Civil War Memories

Whenever I get frustrated with dead ends or brick walls in my research, I remember I am actually incredibly lucky with some of my ancestors. I have some ancestors whose lives are very well documented, and some who did the job themselves. John D. Shaffer is one of those. He was prominent in his home area, so people knew him, respected him, and listened to him. He also apparently liked to reminisce and tell stories of his early days. Since he was so well known (serving as county supervisor, state representative, and bank president over the course of his career), people listened. 

I have several accounts from local newspapers where Mr. Shaffer shared his recollections with readers. They're an amazing glimpse at the past and the little details of life that would escape the official records. One just discovered this morning shares his memories of life during the Civil War. Mr. Shaffer was just a child at the time, but old enough to remember where he was when he heard the news of President Lincoln's assassination: 

The West Union Argo-Gazette Dec. 29, 1926, p. 4

RECOLLECTI’N OF 60s

JOHN D. SHAFFER REMEMBERS WEST UNION DOINGS IN CIVIL WAR DAYS

John D. Shaffer of Elgin, formerly Fayette county’s representative in the legislature, puts more than sixty-four years of residence in Fayette county behind him, having come to West Union when four years of age, in 1862, with his father, Rev. Israel Shaffer. In the spring of 1866 they moved to Illyria township, where John D. farmed and bred draft horses till he moved to Elgin in 1917. Mr. Shaffer attended school in West Union, on the hill this side of the cemetery, with the Rogers, Hall, and Knox boys as his schoolmates. He remembers how the war news used to come by stagecoach, the drivers sending the teams along as fast as they could. He especially remembers that as he and his father were driving to West Union one day in 1865, the coach passed them at high speed, when one of the horses dropped over. The stage hands jumped off, cut the harness loose, and drove on as fast as they could with the remaining three horses. When the Shaffers got to West Union they found that the news which was being rushed was that of the assassination of President Lincoln. Mr. Shaffer distinctly remembers the incident as to one man in West Union cheering when he heard the news, and of his being given notice to leave town within a short specified time, which he did.

Mr. Shaffer and his partner, B.A. Cowen, herded cattle in 1877, on the prairie where Hawkeye now stands. They began herding cattle the year after John Hall quit, and had 1,128 head of cattle entrusted to their care by stock owners all the way from West Union to McGregor. At that date the farmers living beyond Hawkeye hauled all their wood for fuel from the timber east of West Union.