Seward County, Nebraska - Chapter 38, 1916

Chapter 38

Soldier Element in the Early Settlement of Seward County. A Closing Glance at the Early Advance Guards of Civilization. An Eloquent Narration of Pioneer Achievements From the Omaha Bee - Promptings of the Semi-centenial Celebration of Nebraska's Statehood.

In the late sixties and early seventies Seward county was comparatilvely a bee-hive swarming with Union soldiers, reminents from the fields of Anteitam, Atlanta, Stone River, Shiloah, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, the Andersonville stockades and many other places renouned in history for scenes of conflict and prison horrors. The county could well claim to be the camp ground of a large brigade of that grand army that kept "Old Glory" undivided and floating in the breeze, and made it represent, at last, a real free and undivided country. The number of this indomitable band of homeseekers which settled in Seward county is not and perhaps never will be fully known, but beneath its sod, on the last camp ground are sleeping those who have answered the last roll call, while the fast depleting ranks of remaining comrades press forward to pitch their tents upon the field with those gone before.

While we realize our inability to give a complete list of the dead and living vetran soldiers of the war of the rebellion who were early settlers in Seward count}7, we present the following statement of the number of well known dead, there being perhaps an equal number throught the county that are not accounted for:

In the cemeteries at Seward there are resting in their last sleep, ninety-two comrades. In the Ruby, Staplehurst and Germantown cemeteries there has been fifteen accounted for while in the Beaver Crossing, Utica and Milford cemeteries there are forty-six more, making a total of one hundred and fifty-three dead. Many of the soldier pioneers of Seward county have moved away, some to other counties and some to other states where many of them are tenting upon the new camp ground. It is perhaps a fair estimate to say there are one fifth of the squad of old soldier settlers in Seward county that can be counted as living at the present time, October 1916. Those living comrades who settled upon homesteads in pioneer days have nearly all retired from their farms to the towns and it is to be noted that there is not a sufficient number in any one of the villages for a quorum in a G. A. R. Post. Cordova has but one old soldier of the war of the rebellion, and the Beaver Crossing post which had at one time about thirty members, was forced to surender its charter several years ago on account of insufficient numbers for a quorum - nine members. Surely these signs signify something. The old boys are silently passing away.

There are perhaps not one of the dead or living comrades who settled in Seward county whose services are not worthy of special mention, but we are not personally acquainted with the facts only in a limited number of cases throught the county. Of those burried at Seward we will mention Wm. W. Konkright, who enlisted in the 8th Iowa Infantry, August 17, 1 86 1 , being one of the first volunteers for the war of the rebellion and was mustered out of the service, April 20, 1866, at Selma, Alabama, having served four years and eight months. During this time Mr. Konkright participated in eighteen regular battles and thirteen skirmishes, and was one who passed safely through the great conflict. Isaac D. Neihardt, enlisted early in the war as a private and was promoted several times, reaching the rank of captain. Took part in many battles, being wounded in 1864, and was mustered out of the service in May, 1866.

Chas Emerson who settled on a homestead in-L-precinct in 1870, enlisted in an Indiana regiment upon the breaking out of the war and served to its close, participated in seven- teen general battles, marched with Sherman through Georgia to the sea, was not wounded and did not spend a day in a hospital. Comrade Emerson died at Tamora in 1896.

George II. VVinand, for many years a resident of Beaver Crossing, now resting in its cemetery, saw much service in the field during the war, and had the unenviable experience of being a guest of Captain Werz, in his Andersoville prison several months. Comrade VVinand had formed a great disrespect for his landlord and expressed no emotional sentiments of regrets because he, "the meanest man on earth" had been hung, only that he was not hung soon enough.

Victor Yifquain, previously mentioned in this work, was the only representative of Seward county in the Union army during the war of the rebellion. And he left no cause for his county or state to feel dishonored by his services. In fact he mounted the upward steps of fame for valuable and heroic service as rapidly as most any other man in the army, and returned to his home bearing the well earned, honorable title of GeneraJ Yifquain.

Seward county furnished a number of soldiers for the war with Spain who went where duty called them. Some lost their lives and many their health. One of the former, Orson E. Humpherv, previously mentioned in this history, was a son of an 1861 veteran. And it has been a matter of pride to the old soldiers to know that the sons of Seward county, if not their own sons, stood ready to take from their feble and trembling hands that starry emblem known to them as "Old Glory," and place new honors upon its folds throughout the civilized world. And in this grand achievement of the younger "boys in blue" the older ones view a new victory gained from their school of patriotism and all are glad to honor and cherish the deeds of the boys of the ' 'Spanish war. "

Foot Prints Of Pioneer Times

As the final closing of this history approaches in this, the sixteenth year of the twentieth century, we are reminded of the flight of time by it and also by the demonstrative preparation of Nebraska's citizens to celebrate the semi-centenial of the state's statehood. And we review the chain of eventful time from the period of the red man's dominion as lord and king, in vain search for a missing link in the onward march of progress.

While we are unable to even make an outline of the great display of modern thought and inventive attractions that will round out a full and appropriate program of that historic event, the first part of which was recently rendered in the city of Omaha, we can point back with pride to the footprints of the pioneers in their endavors to lay the foundation upon which this great commonwealth rests today, and for which proud rejoicings are echoing and to re-echo throughout the nation. And along this line we are pleased to quote upon the pages of this history the following able and eloquent tribute of appreciation of the courage, fortitude and endurance of the people who with primitive methods and means, were the advance guards of civilization, from the Omaha Bee of October 8, 191 6, prompted by the grand desplay of that part of the program, carried out by that city, of the semicentenial historical exhibition.

A Message Of Pride

"The magnificient moving picture of western progress staged on the streets of Omaha in honor of the semi-centenial of Nebraska's statehood carried a message of pride to hearts that revere the deeds of pioneers. Not in the prehistoric floats, the legions of Coronado, nor in the figures of trappers and fur traders, was the message glimpsed, nor yet in the gorgeous colors of statehood's fruition. It threaded through and linked up the primitive tools and vehicles with which pioneer settlers trekked over prairies, deserts and mountains, uncovered the treasure houses of gold and silver and transformed the wilderness into fruitful fields,

'The prairie schooner and the patient plodding ox teams are as a mirage of long ago, almost unreal to people of an automobile age. Yet they carried both power and sustenance, combined the pull and the meat, and enabled the pioneer to reach his destination. While lacking the speed of the horse and the mule, the ox team was well within the average resources of the home and fortune seekers, and thus became linked with the forces which implanted civilization in the west.

"These typical instrumentalities of western settlement merely glimpse the courage and fortitude of the men and women who employed them in their quest for material betterment. The hardships of primitive shelters, the struggle to wring from virgin soil uncertain crops, the lonely vigils in a hostile country, and the great distances which too often prevented neighborly co-operation - all these and more united in testing the strength, confidence and determination of the empire makers. Their dauntless courage and sublime faith in the future shone forth with equal luster in the trek of Mormon converts behind pushcarts from the Missouri river to Salt Lake.

"There were heroes and heroines in the pioneer days. They were cast in large molds - large of heart, of generosity and of cheerfulness amid privations. Too many, unfortunately, filled nameless graves, succumbing to the rigors of climate and primitive habitation, but those who overecame the hardships of the early days and lived to enjoy the fruition of their struggles deserved the crown and tribute of work noblv done."

that our efforts will aid others in producing records of past events, especially those' which will never be repeated, their time and condition having passed to eternity and will never be known the second time, such as the sod house and dugout period together with the pioneer time in general. Ill health and other matters have combined to detain us in our work on this history. However it has proven to be a task that could not be accomplished in a day nor any other short period of time. While we are glad to say that it is done we cannot say we are entirely satisfied with it, and perhaps that is no exception to other authors in closing a work.

Fully realizing the fact that in these days of speed and hurry people do not care to read extended articles we have condenced the matter as much as details of facts will permit. No printer can reliably read and correct the proof of his own work, but we trust that our little errors, though many, may for that reason, not be taken seriously nor draw attention of readers from the interesting features of the work.

We wish to extend our sincere thanks to Editor E. A. McNeil for his kindly assistance in the art features of this history. And we hold in greatful rememberance the valuable and kind assistance in compiling it, rendered by Lewis S. Konkright of Seward.