R. Needham presided over the Senate. Rush Clark was chosen Speaker of the House. Governor Kirkwood, in his message, called special attention to the financial condition of the State. He stated that the unpaid taxes due up to November 4th amounted to $400,000, a sum more than sufficient, if collected to pay the entire expenses of the State Government for one year. He urge such a revision of the revenue laws as would secure a prompt collection of the annual taxes, as well as the large amount now delinquent. In view of the suspension of specie payment by the General Government and the banks of the country, the Governor recommended such changes in our laws as would permit the payment of taxes in United States currency and bills of the State Banks of Iowa. He made a report of the general work of the executive and Adjutant-General in providing for the defense of border counties, and stated that all calls by the War Department upon Iowa for troops had been promptly filled.
The most important acts of the General Assembly were the following: assumption of the collection of the direct annual Federal taxes for war purposes; an act for the relief of sick and wounded soldiers of the Iowa volunteers; an act to provide for the payment of taxes and the principal and interest of the school fund in United States Treasury notes and bills on the State Banks of Iowa; an act to authorize the reception of Auditor’s warrants on the War and Defense Fund in payment of taxes; an act to exempt the property of Iowa soldiers from levy and sale while in the military service, and an act to apportion the State in six Congressional Districts.
It was during this session of the Legislature that an episode occurred which will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. For more than nine months the Civil War had been desolating the country. After the first crushing defeat of the Union Army at Bull Run the people suddenly realized that a war of long duration and of great
