluded to strengthen the outposts and keep a sharp lookout for them. Orders were given for every man to sleep on his arms, to be ready in case of attack. Sure enough just about eleven o’clock Post No. 1 and No. 2 were attacked by a superior force. It being dark it was very hard to tell their number. Receiving orders to ascertain the strength of the enemy if possible, I rode to Post No. 2 ,as the fighting appeared to be the heaviest at that Post. It soon became apparent that their intention was to destroy the railroad. Having ordered 25 men to dismount, they were thrown forward, when a general fight ensued for two or three hours. The rebels having superior numbers drove us across the railroad. Then with a dash we would drive them back, keeping the road clear. It being too hot for them after trying at three different points to destroy the tracks and failing to do so, they beat a hasty retreat, carrying off their wounded, leaving their dead on the field.

Casualties on our side, Lt. E.B. Doane, flesh wound in the face, slight...Lt. Doane was the officer of the guard or picket, and was at Post No. 2, where the fighting commenced and it was through his daring and bravery that the Post was held until reinforced...

If agreeable with you, I propose through your columns to inform the home friends of Co. E, of a little Christmas scout we have been having after some of our guerilla friends. We were out five days, subsisting both men and horses off the wealthy secesh farmers pointed out to us by our guide, and we fared well too. Our scout was in the direction of the Tennessee river, principally on the waters of the Piny and Duck rivers. We had one engagement resulting in the rout of the noted Col. Hawkins and staff, the capture of four Captains and nine men, one man killed and another (like the swine of which we read,)⁴² ran down into the river and drowned. The enemy brought on the engagement by firing from ambuscade a volley into the front of our columns, shooting Captain Root through the hat, which they supposed would check our advance until by a running fight and the speed of their horses they could escape. But they found to their sorrow that it took more than a volley of revolver shot to check Captain Root and his column. I can hardly believe a volley of grape and canister would have done it. For every one charged directly upon them, yelling like so many demons. Those guerrillas are choice men, mounted on number one horses and armed to the teeth. Their business is to plunder and abuse Union citizens and harass our advance by dashes and daring raids, and destroying bridges, railroads and supply trains. And it is only by constant and rapid scouting that they can be kept out.

For a week past we have been visited with snow and cold weather. But prior to that it had been remarkably warm and rainy. The health of the Company is good, and the entire Regiment seems to be blest in this particular. Deserters are coming in almost daily. The late Proclamation of Amnesty by the President will take half the men out of the rebel ranks, especially near the front. We have reliable information that the enemy can no longer depend on a picket, which is certainly a bold indication that they are fast playing out. As fast as the main line is moved to the front the railroad is being pushed forward too, principally by black labor. Thus, instead of “Sambo” supporting the rebel army, he is helping get it forward to us.

One Kansan stationed with E.B. Doane’s battalion described the miserable weather:

The winter of 1863-’64 was noted as a cold one, breaking all records. The little creek known as Sullivans Branch, twenty-six miles from Nashville, upon which we camped, was frozen almost solid. At this camp, although in daily communication by rail with the great depots of supplies at Nashville, we suffered the greatest hardship experienced during our entire army life, because of the villainous character of the rations furnished us. These rations consisted solely of salt pork—the lean streaks between the solid fat portions having in many instances turned green-hard-tack, sugar and coffee. In consequences of this meager diet I acquired a severe attack of scurvy...⁴³

In such scattered fights, the 8^th Iowa captured over five hundred guerrillas.⁴⁴ But it was difficult and tedious warfare.⁴⁵ The winter was severe and supplies were scarce, and there was no decisive fighting because each army was preparing for the renewal of offensive operations in the spring.⁴⁶ Men were tired and lonesome. E.B. Doane wrote:

(For to me you are certainly the Dearest on earth). Your very acceptable letter was received today and it did more good than anything I have seen or read since I have been out. It found way to hidden affection, that I knew not of and if I loved you before, I cherish and almost adore you now as the hope of my coming happiness.

The prayer and affection of a Christian Lady to the mind, affection and character of a lonely Soldier is like the soft distilling dew or a gentle shower of rain to the drooping bud. With regard to my affectionate heart perhaps I would have had an affectionate one if those finer feelings had been cultivated as they should have been when I was younger. But I feel that they were blighted in the loss of a tender mother when I was quite young, hence with no one to nourish and cherish those finer senses they remained a mere-------until I was old and large enough to begin to think about loving some one as partner for life. And now I feel (as doubtless you have noticed ere this) that I greatly need those feelings nourished and cherished by some faithful and affectionate friend. Yet as far as my feelings of affection extend, you shall enjoy with pleasure to me. I received a letter from a certain young lady⁴⁷ who stated that she was at the festival at Sharon Church and saw my old lover there. I also had a letter from Mr. Maris hinting as though he wanted to know something. My Health is better. Health is generally good and the weathers fine. Farmers are ploughing. This State holds an election next week to reorganize the State Government. The Army at the Front is advancing and I expect we’ll go there soon. Wish I had been home as you heard. I will come if (I) can. But don’t look until you see me coming. That is a nice rose. I’ll keep it as a token of love from a Dear one. I said I was better, but I am Love sick and I expect that will make me homesick. I really feel that I am blest in having such a Friend as you to write me such good kind letters. I am glad they held the Meeting and had the dinner at the Church. If a Meeting indicative of Friendship and regard for the Soldiers who are fighting not only for the preservation of our Government but in defense of Religious liberty and the right of a free people to Govern themselves is not worthy of a place in the Altar even of Paradise, then we had better sheath the Sword and prepare for an Eternal abode in Despair. If there is anything I detest it is a base Copperhead that’s too mean to protect the country that has protected him and really made him what he is and gives him the positions he now holds and too cowardly to go and fight for what he advocates. Oh, But there is a time coming when such men will wish to God this had been a blank in their lives. I have more respect for the Enemy who meets me in deadly conflict than one of those white livered fellows. But I’ve said too much on this, yet I feel it and if I had my way they would have to leave the country for want of associates.⁴⁸ When I come home we’ll have a nice horseback ride. Your little Horse looks fine. I don’t ride him much. It’s too nice to kill up in this country. I shall have to close. Its time for dress parade, with many warm wishes for your comfort and enjoyment and hoping to hear from you... I remain your true and sincere friend.

Unknown to him, his brother Ithamar had died just the day before. Ithamar, a year younger than Eleazar, had remained in the 19^th Iowa Infantry, which had taken part in the siege at Vicksburg, and then gone on to New Orleans. Sometime that summer he fell ill, and on September 8, 1863, he wrote home that he was in the regimental hospital: “I am quite weak but able to walk about the house some and sit up about half the day. I have had the Diareah nearly all the time since I came down the River and then I took the Fever. It has been the hardest spell I ever had...There is still a good deal of sickness here.” Several months later, the entire time spent languishing in the hospital, he was furloughed home. The trip was too exhausting, however, and he died in Salem, Iowa, February 25, 1864, one week after his return. The medical report listed cause of death as chronic diarrhea. Eleazar would learn of Ithamar’s fate within a few weeks. The news could only have increased his hatred of the South’s rebellion.⁵⁰

However passionately one may grieve, one cannot exist on hatred, and the Iowa cavalrymen were kept busy to prevent their brooding on death. What did the troops of the 8^th Iowa do? The same as in any army: real and artificial business (drills, scouting, guard duty), reading papers, writing letters, and talking. Politics was an impassioned subject. Captain Root wrote home:

I see by the papers that the Presidential campaign has fairly commenced-all the soldiers ask for is for the Union party at home to stand by OLD ABE, as we think he is the man, and the only man to place in the Presidential chair at this critical time. But let it be Lincoln or any other man, all we want is a man that will carry out the present policy of the government, and woe be to that man or party that dare say peace till the proud flag of our country floats over every rebel strong-hold, and those miserable traitors that have been the means of all this unholy war suffer to the fullest extent for their crimes.⁵¹

Early in March General Grant was promoted to command all the armies of the North and left for the east. General William Tecumseh Sherman assumed command of the Army of the West with orders to press on to Atlanta against Johnston’s Confederate forces. To relieve the overworked supply system, the Union forces stripped themselves of all but the most necessary gear and reassembled at Chattanooga and Cleveland prepared to press south along the rail lines toward the Confederate position at Dalton. E.B. Doane’s unit rode to Nashville on March 14 and was assigned to McCook’s First Cavalry Division. The duties of the cavalry were to provide a screen along the front and flanks of the advance and to disrupt the enemy position as much as possible. Over one-hundred thousand men began to move south.⁵² E.B. Doane saw this as an opportunity for advancement. On April 5th he had been promoted to Captain of Co. E.⁵³ He wrote to his fiancée:

Tonight I was favored with your highly prized Epistle of the 30th. I was truly glad to hear from you, for I think of you often, quite anxiously too. I wish I could interest you better, but I am tired and in a hurry, and can’t write much this time. We have been on the March ten days and will go on to Cleveland 30 miles east of here. We are camped at the foot of Missionary Ridge over which the Battle was fought. Today we crossed the front of Lookout Mountain. We have been rained on every day since we left Nashville and have had a very rough road. The road across the Cumberland Mountains was so hard that we walked and led our horses and then walked back and carried our things that were in the wagons. Three of our wagons were broken to pieces crossing. There are a number of troops coming to the front now and I expect something is to be done soon. The enemy is in line about 20 miles from here. But if they couldn’t hold the position they had here, I don’t think they can any other. I send you Lt. Anderson’s photograph. He is 2^nd Lt. of our Co. and I’ll send one of Capt. Root’s if I can get it. Give mother & father my respects & to the rest of the family too, and tell Mary Jane I’ll bring her a Bear again on the 4th of July. I guess I’ll hardly forget that Exhibition or that night or the one I was with soon either.

I’m sure your letters are not lacking in interest. I’m glad you are enjoying yourself so well. I hope the time not far distant when I can see you again, Dear. I am well. Capt. Welder has returned. Please write soon and accept the warmest wishes of your Friend and Lover,

There had been some illness and some dissension among the officers regarding discipline, which resulted in the resignation of several officers of the Eighth Iowa,⁵⁵ but neither the efficiency not the morale of the unit was seriously affected. One cavalryman wrote home:

We had quite a gay time on the road from Nashville. The roads were very bad, and would have been considered impassible for anything but a Government train, which may go through, though at the sacrifice of the lives of many animals. I don’t think I would be exaggerating to say that I saw the bodies of two thousand dead horses and mules on the road.⁵⁶

From May 7, 1864, the day Sherman began his offensive into Georgia, to July 30th, the 8^th Iowa was in continual combat.⁵⁷ On May 9th Col Dorr led Company E up a steep, open field to determine where the enemy lay; only the Confederates firing high saved the unit from heavy casualties; every day thereafter the Iowa men were involved in a running fight with Confederate cavalry while screening Sherman’s march across some difficult mountain terrain toward Dalton. This outflanking maneuver forced the Confederates to pull back across the Oostanaula River. Sherman then outflanked the defensive positions there as well. As Sherman pressed south through the mountainous and unmarked country into the relatively open land north of the Etowah, he scattered his troops along several lines of advance, looking for Confederate weak points. Although this seemed risky, tempting his opponent to stage an ambush or counter-offensive, Sherman could rely on his experienced commanders to exercise a combination of boldness and caution which had appeared only rarely earlier in the war. By now the Union officers were proficient in their performance of duty; moreover, unlike many officers in the Army of the Potomac, they were accustomed to victory and, therefore, confident in their ability to carry out the most difficult and hazardous of assignments. Sherman was seeking a fight. The opposing commander, General Johnston, in contrast, was determined to avoid any engagement which did not promise a major victory at relative low risk. He could not afford to have his army worn down by repeated battles, as Lee was

experiencing against Grant; he had to preserve his troops for that moment when Sherman made a mistake, or until Sherman’s supply lines became so long that most of his troops were tied down protecting them. Nevertheless, he knew that his army’s morale was suffering from the repeated retreats. At Cassville, tempted by Sherman’s provocative and aggressive advances, Johnston sought to destroy one wing of the Union army by concentrating his entire force against it. No decisive battle took place, but there was a spirited engagement with Union cavalry. The 8^th Iowa and Major Root were cited for distinguished conduct in their charge upon the Confederate flank. The next day Johnston withdrew further south and the Union troops occupied the abandoned trenches.⁵⁸

By now the respective strategies of the two commanders was clear. Sherman wanted a battle in the open so as to destroy the Confederate army. But he would not assault prepared positions. That would be an unimaginative use of his superiority in manpower, probably too costly, and most likely ineffective. Instead, whenever he encountered trenches, he would have some troops dig in opposite, so that the Confederates would have to be ready to meet a direct assault; with the rest of his army he would move laterally, outflank the fixed positions and force the enemy to choose between a pitched battle on open land or retreat. Johnston, on the other hand, had too few troops to fight that kind of battle. Each time he was faced with such a choice, he retreated, hoping the extended northern supply lines would require more garrison troops and reduce ever more the actual combat forces opposed to him. Meanwhile, he was gathering reinforcements; although he soon had almost as many men as Sherman, his North Georgia militiamen were relatively untrained, often pro-Union, and prone to desertion. At every strong point Johnston prepared elaborate defenses, such as could bleed Sherman’s forces to death if he attacked head-on. From Cassville Johnson fell back to Marietta, where he prepared to make another stand along the railroad line.

On May 22nd Sherman began to outflanked the Marietta trenches by moving overland toward Dallas, with each man carrying his own rations and equipment; he sent the cavalry ahead, McCook’s division (and the 8^th Iowa) in the lead. Two days later E. B. Doane’s unit charged and routed a superior force at Burnt Hickory. The following day, May 25th, there was a sharp combat at New Hope Church near Dallas. There Lt. Anderson took a rebel battery and held it several hours against desperate counterattacks before being ordered to withdraw.⁵⁹

Both armies then entrenched themselves. These defensive works were constructed on these principles:

The general...determined the most available line for defense, and directed brigade commanders to form their troops upon it, following the outline of the ground and making such angles, salient or re-entrant as it required. The skirmish line was kept in front, the rest stacked arms a few paces in rear of the intended place for the breastwork, entrenching tools were taken from the wagons that accompanied the ammunition train, and each company was ordered to cover its own front. Trees were felled and trimmed, and the logs, often two feet thick, rolled into line. The timber revetment was usually four feet high, and the earth thrown from the ditch in front varied in thickness according to the exposure.⁶⁰

The Eighth Iowa held a line one and one-half miles in length until July 1.⁶¹ But E. B. Doane was not present when the army moved south again. The cause of most fatalities in the war was not battle, but disease. Epidemics ran through entire armies and hospital facilities was completely inadequate. On June 20th E. B. Doane was overcome by illness. He relinquished his command, but remained with his company until ordered to the hospital by the surgeon. He was taken to Ackworth, Georgia, and three or four days later was evacuated along the railroad to an Officers Hospital in Nashville.⁶²

Dearest Friend. Today I feel better and more like writing you. But I can’t write a good letter yet. I’ve been improving considerably. Yesterday I rode (in a carriage) down town, but it was a big job. The weather is quite warm. I wish I could get a leave of absence a few days when I get stronger. Which I may do. But I think it uncertain. But it won’t be my fault if I don’t. I’ve had no mail since I came here. I shall look anxiously for a letter from you in few days. I expect there’s some at the Regt. I have sent for it. But it may be sometime before it come and it may not come at all.

We still have encouraging news from the front. I’m so sorry that I’m sick now when there is such a good chance to distinguish ones self and gain a better position. If I could have had good health and come through this campaign safe I would have made a Field Officer easily. You need not be surprised if I get it anyway. I’ve worked hard for it and ran a great many narrow risks. I know I’ve earned it well. And if they don’t promote me to it soon, I guess I’ll come home to my Amelia Dear!! Will that be right? There are wounded and sick coming in every day from the front. Several of my co. are in the Hospital back about town wounded and some severely, too. But I’ve been unable to go and see them yet. I think I shall try it soon though.

I learn that Mrs. Spurries, an old Schoolmate of mine and classmate too (at Mr. Howes) is teaching at Primrose. Have you become acquainted with her yet? She was (portion damaged) to a soldier home on Recruiting Service. He too is a schoolmate of mine. He is in the 14th Infty. I still get a letter from Mr. Maris occasionally. He likes to talk Patriotism better that act it, I think. How do you enjoy your school? Are you going to have a fine celebration on the 4th? The Potomac Army is to celebrate the 4th in Richmond and the Georgia Army in Atlanta. I wish I could help do it. And the next 4th with (portion damaged). Won’t that be nice? Please write soon. Direct to Capt. E. B. Doane, Officers Hospital, Nashville, Tenn., leaving off the Co. and Regt. or else it will go on to the Regt. With many warm wishes for your enjoyment and well being I bid you Good Bye.

A month later he was still in Nashville, but he was much healthier. He wrote home:

Today I received your welcome and interesting letter of the 10^th & 13^th Inst. I was truly pleased to hear from you and to know that you were well. I would indeed like to come home for awhile and if I had known that I would not have been able for duty before this I should have come. But now I shall go to the Front soon, in about a week I think. I am not well, but I won’t live here. I am better though, and think by taking good care of myself I’ll get along. Governor Stone was here today and will go to the Front soon.⁶⁴ Perhaps I’ll go down with him. I’m glad that money got through safe. I sent 100 dollars more. It was a check on New York Bank. I sent it in a letter. Please write as soon as you get it for I’m uneasy about it. If it’s lost I can get another one here before I leave. When you write again tell me how much corn and so forth you had and whether all the farm was cultivated or not. I’ve only had one or two letters from you yet. I expect that others are at the Regt. Capt. Hoxie of the 8^th was married here today. His Lady came from Vermont. I was at the wedding. I had a letter from Franklin today. He is well and at Kingston, Ga. and says my horses are doing well. Is your school a good one and what do you study? Try and go all you can and every day this winter. Please write soon and often direct as before until I write to change it. Tell Father to write soon. Give my respects to all.⁶⁵

Meanwhile, Sherman had moved past the strong Confederate positions at Marietta and Kenesaw Mountain, forcing Johnston to withdraw across the Chattahoochee River. The 8^th Iowa was the first cavalry unit to cross the river in pursuit.

Sherman planned to continue his advance south by outflanking the carefully prepared entrenchments, just as he had done before. This time, however, he faced a new enemy commander, John Bell Hood. The Confederate high command, believing that Johnston’s tactics were too cautious, replaced him with a true fighting general. Hood, who had lost at arm at Gettysburg and a leg at Chickamauga, was an impulsive gambler. He quickly launched a series of desperate attacks against the Union line. The 8^th Iowa position was assaulted on July 23^rd and 27^th, about the time E. B. Doane returned.⁶⁶

Hood’s costly attacks so weakened his army that the Confederation high command reinstated Johnston in command. Sherman quickly resumed his flanking movements, forcing Johnston to commit so many troops to permanent defenses that he would either spread too thin to hold the center or would have to fight to avoid being surrounded. He hen ordered General McCook to make a deep raid into Johnston’s rear, disrupting communications and drawing troops away from Atlanta.⁶⁷ One member of Company E described the raid:

Our regiment numbering tow hundred and ninety men, (the remainder being dismounted and in camp at Kingston, Ga.), in company with the remainder of our division, started on the 27^th ultimo to make a raid through central Georgia.

We crossed the Chattahoochee River to the west side and moved down about twenty miles, to Cameltown. We recrossed the river on the morning of the 28^th and struck the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, at Palmetto Station—We destroyed several miles of the road at this place, after which we pushed forward with great rapidity toward the Atlanta and Macon road, which we reached on the morning of the 29^th; destroying while en route, over eight hundred wagons loaded with Government Stores—The mules were sabered, as we were unable to take them with the command.

On arriving at McDonald’s Station on the railroad, Major Root was ordered out with a portion of the 8^th Iowa, and succeeded in capturing and burning a train loaded with Tobacco, Lard and Arms.—The tobacco alone was estimated at one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.—After effectually destroying several miles of the road, the command proceeded to return.

When but a short distance from the road our column was attacked by a heavy force of rebel cavalry, and the 1st brigade was entirely cut off. Major Root was ordered to take the 8^th Iowa and charge to open communications.

The men charged with revolvers, and a desperate hand to hand fight ensued, but they were finally driven back.

Twice they charged, and twice were they pushed back, by an overwhelming force. The Major’s horse was killed in the first charge, and he received a severe injury in his right shoulder, nevertheless he was not found wanting when the second charge was to be made.

General McCook came up with the 2^nd brigade, and succeeded in cutting thro’ and the command moved rapidly toward the river, and reached Newman’s Station on the morning of the 30th. Here the 4^th Ky. was attacked and two companies were captured. We soon found that the enemy had a heavy force in our front and on our flanks. The division was halted and the forces so disposed as to deceive the enemy. Our regiment was ordered as skirmishers and to discover the position and strength of the enemy; we found the enemy endeavoring to surround our force; his line at that time running in the shape of a horse-shoe, the opening being toward the south, and that their forces consisted of cavalry and two brigades of infantry. The engagement soon became general along our whole line; the enemy making repeated charges, and were as often repulsed.

Major Root was then ordered to mount his command, and charge down the road leading to the river. He moved his command back and advanced cautiously down the road until within sight of the enemy, and then ordered a charge. The boys soon found themselves confronted by Ross’s brigade of Texas Rangers; but nothing daunted, they dashed into their lines and drove them back, compelling then to abandon their horses, as they were dismounted at the time, and captured over five hundred horses, and finally succeeded in clearing the road; but they were closely pressed by superior numbers, and the Major dispatched three different orderlies for reinforcements, but not one got through. Seeing that his command was being cut off, the Maj. ordered the men to cut their way back. In doing so the Maj. with two commissioned officers and ten men were cut off and captured, but seeing a party under Gen. McCook forcing their way out, and not relishing the prospects of sharing a Southern prison during the remainder of the summer, they made a sudden dash and escaped from their captors...Only sixteen of our regiment have come in to this date—the remainder have undoubtedly been killed or taken prisoners.⁶⁸

After nearly two days of hard fighting in which our regiment was continually engaged and much of that time in close hand to hand combat, we were overpowered, surrounded by superior force and most of the men and officers then present captured. Too much praise cannot be awarded to our brave and gallant Colonel, who being wounded in the first days fight did not leave his saddle, but still continued to lead and urge his men forward, and though afterward confined to the ambulance, he again took his horse the second day and staid (sic) with his men. The fight was sharp and spirited as we were fighting Texas rangers; the best and most daring soldiers of the South, who all admitted that they never saw such cavalry fighting nor such determined charges. Many of our men fell but we think many more of theirs. After being captured we were taken to Andersonville prison some sixty miles south of Macon….⁶⁹

E. B. Doane had commanded his company for five days and nights without sleep.⁷⁰ Colonel Dorr wrote:

n this engagement, which was of the severest character, the men and officers of the English behaved with a gallantry and steadiness which drew from General McCook a public compliment on the battlefield. As on the days before there will be few exceptions to this, while there were many instances of great gallantry displayed. Major John H. Isett, Captain P. C. Morhiser, Captain (now Major) Shotry, who was desperately wounded, Captain James W. Moore, Captain E. B. Doane...are fairly entitled to mention for coolness and good conduct under very trying circumstances.⁷¹

General McCook said, “Whatever of disaster occurred was by the inevitable fortune of war or chargeable to some other bond, and was not for want of fidelity or gallantry on the post of the officers or men under my command.⁷² E. B. Doane wrote home as soon as he could:

I, with almost the entire mounted portion of the Regt. was captured on the 30^th after three desperate charges, suffered severely. Twenty of my Co. are prisoner, two wounded, and three missing. Both of my Lts. are prisoner & Lt. Reese wounded. Col. Dorr is wounded and a prisoner. Maj. Root I think escaped. I feel pretty well as far as health is concerned. We expect to be sent to Charleston or Savannah tomorrow. Please direct to me a Prisoner of War at Savannah with this stamp on it, directed to Commissioner of Exchange, Fortress Monroe, Va., For Flag of Truce. We can’t write much. With many warm wishes for your enjoyment and well being. I am truly your Friend.

We arrived here this morning (—was seized) for Exchange. But I have little faith in it yet while not much before Christmas, although it may be in a few days. Nearly all the mounted part of the Regt. was captured on the 30^th after losing severely and being entirely cut off. Col. Dorr is wounded & a Pris. Maj. Root I think escaped. I have one Lt. and two men wounded & pris. Two men missing, one Lt. (I believe), 18 well men Pris. I am feeling quite well now. Hope I may still be blessed in that respect for disease is all that I fear at present. Although confinement is by no means pleasant. Capt Walders and I occupy one room 6 and 8 ft. & the privilege of a hall & walk way in the day time. Please direct to me a Pris. of War at this place with this stamp on it inside, & inclose it in another envelope with a U. S. stamp on it directed to Commissioner of Exchange, Fortress Monroe, for Flag of Truce. We can’t write much. Nothing Contraband. The weather here is more pleasant than I expected. Please write soon & accept the warmest wishes of your Friend.

I had only been with the Regt. two days before captured. Rather short campaign, the last. Nothing but Officers are here. The men are at Anderson. I saved your photo. But the Ambrotype in my bolise is give up.⁷⁴

The battle had actually been a disaster. “Fighting Joe” Wheeler had followed the retreating troopers closely, catching them at a ford and killing or capturing hundreds. Sherman assessed the situation, then decided against another effort to sever the rail lines south of Atlanta; instead, he commenced siege operations. Subsequent fighting was fierce, but Sherman had superior numbers, more supplies, an army with better morale, and he was the better general.

The prison in Charleston was not as bad as in Andersonville, which was a veritable death-house, but the housing, food, and sanitary facilities were miserable. Disease struck weakened men, and many never recovered from their experience. E. B. Doane’s comrades were soon exchanged and back in the field, but he was not among them.⁷⁵ He had already made his first attempt to escape and had been assigned to fifty days of hard labor in Charleston. Probably the prisoners were forced to prepare fortifications, because once he came under battery fire, presumably from the Union naval forces besieging the city.⁷⁶ By October 22nd he had been transferred to Columbia, South Carolina. On that day he wrote:

I would most respectfully ask that you send me duplicate Pay Acts and Power of Attorney that I may one months pay from Paymaster in Genl. Master’s Dept. I am very much in need of the funds as I was captured with but little means and that having now exhausted.

This letter was not even received until December 24th. Although blank pay accounts were sent within three days, there is no notice that he ever received them. Hard-pressed by lack of money, E. B. Doane’s health began to suffer. He contracted scurvy and chronic diarrhea, and it is of considerable credit to his fortitude and determination that he persisted in his unsuccessful attempt to escape. Now not only the vigilance of the guards and the hostility of the populace opposed him, but also the infirmity of his own body. He succeeded nonetheless. His fifth attempt brought him to freedom on February 14, 1865.⁷⁸ The feat was dangerous, but not exceptional. The Confederate Assistant Adjutant General reported:

The camp is a large one, in fact much too large for the number of prisoners confined (hence they have made themselves very uncomfortable), which requires a much larger guard than is necessary. Prisoners are constantly escaping during the dark nights. Five escaped the night before I arrived.⁷⁹

We learned more details only in 2011, when an escape memoir was published.^{^[42]} The author reported that one company of Georgia troops contained some Union men who for $150 in Confederate currency were willing to be let the escapees pass through the guard lines and even provide matches and a little food:

Tuesday, November 1,1864. The night of the first of November was very dark and everything appeared to be favorable for our purpose. At eleven o’clock at night we eight crawled out to the dead line, on the east or southeasterly side of the camp, as had been agreed upon, ready for a start. … We directly made the signal agreed upon with the guard, by rolling a small stone out to or near the nearest sentinel, and got the proper response by having one rolled as quietly back to us, whereupon we crawled upon all fours, and pretty low at that, out to and past the sentinel, into the field beyond, giving him the $150 as we passed…. We crawled past the guard for a few rods, then rising to a stooping position and after a few rods farther into the darkness, erect, we pushed on, each man for himself, across the bushy field about sixty rods to a fence next to a piece of woods.

We halted here in the darkness, not knowing who had succeeded in getting through and who had not, except Benson and myself who were leading. The others soon came up, and we found that all who started were with us. Then, to avoid whatever pickets there might be outside of us, we turned to the left close up to the camps of the enemy, and passed through the very ground from which the camp of a company had been removed only the day before.

Up to this time the camps of the different companies of the guards about had been located separately, on different sides of the prison camp, forty to sixty rods outside. One of the tricks of our men had been, on a pretty dark night, to pitch and roll a round stone vigorously, along the ground, between the sentinels and past their line, so that the rustling and bounding in the fallen leaves beyond them would give the impression of men running. Then the sentinels would fire at the sound, sometimes as many as three or four of them, and then those of our men who were engaged in it, and close up to the line, in the darkness, would run between the sentinels while their guns were empty, and some of them would really escape. This had happened only the night before, near this same part of the line. The sentinels in firing at the sound as of men outside of them, had fired into their own camp and killed one of their own men. For this reason the camp of this company had been removed during the day to a less exposed situation.

We passed from there into a field of standing corn, which afforded us the best shelter possible. We came through this to the woods again, and pushed into them in a general southeasterly direction, while our ultimate course of travel was going to be to the northwest.

After traveling for perhaps half an hour with Benson leading,^{^[43]} he ran into an almost impassable swamp, and struggled in it for perhaps half an hour. Being myself well towards the rear of the line, I then struck off to the right, and in a few minutes found a way through to the other side. I gave the signal to call them back, and then led on, followed by the others through the woods until three o’clock in the morning, when in my turn, I ran into a swamp. After floundering about for a while in a vain attempt to find a way through, I finally backed out and called a halt for rest.

After resting for a while, Benson went prospecting and succeeded in finding a way around the swamp. He then led until an hour before daylight, when another halt was called, we having made, as we judged, about thirteen miles in a general south-southeasterly direction.

Our idea was to start towards Charleston, or directly opposite the course that we desired to travel, with a view to elude pursuit, then swing around to the south and west until we were well clear of Columbia, and then take up our real course to the northwest.

Up to this time, both divisions of the party of eight had kept together. It was now thought to be time for us to separate into two parties, for greater secrecy in traveling and greater convenience in getting food. The other eight who fell in with us the evening before as we were crossing the dead line, had followed us as far as the first fence, and when we turned to the left to near the enemy’s camp, they did not follow, and probably went over the fence directly into the woods. We never saw or heard anything more of them, and never knew who they were.

In the morning, I had pointed out two paths or courses to take, and proposed to Major Reynolds that they choose one course and we would take the other. He indicated his course, and we shook hands and parted....

Wednesday, November 2. It had commenced to rain at four o’clock in the morning, a steady cold rain. After parting with the either four, we made our way into a piece of woods where we remained all day long without any shelter, not daring to build any fire on account of the risk of being discovered. It had continued to rain all through the day. We were very wet, very cold, and very hungry. After dark we started in a general southwesterly direction, in the latter part of the night turning to northwesterly. The rain continued to fall during the night, steadily and constantly. The grass and bushes and branches of trees were dripping with rain as we brushed against them. Our clothes were so soaked that the drip from them would fill our boots. We would occasionally stop and empty the water from them. It was cold almost to freezing.

In the course of the night, while following a road in the woods, just after crossing a little stream, we came upon what appeared to be a picket line. We turned to the right into the woods and in attempt to crawl around it, crawled directly almost up to another fire, and repeating the move to the right, came directly towards, and to within a few feet of still another fire. It had the appearance of being an encampment of the enemy…. We then turned back into the woods, returned to our road and making a detour to the left, passed them and went on. We never knew anything more of them. Made twelve miles during the night.

Thursday, November 3. This day we spent on a kind of ridge in a piece of ground filled with small trees and bushes. We were not very well concealed and people were in sight occasionally. We did not dare to build any fire. The rain continued as yesterday to fall constantly, more heavily and colder. We had to keep our blood stirring by exercise, but tired and debilitated as we were, we must rest and sleep. Our only way was to lie upon the saturated ground, with the rain falling upon the broadsides of our persons. Then we would fall directly asleep, the sleep of exhaustion, sleep for fifteen minutes, then chilled to the very marrow, rise and exercise for a while, and so repeat the maneuver the whole day long. Our clothes worn and threadbare, being what we stood in on the field of battle when we were captured the spring before, afforded us very limited protection.

We started early at night in a northwesterly direction, then went north and reached Lexington Court House at 9 or 10 o’clock at night. The village was mostly upon two streets crossing each other nearly at right angles. We went around it by the right with a good deal of caution and taking the first road we came to on the other side of the village, supposing it to be the continuation of the one we came upon, in the extreme darkness followed it to the northeast instead of west of north, and as it proved, on the road leading directly back to Columbia, though upon the opposite side of the town from which we had left it.

Half a mile beyond the village, in the almost utter darkness of the night, we suddenly met a man, evidently a white, and I will remark here, the first and only man that we ever allowed ourselves to meet without our knowing it first. He hailed and called us to halt, but we, supposing him to be of course an enemy, put on a bold front and in our turn, peremptorily ordered him to halt. Coming up to me, he said, “Let me feel of your clothes,” and putting his hand upon the sleeve of my coat so as to feel its texture, he said, “I am one of Uncle Sam’s boys, who are you?” at which, it may well be believed, we were both pleased and relieved. He proved to be Captain Doane of the Iowa Cavalry, who had likewise escaped from Columbia the night after our escape. After a little conversation it was agreed all around that he should become one of our party.

Upon the information which he gave us, we turned directly about and took the way back towards Lexington. A little after this, while stopping by the fence to rest, we heard another party of men coming up the road. We let them pass by us and then Doane ran after them and found they were another party of our officers who had escaped the night before from Columbia. I think there were five of them. They were hurrying along and we never knew anything more of them. These were the last four escaped fellow prisoners that we met until we were in the mountains across the Tennessee line.

After this we followed the road back to Lexington, past the church and the court house, at one o’clock at night, then turned the corner to the right and took the road leading west of north to the Saluda River.

Friday, November 4. This morning the rain ceased. It had commenced to rain the morning of the 2nd, and continued until this morning without intermission and without any shelter for ourselves, without fire, and with very little food. Our feet had begun, as it were, to parboil and to blister. It would have been very difficult for us to endure the rain and exposure for another day.

We spent the day about four miles from Lexington, in a very retired piece of woods. We were so well sheltered and our necessity was so great that towards night we built a fire and dried our feet and hands and our clothing. We cooked some corn and beans that we had gathered in a field. I had a piece of tin, with the edges turned up so as to form a rude dish, which I carried in my pocket. This we used to cook in.

From this, the bivouac of our first fire, we started at eleven o’clock. Following the road, we arrived at the Saluda River a little before midnight. We found no means of crossing and had no means of knowing the depth of the river, so we followed down its bank, looking for something that would float. In about a mile we found a boat, full of water, which we drew up on the bank, and we emptied the water from it. After a little search, we found a paddle and a pole in the top of a small tree, and launching the boat, we all got in and pushed across the river. We tied the boat carefully at the other bank, to give the impression that whoever had used it, would want it to recross in, as it would be presumed that a lot of fugitives, like ourselves, would naturally just push the boat off and let it float down the stream.

We made about four miles from the river in a northerly course, where we stopped in a piece of woods.

Saturday, November 5. At daylight we found there were roads and houses all about us. Through the day, the sun was shining clear and warm. We kept very quiet, glad to get through the day without being discovered. We started about half past eight o’clock in the evening and traveled in a northerly direction with a view to strike Broad River.

We halted at eleven o’clock and cooked potatoes and beans till three o’clock in the morning, when we moved on, making in all for the night about six miles. We then turned east a mile, then south half a mile into a piece of woods for concealment.

Sunday, November 6. We were apparently well sheltered. At night Doane got bread and molasses of Negroes. He wore the ordinary rebel clothing, and his policy was to pass for one of their own people. The rest of us were all in our uniforms as officers in the U.S. Army.

We started at half past nine in the evening. During the night we crossed the main road which led through Spartanburg and Asheville to Knoxville, but did not dare to follow it, as it was too public, and the Asheville neighborhood was known to be dangerous....

Just before reaching the Spartanburg road, our own path having now become so well defined that we could follow it readily, we heard people coming through the woods, and soon discovered that it was a party of people on a path that crossed our own. We just dropped on the ground for concealment, myself leading, being within perhaps a dozen feet of the other path, so that we could very readily hear their conversations. We soon discovered that it was a party of colored young people, and that a couple in front were apparently lovers, or at any rate “sparking.” We found that the old story, ever new, was the same in South Carolina as it is the world over, and among colored young people as with all the rest of humanity.

When we crossed the Spantanburg road, so plain and so open…direct to Knoxville, to which place we wanted to go, and the other route was so doubtful and unknown, it was with self-denial that I crossed and struck into the unknown country on the other side, but it was best, and we did it

Towards morning we followed a byroad to its end, right up to a house and near to Broad River. The dogs came out and gave us a good deal of trouble, but we pushed on to the left, among logs and bushes, away from them before we were discovered to be anything more than a lot of vagrant cattle, and made our way half a mile to a sheltered ravine and ridge on the outside of a bend of Broad River.

Monday, November 7. We made about eight miles during the past night. In front of us was the river coming down from the north and at the right passing away eastward and southeast past Columbia and to the sea. The river was within a quarter of a mile, in plain sight. It was a lovely prospect before us. The pleasantest location of any day thus far on the trip. Cars were on the other side of the river about half a mile away, within hearing and running southeast four or five miles to Alston station ....

Towards night Doane saw a white boy who was going to a corn shucking, and talked with him. We started early in the evening, partly because of the white boy and of the party which would be gathering at the com shucking.

At the start we followed near the bank of the river for a mile or so, in order to go clear of the corn shucking party, and after that, struck directly west through the woods. We had a long, tedious tramp, making about six miles in six hours of constant walking, and then we struck the river road. After a short distance upon the road and at about three o’clock in the morning, we came to a house on the left of the road, where they were up and evidently moving about, and where the road made a sharp bend to the west.

At the right and quite near the road there was a large stream of water, thus confining us almost to the road. We were obliged to exercise great caution to get past the house without being discovered, which in a quarter or half an hour we did successfully. In a few rods beyond, we found a road which turned a square corner to the right and in a northerly direction again. In a few rods the road crossed the stream by a bridge.

Since the war I have learned who those people at the house were. It was a party of Negro teamsters about starting on a trip, and if we could have known it and gone frankly to them they would have been friendly to us and would have saved us a great deal of trouble. Unfortunately, we did not know this....

We went a mile further, catching a glimpse in the darkness of what appeared to be a piece of woods, across a field to the left, and made our way to it for concealment during the day.

Tuesday, November 8. We lay down and slept for perhaps half an hour. When I opened my eyes and looked around, in the grey of the early dawn, I perceived that instead of being in a suitable piece of woods, we were merely in a small grove in a large field with the highway near one side of it. Some thirty or forty rods west of us there was the point of a piece of Woods. We then slipped into this as quietly as possible.

We had fallen into the practice of stopping about an hour before daylight and looking for a place for concealment, sometimes going as far as two miles to one side to find a safe place. Then we would lie down and fall directly asleep.

The first grey of dawn would wake me. Then I would rise and scout around to see if we were in as good a place as we could find. If so, I would return and lie down again; if not, I would first make up my mind in which direction to move; then returning to the others, would put my hand on each one in succession and quietly wake him. Then each would rise silently and in the quietest manner possible, follow into as much better place of concealment as we could find. It was wonderful to what a degree of silence we had tutored ourselves....

A little before sundown, Captain Doane chose to go out foraging to see what he could do in the way of getting food. I went with him as far as I could go under shelter of the woods, and to show him how to find his way back to us in the night I did not dare to go so as to be seen in daylight on account of my uniform, whereas he was dressed like one of themselves.

I parted with him about sundown and we never saw or heard anything more of him, except that long afterwards, Walpole, who had written to the Adjutant General of Iowa, heard from him that Captain Doane had been duly mustered out of the U.S. service. This showed—provided it was the same Captain Doane—that he lived to get home somehow. We feared that he had been arrested. This must have been the case, or possible he failed to find his way back to us, but still escaped. I do not think he met with any personal harm at the time, for if a shot had been fired, or any disturbance taken place, I should likely have heard it

We waited for him until midnight and then started, as it would do him no good for us to linger longer where we were, nor would it have been safe for us.

All escapees made their way to Union lines, though it took weeks. By December the country folk were on the alert; local newspapers were complaining that escaped Yankees were “thronging the country to the great annoyance of the citizenry.”⁸⁰ The commander of the prison, perhaps determined to prevent more escapes, soon moved the entire body of prisoners away. E.B. Doane had fled just in time, though records suggest that he would have broken out there, too—the guards seemed to lack enthusiasm for their job.

E. B. Doane made his way to Union lines, and within a few weeks was returned to Tennessee under orders:

Captain E. B. Doane, 8^th Iowa Cav., an escaped prisoner, will proceed to Nashville, Tenn. and report to Head Quarters, Department of the Cumberland for further orders. Dept. will furnish the necessary transportation.⁸¹

1 leave of absence for Thirty (30) days to date from time of leaving Department, is hereby granted to Capt. E. B. Doane 8^th Iowa Cavly.⁸²

Within two weeks he had returned to Iowa, and there on April 27, 1865, he was married to Amelia Cahill by the Rev. William Wall in Primrose.⁸³ Presumably family members were in attendance and many neighborhood friends.

E. B. Doane was to have a short honeymoon. He probably had already decided to return to his unit, which was involved in combat (and now on the famous Wilson Raid, which kept it two months behind enemy lines),⁸⁴ but on April 15th he and every American was shocked by the assassination of President Lincoln. His friend H. T. Bird wrote, “the news of the assassination of President Lincoln was received with much sorrow and regret. Every soldier looked up to him as being almost a supernatural being and we all believe that no man could have carried the old Ship of State through such a perilous storm with more honor than he.”⁸⁵ E. B. Doane left for Georgia about the beginning of June.

Unknown to him, his friends in the 8^th Iowa had already provided for his discharge:

33. Under the provisions of general Orders, No. 82, May 6, 1865, from this office, Capt. E. B. Doane, 8^th Iowa Cavalry, is hereby mustered out and honorably discharged the service of the United States, to take effect May 15, 1865, on account of his services being no longer required, and physical disability.⁸⁶

But these orders did not arrive in time to forestall his travel. No wonder his friends were surprised to see him, as he recounted in his first letter home:⁸⁷

I reached here last evening and found the Boys all well and glad to see me. My arrival surprised them for they expected I would go out under the Order for all on leave to report to the Ajt. General of their State for muster out, which I wish I had done. The Boys are all in fine spirits. The entire stock of the Regt. is poor and worn down, not fit for service. But we are to move in a day or two. I know not where, but think toward the Coast along the line of R.R. The weather is quite warm and sultry. I expect to be mustered today. Maj. Root is commanding the Regt. Col. Moore of Co. C has been recommended for me. The old Stockade in which we were confined last summer is all burnt down. Capt. Burns of Co. A is Division Provost Marshall and had charge of the Prisoners at this place and when they reached here he marched them through all the principal streets of the city and into the old stockade just as they did last summer. The Rebs are completely whipped and played out and seem to be the most submissive and docile people I ever saw. I am feeling first rate and hope this will find well and happy. Please direct to Macon with the Co. and Regt. on and it will follow us. So Good Bye for this time.

There was little for him to do. His company was engaged elsewhere, and in any case, the war was over. His enthusiasm cooled as his health deteriorated. Within a week he wrote the following request:

I would most respectfully request that I be relieved from duty as Capt. Co. E 8^th Iowa Vol Cav and ordered to report to Salem Iowa, to receive my muster out and discharge papers in obedience to enclose orders,

On a doctor’s recommendation he was mustered out and sent home. He returned to Iowa by rail, a journey of about a week’s travel, and was discharged July 15, 1865.⁸⁹

E. B. Doane was not as successful in civilian life as his friends and comrades-in-arms. Maj. Root commanded a colored brigade for a time, then became a United States Marshal, and later owner of the Brazelton House in Mount Pleasant⁹⁰ and an influential politician. W. I. Babb returned to school, and was elected to office in Lee County for many years thereafter. E. B. Doane returned to teaching, a profession increasingly dominated by women, but where learning brought high status to those men who devoted their lives to education. The professional skills were in great demand. Salem, a town of less than one thousand people, had two hundred and fifty students in the lower grades, and a high school of seventy-five students.⁹¹ Apparently children grew in Iowa even faster than the corn. However, the pay was low.

The Quaker interest in education, so important to the Doane family, manifested itself in the establishment of a college in Salem in the fall of 1867. Eleazar’s father was among the earliest contributors to Whittier College, and undoubtedly Eleazar was an enthusiastic supporter of the venture. He was not a teacher there, however, and it is likely that his poor health had already forced him to seek a more invigorating livelihood.

Apparently E. B. Doane had returned to farming before the fall of 1869, because at that time a fight arose that he would not have avoided. The teachers’ association in Henry County denounced the appointed Superintendent of Schools and proposed his replacement by S. L. Howe. One hundred and fifty teachers petitioned on behalf of the old abolitionist, saying “some of Iowa’s noblest sons, and one or two of the Nations best men, have received the rudiments of their education under his immediate tutorship.”⁹²

However, E. B. Doane seemed to have little interest in politics in the period immediately following the war. His health and the entrenched politicians may have kept him from attempting to exercise leadership, but he must have participated in the debates and hotly contested elections, inflamed as they were by deep emotional and philosophic divisions. Southeastern Iowa had remained in Democratic Party hands throughout the war, reflecting local sympathy for the South that the steamboat trade had created. Also, so many Unionists had marched away to war that the Copperheads could agitate freely, from time to time even holding public meetings and disrupting pro-Union assemblies. Now the troops were home, and we know from his earlier letters how E. B. Doane felt about Copperheads: “If there is anything I detest is a base Copperhead...Oh, but there is a time coming when such men will wish to God this had been a blank in their lives.”⁹³ The time had come.

The question of Negro suffrage brought the Copperheads and their racist sympathizers out in numbers in the fall of 1865; the Union men organized as well. The mass meeting in Keokuk was one of the largest in the history of the country,⁹⁴ and the Unionists carried the day only thanks to the voters further north. Banner headlines denouncing the Copperheads appeared in 1866, 1867, and 1868 as well, but each election resulted in Democratic victories over most of the country. How inflamed were these contests? Undoubtedly E. B. Doane attended this rally in Big Mound on October 20, 1868:⁹⁵

This is the day and the place for the Grand Republican Rally of Northwestern Lee. Arriving at the spot, at 11 a.m., I found to my great satisfaction, that the people had not forgotten to rally; and that through the unconquerable energy of our esteemed friends, J. Coffindaffer, D. R. Heaton and others and the loyal ladies, all necessary arrangement had been perfected to receive and properly care for all who might attend: and that the hospitalities of the citizens of Big Mound and surrounding country were most cordially and generously extended to man and beast. Two towering liberty poles on either side of the road had been erected, and beautifully festooned with evergreens supporting a splendid emblem of our sovereignty, bearing upon its ample folds the names of the next president and vice-president of the United States; and with its warning lines of beauty, inspired each heart with faith in the ultimate success and triumph of Republicanism. Multitudes had already assembled, eager and anxious to hear the political issues of the hour discussed by the speakers billed for the occasion; and as far as the eye could reach, in every direction, crowds of people were still coming—some in wagons, some as mounted Tanners,⁹⁶ some in carriages, others on boat, until, by noon, the crowds at the speakers stand had reached large proportions, and the universal exclamation was, “What - What’s the matter!!” All conceded that it was by far the largest and most enthusiastic meeting of the campaign in old Lee up to this writing. No fair judge estimates the crowd at less than 3000 souls.

One of the most noticeable features of the meeting and procession was a tastefully decorated chariot, drawn by six fine specimens of horses, and filled with thirty-seven blooming maidens, named after each state. Petroleum V. Nasby, P. M. “which is post-master,” was there, with an old rickety buggy, and a horse with one foot in the grave, and the other ought to have been there; with a tall stove pipe hat, which looked like it had gone through all the wars, and in the awful fix of the “Democracy,” pretty well “busted up;” labeled so that all could read, “Do you want your daughters to marry niggers?” and fastened to the seat of his dilapidated vehicle, with the Democratic platform, and labeled in large capital, “Equal Taxation.”

I need not say this unique picture created a sensation, and that the few “Dimmycrats” in attendance were strongly inclined to keep Nasby company, owing to the talismanic power of a certain pig heretofore alluded to.

A rich and splendid repast was spread on tables erected in Bro. Coffindaffer’s yard, (Who by the way is entitled to special mention for his zealous efforts in the Republican cause.) The tables fairly groaned under the luxuries and substantials, but were soon relieved by from 350 to 400 Tanners, who partook of dinner and supper, with joyous faces and grateful hearts, attesting their appreciation by cheer after cheer for the good ladies of Big Mound and vicinity.

At the call of the vast concourse of men and women, Col. Leighton came forward and made one of the most humorous, mirth-provoking speeches it has ever been my good fortune to hear—keeping every one for nearly an hour in the laughing mood.

He paid a just tribute to our Congressional standard-bearer, and reviewed in denunciatory terms his competitor—the poor old silly Maryland carpet-bagger, alias Tom Clagett, who imagines that he is a candidate for Congress. Col. Leighton believes that “a little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” At the conclusion of his happy effort, and whilst the immense concourse of people were still smiling audibly, the President introduced Gov. Stone, who at once proceeded to make one of the most powerful and logical speeches ever delivered to the State. His scathing and withering denunciations of the modern Democracy elicited round after round of rapturous applause, and stamped him as one of the ablest men in the nation. His triumphant vindication of republican principles, and his condemnation of copperhead doctrines, were fully appreciated by his auditors, and will bear rich fruits on November 3rd, 1868. The meeting, with all its concomitants was all that any lover of freedom and good government could wish.

But the Tanners could not prevail over their Lee County opponents. The defeat in `68 was particularly galling, especially since the incumbent officials seemed more interested in protecting their own interests than in presenting their constituency. By the late summer of 1869 there were calls for new blood in the party, and a purge of corruption.⁹⁷ E. B. Doane presented himself that September in Charlestown as delegate from Cedar Township to the County Convention. On the Committee for Resolutions, he helped draft the following statement:

Resolved, That the resolution of the State Republican platform, against excessive taxation, extravagance in expenditure, and in favor of employing the surplus funds of the State Treasury to carry on the State Administration, economically administered, and to collect only the minimum of taxation required for this and no other purpose, meets our hearty concurrence. Resolved, That by resolution we understand that the Republican party of Iowa pledged itself unequivocally against building a new State House at this time; and that we ask our members of the General Assembly to be governed by that pledge. Resolved, That the unparalleled extravagance of expenditure in the county administration of Lee county calls imperatively for prompt and thorough reform; that for this extravagance the dominant party in the county is responsible, and for a complete and satisfactory reform, the people of the county must place the control of its affairs into new and honest hands. Resolved, That the ticket nominated to-day commands our fullest confidence, and that we will give our earnest efforts to secure its success.⁹⁸

The subsequent elections produced the desired results. With the ticket headed by the editor of the Gate City Weekly, who was elected United States Senator, The Republican vote climbed. E. B. Doane, a subscriber to the paper and an acquaintance of the former editor, moved up with the fortunes of the party. In 1870 he went to the State Convention in Des Moines, where, with fourteen other delegates from Lee County, he supported the party statement:

Resolved, That we refer with pride to the history of the Republican Party, and congratulate the people of the country upon its successful career. It has given to the poor man a homestead; it has abolished slavery, and established manhood suffrage; crushed treason, given us the Pacific Railroad, settled the doctrine of right of expatriation, maintained the honor, integrity, and credit of our nation; it has vindicated the Monroe doctrine by preventing foreign powers from interfering with the governments on this continent; and to perpetuate it in power is the only safe guarantee for peace and prosperity in the future.⁹⁹

He did not serve in 1871, but in 1872 he met with the 1st District Convention in Burlington.¹⁰⁰ The happy result of that election was that for the first time, the Republican Party carried Lee County! That was his last party convention in Iowa. The next year found him in Kansas.

The railroads were opening up the west. The railroad through Cedar township was delayed by corruption and legal difficulties, but it opened the way north and south early in the 70s. Other roads smoothed the past west, and soon pioneers were writing back to their friends in Iowa that Kansas was the place to live:

“The country is beautiful, and will richly reward those who select a home here...I feel no hesitation in recommending this portion of the country to the emigrant.”¹⁰¹

“When you told me in Keokuk this was a beautiful country you did not express half the facts. It is not only beautiful, but perfectly delightful, and even grand.”¹⁰²

Most correspondents recommended travel by rail, and in 1873 a veritable flood of Iowans set out for cheap land in Kansas, selling their farms in Iowa and staking everything on the future.

Crops had not done well in Iowa for several years, and the Panic of 1873 was catastrophic to small farmers. The Homestead Act provided relief, especially for veterans, and E. B. Doane and his comrades took the opportunity to improve their lot. The law provided that each settler would receive 160 acres of land if he occupied it and improved it for five years; furthermore, he could preempt another 160 acres at $1.25 an acre. The Timber Culture Act granted an additional 160 acres to a settler if he planted forty acres of trees upon it. In 1873 or 1874 E. B. Doane reportedly drove a covered wagon to Kansas and took up a homestead and timber claim in Osborne County.

He never lost contact with friends and relatives in Iowa, or even with his wife’s family in Ohio, but distance was such as to prevent anyone visiting except on very rare occasions. Although relatives returned to Iowa occasionally, there is no evidence that E. B. ever did so; he maintained communication by mail with his father,¹⁰³ but even that was irregular. Robert Doane remained in Iowa, his savings supplemented by a government pension. He survived until 1889, a respected member of his community.¹⁰⁴ A letter survives, apparently from Amelia’s mother, Mrs. Davis, who lived in Mount Hamil, in northwestern Lee County, Iowa. She survived until 1901, and one of her letters, perhaps her last, though undated, was preserved. Spelling and punctuation were extremely poor, but her loneliness and weakness are most eloquent:

I hope you are all well. I received your and Lizze’s letters. I hope the baby is alright. I have a cradle fixed for him; will send it when I have a chance. I had a letter from my boy. I like to get letters from any of the folks, for it does me so much good. I have not felt able to answer them for I am poorly. Been in bed most part of the last week; am so weak can barely get around the room. I felt poorly most part of the winter. It seems to me I am thinner and weaker. Mattie thinks when the weather gets warmer I feel better. If I don’t I do not get through the summer. I try hard to keep around and wait on myself for I know the rest has much to do to take care of themselves...¹⁰⁵

Elizabeth Davis continued to write about the possibility of a visit, but concluded that she was too weak to endure the long train trip with the frequent changes. If correspondence was not frequent, it was at least regular enough that distant lines of Doanes, Cahills, and Davis never lost contact in spite of the many miles between them. Some Iowa relatives made visits to Osborne County, often to visit those family members who had married E. B. and Amelia’s children.¹⁰⁶

Osborne County is located in north central Kansas, an arid, treeless area except for the fertile valleys that cut through the rolling hills. The South Fork of the Solomon River runs through the northern and the county seat in Osborne. The census of 1870 found thirty-three settlers in the county, but a boom began in 1873 with large-scale immigration from Iowa and other states so that by 1880 the census recorded 12,518 inhabitants.

Many neighbors joined E. B. Doane in the earliest migration. A Quaker settlement grew up at Mt. Ayr, and veterans from the 19^th Iowa Infantry and the 8^th Iowa Cavalry appeared in almost every township. E. B. Doane made a claim on land in Delhi township where he built a small log cabin on a creek near the geodetic center of the United States, just north of the Mead ranch. His family then included four children (Frank, Eva Jane, Robert Boyd, and John). With six mouths to feed, he hurried to get his first seed in the ground, undoubtedly corn. But there was no crop in 1874. The grasshoppers came, as the newspaper reported:

The grasshoppers made their advent into our country the latter part of the week, and are devouring everything before them. We noticed several fields of corn literally alive with them, being almost unable to see either the corn or the ground. We hear reports of their ravages from every portion of Osborne and Rooks counties and up to this writing they are still with us, carrying on their work of desolation and ruin among the field of our farmers.¹⁰⁷

The grasshoppers returned in 1875. The “Kansas or Bust” settlers survived, thanks in part to relief committees established in Iowa to send food and clothing. Doubtless, the relatives of E. B. Doane gave his family assistance in this difficult period.

We understand Mr. Done is in trouble on account of some one jumping his claim. We read in the good Book that he that knoweth his master’s will and doeth it not shall be beaten with many stripes. We are surprised that Mr. Done or any other many should leave the gate open for trouble to step in.¹⁰⁸

Claim jumping was easy. One needed only to remove one set of markers, replace them with another, and defend the illegal move by bluff or force. Unfortunately, we do not know how this came out, but it is unlikely E. B. Doane did nothing about it. Perhaps a local “claim club” helped to remove the intruder-in any case he disappeared completely.¹⁰⁹

The last Indian raid occurred in 1878, when a bunch of starving Cheyenne broke out of the reservation and started south with their women and children looking for buffalo. Attacked by cowboys, they retaliated on frontier families. Half the settlers of Osborne County fled for safety, but E. B. Doane’s homestead was not in a threatened area. The last buffalo seen in Osborne County passed through that year.

The area was becoming civilized. There was a “Literary at Delhi every Friday evening,”¹¹⁰ an Odd Fellows Lodge, and a Masonic Lodge installed at Delhi.¹¹¹ E. B. Doane was an Odd Fellow and a Mason. There was singing and partying at the Prather’s nearby, and a donation party for the minister of the proposed church there which one hundred and twenty persons attended.¹¹² E. B. Doane undoubtedly participated in these activities, and although he never joined the church and considered himself a Quaker, his children associated themselves with the church at Delhi and nearby Lucas and became Methodists.

Osborne and the railroad were quite distant from the Doane farm, but two days haul in the wagon sufficed to bring the produce to market. E. B. Doane made the trip regularly, often in company with his friends. C. Borin, publisher of an upstart newspaper, reported his visits:

Capt. Doan, M.N. Purdy and another gentleman whose name we did not learn, of South Side, told us “how” yesterday.¹¹³

Unfortunately, E. B. Doane was not so friendly with the editor of the opposing, but more durable newspaper. Borin lasted but two years, and his chatty notices were all too short.

But the country was not so lonesome now. More people lived in Delhi township, even relatives. Amelia’s brother James Cahill came west in 1877 after his grandfather died at the age of 103, married a local girl in 1880, and began to teach school. And there were three more children (Elizabeth Amelia, Walter Scott, and Victor Roy).

As little Delhi grew into a crossroads shopping center boasting several stores, it grew somewhat more independent of Osborne two days journey away. The citizens hoped for a railroad which would make them a thriving community. The expectations of things to come caused a rift in the otherwise friendly relations of the citizens, and this rift was reflected in politics. Since all settlers were Republicans, the struggle came in the township caucus, where nominations were made, nomination being tantamount to election. E. B. Doane became involved in this dispute, rather innocently it appears, but also rather disastrously.

Late in September of 1880, E. B. Doane went to Ohio on business and remained there three months,¹¹⁵ most likely to settle the estate of Amelia’s grandmother Cahill, who had died in Cincinnati. While he was out of the state, the township trustee died, and in the newspaper’s words: “E. B. Doane, candidate for District Clerk, had, during his absence in Ohio on business, been appointed trustee of Delhi township on the petition of his many friends there.”¹¹⁶ That week E. B. Doane’s friends won. But the next week it was different. When the Republican caucus met, his supporters were outvoted. The split in the township came into the open, as the losing faction withdrew and elected a rump delegation to the county convention. The convention was hotly contested, so much so that the newspaper reported “CONVENTION IS OVER AND NOBODY KILLED, but how about the Delhi contesting delegation.” The rump lost.¹¹⁷

To make a long story short, there were plenty of bad tempers left over from the convention. The newspaper reported three weeks later, “Oh, What beautiful weather! But a cloud still hangs over Delhi.”¹¹⁸ And E. B. Doane was blamed for part of it. The winning faction crowed in the Farmer:

Our election news is daily coming in from various parts of the township, the latest report being to the effect that Mr. Purdy, the defeated candidate for trustee, is indignant at Mr. E. B. Doane for not complying with a sacred contract made by them about one month before the county convention. Mr. Purdy solemnly pledged himself to Mr. Doane that he should have the office of district clerk, while Mr. Doane pledged himself that Mr. Purdy should have the office of trustee of Delhi township. Mr. Purdy, to make his calling and election sure, went into the fight with his gloves off. My referring to a number of the Truthteller published during October, you will see that Mr. Purdy faithfully complied with his part of the contract. In that article Mr. Purdy tells the voters of Osborne county that Mr. Doane is a competent man, and also a republican, never having been a greenbacker; also that he was a great warrior, the first stroke he made in the late war knocking off and entire corner of the rebellion. Mr. Doane failed to fell his fellow citizens of Delhi township that Mr. Purdy was a second monitor during the war, and this negligence on Mr. Doane’s part is supposed to have caused Mr. Purdy’s defeat.¹¹⁹

E. B. Doane’s friendship with Marion Purdy seems to have survived this crisis, if there really was one. But neither was able to regain influence on township politics. The Delhi Ring remained in control.

E. B. Doane must have returned from Ohio before Christmas. In January he visited Osborne and the short conversation with the editor of the Truth Teller occasioned several short notices in the paper:

We were heartily glad to shake Capt. Doane by the hand recently. He had just returned from Ohio, where he has been for the past three months.

Born—on the 15th, to Mr. & Mrs. Doane, of South Side, a son. All well. (That was Ray Gue).

J. W. Middaugh, who came out recently to visit his brother-in-law, Capt. Doane of South Side, came to this city and took the train yesterday for his home in Lee county, Iowa. He pleased us by making a call in company with friends Doane, and will hereafter read the Truth Teller in his Iowa home. (He married Mary Annis Doane).¹²⁰

He smoothed out the difficulties with Marion Purdy, and that fall purchased the old Purdy Farm. E. B. Doane had decided that his family needed a larger home (two more sons, Ira Bales and Otis Eleazar were born), and he needed more land to farm.

His far had been of moderate size. He purchased the 320 acres from Marion and Mary Purdy for one thousand dollars on September 29, 1881.¹²¹ He transferred the mortgage from the Kansas Trust and Banking Company to the Mutual Trust Company of Pennsylvania and paid installments of fifty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents. The second mortgage was still not completely paid off at the time of his death in 1886. He had another 160 acres in nearby counties and 260 acres in Reynolds County, Missouri.

It was good wheat country, and E. B. Doane provided himself with all the tools necessary for wheat farming: a plow, a drag, a wheat drill, three wagons, and harness and tackle for two teams. He had seven head of horses for work and, consequently, had to provide fodder for them. He raised hay and clover, and owned a mowing machine and hay rake for harvesting those crops. On the remaining land he ran fifty head of cattle and dept about fifty hogs and pigs. These were for consumption as well as for sale. Naturally, they varied in age, heifers, yearlings, and calves all being present; and hogs and shoates.

The home was a plain, unpainted one and one-half story farm house, small and rather depressing. The house was surrounded by trees and bushes; lilacs and holly hocks and other old-fashioned flowers in front on the east, tamaracks and currants to the north, and a large peach orchard to the south. There was a small living room and one bedroom downstairs on the south side of the house, with two bedrooms upstairs above them; on the north side of the house a large dining room ran from the front back to the kitchen, which also was a larger room, occupying the entire rear portion of the house. Above the front porch was an open porch, and there was a cellar underneath the kitchen. A stone walk led to the cistern not far from the kitchen door on the south. The barn was built into the hillside west of the house, and was also surrounded by trees.

The house was filled by a family of twelve persons, and one could find there all the necessities for life on a new and undeveloped frontier. Luxuries were few. Even necessities were scarce. So inside the house one found only common furniture, bedding, the books used by the family and the children in school, the family Bible, and the musical instruments played by the various members of the family. Around the house were the outbuildings, never quite completed, and the animals. There were two cows for milk, several pigs, the spay horse, the tools, the fuel and the provisions, and probably a few stray chickens.¹²²

Most of the land was not yet fenced, and labor had to be hired. Some years saw little rain; others saw locusts and other insect pests; and winters could be severe. The land was but a few years removed from the buffaloes and the Indians, and while those had passed far away already, the land itself was not yet tamed.

Nevertheless, E. B. Doane persevered and even prospered in a small way. By 1886 he had saved over $1300 which he planned to invest in improvements, and indeed, at the time of his death he was bringing back a herd of animals, largely horses, but a mule also, to improve his holdings. And he was hiring labor to finish his outbuildings and fences.¹²³

He kept busy in other ways also. In 1882 someone had burned the school house, after carrying out the benches and books. E. B. Doane set out to build a proper structure which could be used for religious services as well. The funds were raised by private subscription, but he did most of the work himself.¹²⁴ This was later known as the “Old Doane School,” located on a corner of his property. He finished it that summer, in time for his numerous children to use it.

Unhappily, E. B. Doane’s health continued to deteriorate. He had, in truth, never recovered fully from being ill in the war. The camp fevers and the prison camp hardships had undermined his constitution permanently. He suffered from such chronic intestinal difficulties that he was unable to work either as a teacher or a full-time farmer.¹²⁵ This disability became increasingly severe, so that early in 1884 he applied for an Invalid Pension from the government. But it was delayed on the grounds that further depositions were necessary, and on March 16, 1886, the application was returned from Washington.¹²⁶

Finally his doctors advised him to go to Arkansas, in hopes that the mineral waters then would benefit his weakened condition. In late August of 1886 he drove his team to Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and lived there in his wagon.¹²⁷ On September 14th he wrote his last letter home:

Your letter of August 30th and Pension Certificate were here when I arrived Sunday night. I was glad to hear from home and to know that all is well. The weather is and has been for 3 or 4 days very damp and windy, with some rain, and the herd in mud. I feel better this morning than I did yesterday. Have not got about much and won’t until the weather’s better or I feel better. Charley is still with me. We have got into a house and the horses in a pasture in day hire and a stable at night. Bird stood the trip better than Beck. The last two days were very rough road and shook me so that I am sore. Yes, I want that *stone work pushed along. Get Zero to hire Charley and if Jo is needed about getting more stone better keep him too. I want a pasture fenced. Better fence what is north of my timber clump and east of the road on the section line. Better have them finish cutting the corn and hay first...I’ll send money to get the wire & posts with also to pay Jo and Charley and Zero. I want them to crowd the stone work so that I can get the Barn up before cold weather...I saw Abe and Elwood Smith & Dudly Kerney, they are all here.¹²⁸ Abe and I are going hunting the latter part of the week if I am able. I’ll send the Pension Certified to Topeka and get it cashed and then I’ll send the money. The water here is having some effect on me but I can’t tell yet whether it will help or not. I’ll try it a while anyway. I am going to get some dried Apples to fetch home. As soon as they can after the corn is cut have them fence the Pasture so the children can go to school. Have you any school yet? If Valentine wants to sell that 1/4 I’ll take the west 80 at whatever Mead thinks he can give for the east one. I am getting tired and will close. Hoping this will find you all well. Write often & let me know how the Money is getting. I wouldn’t sell the Hogs until they are fat. Have Sharpe look at that clover and when he thinks it is ready to cut. Have the boys mow it up...

He died suddenly October 5. The next day Mr. Morris, Cashier of the Bank of Siloam wrote:

I suppose by the time this reaches you, you will have rec’d the corpse of your husband. He died very sudden at this place at about 3 o’clock. Mr. Doane at the time of his death had in this Bank 1324 & 80/100 dollars less exchange 2.50. He had a pension Draft in his pocket for 27.75 and in cash 1.80 and had 20 ponies in the pasture also, 1 Jack. He got the stock within 2 miles of this place last night & in the company with 2 other men came on into town and after eating a harty supper went to bed in a wagon with a hand but was taken sick in the night and died soon after calling the hand up. I have assumed the expense of the coffin and buryal expenses, also furnished money to express the corpse to you and sent it to the RR tonight & it will start from Rogers on the 2 PM train Oct 7th. I will furnish money to send the stock right on to the farm by D. H. Karney who was with Mr. Doane while he was down to Ft. Smith and helped him buy the stock. And as soon as I find out what expense there is to be paid out, I will advise you. I don’t think it would be best for the stock to be stopped here, therefore, I advance the money to sent it to you as also the corpse. I don’t know on what grounds Mr. Doane drew his pension but if it was for any trouble of the bowels or stomach, you had better have a post mortem examination made before you buerry, as if you can show that he died from the causes as set forth in his pension claim you will be entitled to a Widow’s Pension and if you can’t show sutch to be the cause of his death you will not be able to obtain a widow’s pension. My advice would be that you have him examined by a good Physician before you berry him. As I said will write you again soon and will forward the stock in care D. H. Karney. I am very respectfully.

E. B. Doane died at Hot Springs, Arkansas...(he) had been in failing health for some time past and a few months since went thither in the hope of receiving benefit from the mineral waters and change in climate. Mr. Doane was a well known citizen of this county, having resided in the southeastern portion from the very earliest date of settlement, and he will be sincerely missed by a large circle of acquaintances. His remains were sent home for burial which took place Sunday under Masonic auspices.¹³⁰

It remained only to settle the estate. A first settlement was filed October 15, 1886, and a final account December 8, 1889. The estate was reduced from $3090 to $2447 by mortgage and tax payments in the interim and went to the widow.¹³

His father, Robert Doane, died Jan. 1, 1889, leaving a farm of 212 acres in Lee County and ten acres of timber in Henry County; the homestead was far from his original log cabin, now consisting of a “handsome farm dwelling, a good barn, and all the necessary and convenient outhouses.” The county history reported that in his last years he had been “surrounded by a large company of warm and sympathetic friends.” He had been active in community affairs and loyal to the Society of Friends.”^{^[44]}

E. B. Doane’s life and death were representative of his era. He experienced all the joys and sorrows of the times. In his youth he saw the rise of great issues; national unity and the abolition of human slavery soon enough became battle cries, and he could not stand idly by. While still a young man he served with distinction in the bitterest war in this nation’s history. He lost his brother and many friends in that great conflict, almost perished himself, and suffered the ill-effects for the remainder of his life. But he had fought for a world which did not yet exist and he must have been disappointed to see how the ideals were betrayed or circumvented in the ensuing years. The Republican era which promised unlimited expansion and prosperity brought hitherto unparalleled corruption and depression. Nevertheless, despite his physical weakness, he stood by the party of his hopes and fought for its regeneration. It was a good fight, both in Iowa and in Kansas, but he usually went down to defeat; perhaps because he stood for a Republicanism that existed more in rhetoric that in reality. As the pioneer spirit stirred again, driving hundreds of thousands to resettle in the states to the west, he, too, was swept along, there to encounter new and dangerous difficulties. On the almost treeless plains he built a home, put in his crops, and reared his children. Opposed by nature and his fellow man, his survival was short. Inadequate diet and the hardships of taming the land cost him what remained of his health and he died young, leaving a widow and many small children in that hostile environment.

Indeed, at that point it should be asked whether his courage, courage proven as it was in battle and in life, was equal to that shown by his widow. But he had lived for a dream, and if he could have foreseen the future, he would probably have considered the sacrifices a reasonable exchange.

Ray Gue Doane (January 14, 1881 – Nov 22, 1922); married Gertrude Lucinda Fay in 1907; graduated with the first class of the Kansas Medical College in 1910and opened his practice in Lucas, Kansas.
Ira Bales Doane (Dec 13, 1882 – August 28,1940, in Denver); married Nell Yarnell in 1911; was a Sergeant in the 99^th company, Coast Guard Artillery Corps; died in an automobile accident in a dust storm while going to visit his daughter.

Otis Eleazer Doane (May 15, 1884 – August 17,1963, in Osborne); he completed his B.A. degree in 1924; his M.A. 1930, at Ft. Hays State College; taught school for 39 years in public schools of Kansas and Nebraska; also an instructor in the Federal Reformatory in Chillicothe, Ohio, and in the Boys Industrial School, Topeka. He served as Supt. of schools in Sherman Co., Kansas; engaged in agricultural pursuits and a life long member of the Presbyterian Church

Organized at Davenport September 30, 1863. Moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., October 17-22, thence to Nashville, Tenn., November 14-16. Attached to Defences of Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, Dept. of the Cumberland, to March, 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Cavalry Corps, Army Cumberland, and to November, 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Cavalry Corps, Military Division Mississippi, to June, 1865. Dept. of Georgia to August, 1865.

SERVICE.—Guard and garrison duty and operating against guerrillas at Waverly and points west of Nashville till March, 1864. Moved to Nashville, Tenn., March 13-17, thence to Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tenn., April 1-15. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May to September. Varnell’s Station May 7. Demonstration on Rocky Face Ridge and Dalton May 8-13. Tilton May 13. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Near Cassville May 19. Stilesborough May 23. Burnt Hickory May 24. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas , New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Near Burned Church May 26. Ackworth June 3-4. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 9-July 2. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Nickajack Creek July 2-5. Chattahoochie River July 6-17. McCook’s Raid on Atlanta & West Point Railroad July 27-31. Lovejoy Station July 29. Clear Creek and near Newnan July 30. At Kingston, Ga., till Sept. 17. Pursuit of Wheeler Sept. 1-8. Moved to Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, thence to Franklin, Tenn. Pursuit of Forest September 25-October 10. Pulaski September 27. Florence, Ala., October 6-7. Muscle Shoals near Florence October 30. Near Shoal Creek October 31. Nashville Campaign November-December. Shoal Creek near Florence November 5-6 and 9. On line of Shoal Creek November 16-20. Fouche Springs November 23. Campbellsville November 24. Front of Columbia November 24-27. Franklin November 30. Battle of Nashville December 15-16. Lynnville December 24-25. Pulaski December 25-26. Expedition into Mississippi January 5-21, 1865. Wilson’s Raid to Macon, Ga., March 22-May 1. Northport near Tuscaloosa April 3. Occupation of Tuscaloosa April 4. Occupation of Talladeega April 22. Munford’s Station April 23. Rejoined Wilson at Macon May 1. Duty at Macon and in Georgia till August. Mustered out August 13, 1865. Regiment lost during service 15 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 3 Officers and 176 Enlisted men by disease. Total 194.

When daddy¹³² was a little boy like you are a little girl, his daddy¹³³ used to tell him a little story about “Old Charley.”

Old Charley was great grandma’s old, gray horse. Grandma used to come to town a long, long way and Old Charley brought her. He jogged along with his head down and great grandma would shake on the lines and say, “gid ap; gid ap Charley,” and he would lift his ears and step a little faster for a yard to two, then he’d shut his ear and I guess his eyes too like he was asleep and jogg, joggerty along. Great Grandma would shake the lines again and say “klick” that little sound that horses know. Ask daddy to make it for you. Poor great grandma, she just wore herself out to go to town with Old Charley.

When Old Charley was a “mitty bitty” horse, he used to lick to go into the top part of the barn to play. You see the old barn was built down beside a hill and the down hill part was where the big horses stayed and upstairs on the level ground floor was where great grandma kept her feed for little Charley. She knew little Charley wouldn’t hurt anything so she didn’t bother him when he ran around and took a notion to go in the upstairs part of the barn.

Now you see this barn was getting old and the floor upstairs wasn’t very strong any more but little Charley didn’t know that grand great grandma didn’t think about the floor so it wasn’t fixed.

One day little Charley was playing and ran so fast into the upstairs part of the barn that the floor broke right under him and poor little Charley fell right down where the big horses stayed.

My, how scared he was and how he squealed and great grandma heard the noise and everyone ran out thinking little Charley would be dead, but he was just scared and never went to play in the upstairs part of the barn again.

^{^[1]} Alfred A. Doane, The Doane Family (Boston, 1902), pp. 1-19, 53-6, 80-1.

^{^[2]} Portrait and Biographical Album of Lee County, Iowa (Chicago, 1887), pp. 288-92. The property was in the southeastern quarter of section 10.

^{^[3]} Louis Thomas Jones, The Quakers of Iowa (Iowa City, 1814), p. 68; see also The Quakers of Iowa in 1850 and “The Quakers of Iowa in 1858,” Iowa Journal of History and Politics, XII, 262-286, 394-439.

^{^[4]} Portrait and Biographical Album of Lee County, Iowa, pp. 288-92; Family Bible (Philadelphia: Bible Association of Friends in America, 1850), and obituary in possession of Ralph Doane of Downs, Kansas; The Doane Family, 639 .

^{^[5]} Records of Births, Salem Monthly Meeting (1782-1890); Record of Deaths, Salem Monthly Meeting, Book A; the initial request for membership was made in 5th month. A committee visited the family, and reported that they were “not so well satisfied as they wished to be.” Another Friend was sent, who reported “middling good satisfaction.” Finally in 10th month approval was given, if White Lick Meeting concurred. Minutes, Salem Monthly Meeting, Book C, pp. 84-5, 89, 104, 113, 115-6. These records are now in the archives of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Oskaloosa, Iowa).

^{^[6]} Minutes, Salem Monthly meeting, Book C, pp. 128-9.

^{^[7]}Portrait and Biographical Album of Lee County; his farm was worth eight hundred dollars and his equipment five hundred dollars. Lee County records, Fort Madison (Iowa) Courthouse; The Doane Family, 723, notes that Ruth Doane died in 1875 and that they had fourteen children, some of whom seem to have remained in Indiana.

^{^[8]}Minutes, Salem Monthly Meeting, Book C, pp. 72, 81, 88: Book D, pp. 150, 153.

^{^[9]}Jones, Quakers of Iowa, pp. 133-45, 187-91; Alfred Doane said that David Doane's father hated “human slavery, a sentiment which has been fully shared by all descendants.” David's brothers John and Joseph were “staunch Abolitionists in the days when it tried men's souls to be such, and the oppressed and needy of whatever race or color ever found with them that best of all aid, help to help themselves,” and called them “pronounced Abolitionist(s) of the Garrison, Phillips and Birney Type.” Doane Family, pp. 225-6, 291-2.

^{^[10]} Iowa Journal of History and Politics, xxxv, 116-21; in 1867 Robert Doane contributed to support of Whittier College, named for the prominent Quaker poet. An offspring institution now exists in California, established by Friends immigrating from Iowa.

^{^[11]} History of Henry County Iowa (Chicago, 1879), pp. 448-51, 569.

^{^[12]} Letter to Amelia Cahill, June 22, 1884.

^{^[13]} Military record of E.B. Doane, National Archives.

^{^[14]} The Burlington (Iowa) Hawkeye, July 14, 1862, p. 2.

^{^[15]}Ibid., July 28, 1862, p. 2.

^{^[16]} Mount Pleasant (Iowa) Home Journal, Sept. 13, 1862, p. 3.

^{^[17]} Her mother, Elizabeth Wallace (b. August 22, 1819) had married James Cahill Jr on Sept. 16, 1843; he died of cholera in 1849, leaving her with the only surviving child, Amelia (b. 1843) and pregnant with James. In 1852 she married John Davis (born 1822 in Tennessee) and moved with him to Lee County, Iowa, leaving James with his grandfather to be raised as a catholic; they had two children, the Rev. Joseph Ivins Davis (a Presbyterian minister) and Almyra.

^{^[18]} The Census of 1860 for Harrison Township in Lee County listed John Davis, age 39; Elizabeth, age 39; Benjamin, age 12 (obviously from an earlier marriage); Joseph, 9; Almira, 5; Amelia Cahill, 15; Mary J. Cahill, 13.

^{^[19]} Military Record, National Archives.

^{^[20]}Keokuk (Iowa) Weekly Gate City, Sept. 3, 1862, p. 1.

^{^[21]}Letter from THS in the Burlington (Iowa) Hawkeye, November 8, 1862, p. 2.

^{^[22]} Ibid.

^{^[23]} From Crane Creek, Mo., Nov. 7, 1862, in Mount Pleasant Home Journal, Nov. 22, 1862, p. 2.

^{^[24]} S.H.M. Byers, Iowa in War Times (Des Moines, 1888), p. 517.

^{^[25]} Lurton Dunham Ingersoll, Iowa and the Rebellion (Philadelphia, 1866), pp. 326-7.

^{^[26]} Ibid., 327-330; A member of Blunt's relief column wrote that the Confederates apparently planned to overwhelm the smaller army before help could arrive, but “when they ran upon General Herron they caught a 'tartar.'...The Iowa regiments engaged, and more especially the 19^th, has added greatly to the enviable reputation of our Iowa soldiers. The three companies from Louisa and Henry suffered perhaps more than any others. They fought like tigers and fell like soldiers, making two villains bite the dust for each one of them that fell.” Letter in the Burlington Hawkeye, Dec. 22, 1862, p. 2; another wrote “We had a chance to observe that part of the field where General Herron was engaged. The rebels were ranged along the brow of a woody hill, while on the open bottom below were stationed the gallant divisions of Herron and Trotter. Nearest us was the 20th Iowa. The 19^th Iowa and 20^th Wisconsin were first engaged, and time after time did with thinned ranks...Today is the third day, and as I passed over the field many of the dead rebels are yet unburied. They are lying in pens built to prevent the hogs from devouring them as they have done in some instances.” The Burlington Hawkeye, Dec. 29, 1862, p. 2; “The 19^th Iowa, although a comparatively new regiment, performed deeds of valor that have not been excelled by any other regiment during the war. Led by the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel McFarland, they charged upon a battery; took it, and were on the point of removing it within our lines, when the rebels in overwhelming numbers rushed from the brush and fell upon them and forced them back with great slaughter...The carnage was fearful. Forty-five were killed outright, and one hundred and forty-five wounded, many of them mortally. Henry County was represented by Co. K, Capt. Roderick, and well did he and his men do their duty, showing a larger list of killed and wounded than any other company engaged in the fight. Well may our citizens be proud of him and his brave men.” Mount Pleasant Home Journal, Jan. 3, 1863, p. 1; See also Harper's Weekly, Jan. 17, 1863, pp. 40-46.

^{^[27]}The War of the Rebellion. A compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1888. Series I, vol. XII, part I, p. 131. http://members.aol.com/wis20th/or/or7.html

^{^[28]} Military Record, National Archives.

^{^[29]} Byers, Iowa in War Times, p. 517.

^{^[30]} Special Orders #3. Headquarters, Department of the Missouri, January 3, 1863; military and pension records, National Archives; Mount Pleasant Home Journal, Feb. 7, 1863, p. 2, and May 9, 1863, p. 3.

^{^[31]} Letter from E.B. Doane to Amelia Cahill, April 10, 1864.

^{^[32]} History of Henry County, Iowa, p. 490; military record, National Archives.

^{^[33]} Information on Col. Dorr in http://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2010/01/colonel-joseph-b-dorr.html, based on Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, pp.639-50 ; Ingersoll, Iowa and the Rebellion, pp. 694-5, 702-3.

^{^[34]} Letter from Camp Roberts, September 10, 1863.

^{^[35]} Military record, National Archives.

^{^[36]} Letter from Private John Head from Nashville, Nov. 18, in the Burlington (Iowa) Hawkeye, Nov. 24, 1863, p. 2.

^{^[37]} Letter from Nashville, Nov. 18, in Mount Pleasant Home Journal, Nov. 28, 1863, p. 2.

^{^[38]} Ibid., Feb. 2, 1864, p. 2.

^{^[39]} Letter from T. Bird, Nov. 29th, in Mount Pleasant Home Journal, Dec. 12, 1863, p. 2.

^{^[40]} “The First Kansas Battery,” Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, XIV (1915-18), p. 271; War of the Rebellion, Series 1, Vol. XXXI, part 3, p. 28.

^{^[41]} The best sources for the activity of the 8th Iowa are Ingersoll's Iowa and the Rebellion; Homer Mead's The Eighth Iowa Cavalry in the Civil War (Carthage, Ill., 1925); Roster of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion (ed. Brig. Gen. Gerry E. Logan, Des Moines, 1910), IV, 1507021; and A.A. Stuart's Iowa Colonels and Regiments (Des Moines, 1865).

³⁹ Letter from J.C.P. from Waverly, Tennessee, December 23rd, in the Burlington Hawkeye, Jan. 11, 1864, p. 2.

⁴⁰ Letter in Mount Pleasant Home Journal, Dec. 19, 1863. p. 2, written Dec. 11, 1863 from Sec. 32, Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, Tennessee.

⁴¹ Keokuk (Iowa) Daily Gate City, Jan. 19, 1864, p. 1, and the Weekly Gate City, Jan. 20,1864, p. 3, written from Sec. 32, Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, Tennessee, Jan. 4, 1864.

⁴² Matt. 8:31-32.

⁴³ ”The First Kansas Battery,” pp. 273-4.

⁴⁴ Ingersoll, Iowa and the Rebellion, pp. 695-6.

⁴⁵ War of the Rebellion, Series 1, Vol. XXXI, part II, p. 125; part III, pp. 446, 558; Vol. XXXII, part II, p. 270.

⁴⁶ Jacob D. Cox, Atlanta (Campaigns of the Civil War, IX, New York, 1882), pp. 15-16.

⁴⁷ Probably his sister Mary.

⁴⁸ This part of the letter touches upon a number of important points regarding the public attitude toward the war. The war was widely unpopular, but for various reasons. The Society of Friends was opposed to war, but supported the war aims of the Lincoln administration. Salem Friends would probably object to a religious meeting in honor of the soldiers, but apparently this reference is to the Presbyterian Church, where the membership would be divided over different issues. There were many Copperheads, that is, democrats opposed to the war. On the national scene they were numerous and active, and the government fought them by every means at its command, some unconstitutional, such as illegal arrest and trail by military tribunals. In Lee County, both legal and illegal means of suppression were used. The “Skunk River War” ended after the murder of two leading Copperheads and the treat of troop intervention. 1863 being an election year, emotions were high. See Frank L. Klement's The Copperheads in the Middle West (Chicago, 1960) and Robert Rutland's “The Copperheads of Iowa: A Reexamination,” Iowa Journal of History, LII (Jan. 1954), 1-30.

⁴⁹ February 26, 1864, from Camp Gillam.

⁵⁰ Letter from New Orleans; Military Records, National Archives.

⁵¹ Mount Pleasant Home Journal, March 19, 1864, p. 1, written March 5th.

⁵² Ingersoll, Iowa and the Rebellion, p. 696; Cox, Atlanta, pp. 19-25; War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. XXXII, part III, p. 557.

⁵³ Pension Record of E. B. Doane, National Archives; Promotion came May 12. Military Record, National Archives.

⁵⁴ April 10, 1864, from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

⁵⁵ The Chaplain from Nashville, April 6th, in the Burlington Hawkeye, April 14, 1864.

⁵⁶ Joseph Donner from Cleveland, Tennessee, April 21st, in the Hawkeye, May 3, 1864.

⁵⁷ ”The history of General Sherman’s one hundred consecutive days of fighting is also the history of my regiment. The cavalry opened the fight every morning and watched the enemy all night. The 8^th Iowa Cavalry brought on the first two engagements, and at Varnell Station, I heard my first shell shriek and explode overhead, resulting in casualties to our regiment and the next day at Tilton Station learned what a half bushel of bullets thrown at you in a cluster sound like.” Mead, The Eighth Iowa Cavalry, p. 12; Joseph Downer wrote home: “It has been over a month since we started on this expedition and in that time we have mostly lived in the saddle or dismounted, and in the line of battle...We were two weeks without mail till day before yesterday it came up, and I assure you that letters from home and friends were never more eagerly read.” June 9th, in Burlington Hawkeye, June 25, 1864.

⁵⁸ H. T. Bird from Lost Mountain, Georgia, June 24th: “At Cassville...our regiment gave them a charge, which was more than they had bargained for. They did not even stop to gather up their cartridge boxes upon the ground behind their works.” Mount Pleasant Home Journal, July 9, 1864, p.2; War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. XXXVIII, part II, p. 752.

⁵⁹ Ingersoll, Iowa and the Rebellion, p. 696; Cox, Atlanta, pp. 33-84.

⁶⁰ Cox, Atlanta, p.84.

⁶¹ H. T. Bird from Lost Mountain, Georgia, June 24: “We at present have only 300 mounted men in the regiment. The remainder who are dismounted are at Kingston, performing guard duty. This campaign has been very hard both upon the men and horses, for we have pushed the enemy so closely that it has been impossible for us to have even half rations.” Mount Pleasant Home Journal, July 9, 1864, p.2.

⁶² Pension Records, National Archives.

⁶³ June 22, 1864.

⁶⁴ Governor Stone of Iowa was General of the 22nd Iowa Infantry and elected while still at the battlefront.

⁶⁵ July 22, 1864, Nashville, Tennessee; He and three other officers were listed among patients at Officer's Hospital. Burlington Hawkeye, July 30, 1864.

⁶⁶ E. B. Doane had not yet recovered fully, but he was anxious to rejoin his regiment and requested special permission. Pension records, National Archives.

⁶⁷ Cox, Atlanta, pp. 144-189; Ingersoll, Iowa and the Rebellion, p. 698.

⁶⁸ W.I. Babb, letter August 7, 1864, from Marietta, Georgia, Mount Pleasant Home Journal, August 20, 1864, p.1.

⁶⁹ Letter written from Pulaski, Tennessee, October 16, 1864, in the Burlington Hawkeye, October 24, 1864.

⁷⁰ Pension records.

⁷¹ Ingersoll, Iowa and the Rebellion, pp. 698-9.

⁷² War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. XXXVIII, part II, pp. 769-773 contains his full report; pp. 776-7 contains Major Root’s report.

⁷³ August 17, 1864, Military Prison, Macon, Georgia.

⁷⁴ August 18, 1864, Military Prison, Charleston, S.C.

⁷⁵ A list of prisoners appeared in the Burlington Hawkeye, September 26, 1864. The exchange was announced in the Hawkeye, October 17th in a letter from Franklin, Tennessee, October 9th.

⁷⁶ Pension Records, National Archives; War of the Rebellion, Series II, Vol. VII, indicates that officers tried to escape in September of 1864 and make their way to the blockading fleet, pp. 774-5.

⁷⁷ Military record, National Archives.

⁷⁸ Pension record, National Archives.

⁷⁹ War of the Rebellion, Series II, Vol. II, p. 1090. The camp was actually only five acres. Food consisted of cornmeal and sorghum molasses, causing prisoners to call it “Camp Sorghum.”

^{^[42]} James M. Gere, Escape to the Mountains, The life of a northern Civil War soldier, including his personal account of his escape from a Confederate prison. Captain James M. Gere (1824-1908) Company H, 122nd Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry (private printing. 2011).

^{^[43]} Andrew M Benson of Portland, Maine, a captain in the First District of Columbia Cavalry.

⁸⁰ Ibid, p. 1184.

⁸¹ April 10, 1865. Military record, National Archives.

⁸² April 13, 1865. Military record, National Archives.

⁸³ His friend, B.C. Maris, was a witness. Pension record, National Archives; Family Bible. A Rev. Bloofield Wall was Pastor of Sharon Presbyterian Church from 1865 to 1866. There was also an Evangelical or Reformed Church of Primrose.

⁸⁴ Lt. Anderson wrote May 1st of the members of Co. E. who were killed and captured. Mount Pleasant Home Journal, May 26, 1865.

⁸⁵ Letter from Macon, Georgia, May 9, Ibid, June 2, 1865. Col Dorr had died May 8^th of illness.

⁸⁶ Military record, National Archives.

⁸⁷ June 15, 1865, Macon, Georgia.

⁸⁸ Military record, National Archives.

⁸⁹ Pension and Military records, National Archives. It should be noted that there are many minor discrepancies in dates in the pension records. A good example is the discharge date, which because of the above mentioned difficulties, varies from July 15th July 23rd to August 1st. Actually, the discharge was not printed until 1870. Another is E.B. Doane's deposition for William Grisham that the latter was wounded in June of 1865 near Pulaski, Tennessee, in support of a battery. E.B. Doane swore to this in 1877 and is probably in error; He had returned home in time to participate in the 4th of July celebration at Big Mound by assisting in reading the Declaration of Independence. Weekly Gate City (Keokuk, Iowa), June 17, 1865.

⁹⁰ A large, impressive hotel which was still operating prosperously in 2011.

⁹¹ Henry County Press, November 11, 1868.

⁹² Ibid, October 6, 1869.

⁹³ Letter, February 26, 1864.

⁹⁴ Weekly Gate City, August 26, 1865.

⁹⁵ Ibid, October 28, 1868.

⁹⁶ Clubs of Union Veterans, soon supplanted by the Grand Army of the Republic.

⁹⁷Ibid, August 18, 1869.

⁹⁸ Ibid, September 15, 1869.

⁹⁹ Ibid, June 1, August 17 and 24, 1870.

¹⁰⁰ Ibid, July 31, 1872.

¹⁰¹ Ibid, Letter from Butler County, March 15, 1871.

¹⁰²Ibid, Letter from Larned, April 1872.

¹⁰³ Robert Doane died Jan. 1, 1889. In his last years he may have lived with son, David Tunis Doane, near Cottonwood, then near Stockport, Iowa (a town referred to locally as “Doanesville”). David, born 1847, had been too young to serve in the war. Mary Amis had married John Middaugh and lived in the area.

¹⁰⁴ Pension records of Ithamar Doane, National Archives; Portrait and Biographical Album of Lee County, Iowa, pp. 288-92.

¹⁰⁵ Letter from “Mont Hamell, Iowa,” March 30.

¹⁰⁶ Most prominently the Prathers. Elizabeth Amelia had married Albert Ross Prather in 1898 in Osborne. Eva Jane had married Alvia Stark in 1888. Elizabeth Davis died May 18, 1900, and was buried in Mount Hamill cemetery in Lee County, Iowa.

¹⁰⁷ Osborne (Kansas) Times, July 30, 1874; see Everett Dick, The Sod House Frontier (New York, 1937).

¹⁰⁸ Osborne (Kansas) Farmer, October 19, 1877, p.1.

¹⁰⁹ Donald P. Doane, his grandson, when asked about this, turned a bit choleric and said, “E.B. Doane would have gotten his navy pistol out and settled that.”

¹¹⁰ Osborne Farmer, December 9, 1880.

¹¹¹ Ibid, April 21, 1881.

¹¹² Ibid., June 15, November 30, 1882.

¹¹³The Truth Teller. Osborne, Kansas. July 7, 1880, p. 5.

¹¹⁴Ibid., July 28, 1880, p. 5.

¹¹⁵ Ibid., September 22, 1880.

¹¹⁶ Ibid., October 6, 1880.

¹¹⁷ Ibid., October 20, 1990; Osborne Farmer, February 3, 1881.

¹¹⁸ The Truth Teller, November 10, 1880.

¹¹⁹ Osborne Farmer, February 10, 1881.

¹²⁰ The Truth Teller, January 19, 1881.

¹²¹ W²SE⁴ & SE⁴SE⁴ Sec.5, and SW⁴SW⁴ Sec. 4, 10, 11 (160A) in Delhi Township (10), Range 11, West of Sixth Meridian. Deed B F, p. 137, Osborne County.

¹²² Osborne County Probate Records, October 15, 1886; January 4, 1887.

¹²³ Letter, September 14, 1886.

¹²⁴ Osborne Farmer, January 11, 1882; June 17, 1886; August 12, 1886.

¹²⁵ J. M. Evans, his doctor from 1869-1872 in Salem, Iowa, affirmed this in 1886. Letter in possession of Leslie Doane; J. Greech of Tipton, Kansas, stated that “Eleazar B. Doane is now and has been since my acquaintance (with) him unable to perform hard labor on account of Chronic Diarhea, Scurvy, and Piles; That he is now and has had since my acquaintance with him (to) hire his labor performed; that sudden changes of weather prostrate him so he is unable to go; that changes of diet or water frequently have the same effect; and that of light labor such as driving a team in good weather or indoor work is not more than half-a-hand and has not been since 1874.” May 7 1883. Letter in possession of Leslie Doane; William Sample of Jewell Co., Kansas, confirmed this. “During all the said time he was not able to do more than 1/2 one man’s labor in good weather and in bad weather none at all.” Affidavit of April 6, 1886, in possession of Leslie Doane.

¹²⁶ Letter from Department of Interior Commissioner, J.C. Black.

¹²⁷ Deposition of Drs. Hall and Hudson. Osborne County Records. Dr. Hudson was examining physician for government pensioners.

¹²⁸ These were all close friends. The Farmer reported on June 17, 1886, that “It is probably not generally known that Abe Smith has been in the mercantile business at Siloam Springs, Ark., for the past six months. Uncle Abe no doubt makes as much of a success at store keeping in Arkansas as he formerly did of politics and farming in Osborne county. In whatever business he may engage his hundreds of friends in this county wish him success.”

¹²⁹ He drew up a list of the stock entrusted to D. H. Karney and sent it also.

¹³⁰ The Osborne Farmer, October 14, 1886.

^{^[44]} Portrait and Biographical Album of Lee County, Iowa, p. 292.

¹³² Kenneth Doane.

¹³³ Ray Gue Doane.