Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/162

schemes of the disloyal conspirators to secure arms were defeated, but they were able in some of the border counties to seriously embarrass the organization of the militia.

On the 8th of October, 1864, the Governor announced that the number of men required from Iowa, under all calls up to that time, was less than 4,000, and these were soon after furnished by the draft then in progress. On the 16th of November, the Adjutant-General issued an order requiring all militia companies that had received arms from the State, to meet and drill once a month, or surrender their arms.

On the 30th of November, Governor Stone issued an address to the people of Iowa, in which he called a special attention to the acts of the last General Assembly requiring the levy of a special tax for the aid of the families of soldiers in the service. He says:

“With the number of soldiers’ families augmented beyond our anticipations, the necessity for additional public effort in their behalf has been created. The receipts from taxes will prove inadequate to provide for the increased number in many counties, and further appeal to the generosity of our people is imperatively demanded. For this purpose I request that Saturday, the 31st of December, be set apart as a day for general contribution throughout the State. If we could manifest a proper appreciation of the proud name our soldiers have won for us on so many fields, and prove ourselves worthy of it, let us greet them with the assurance that their wives and little ones shall not suffer in their absence. Let us unite in sending them such a token of our love as will cheer them wherever they are around the flag of the Union, whether on the land or on the sea.”

On the 9th of December, Adjutant-General Baker, upon learning that deserters from Price’s Confederate army were crossing into southern counties of Iowa for the purpose of robbery and murder, issued an order to the State militia in that region to be on the alert, “and if these desperadoes enter the State to rob, steal and murder, and are caught in the act, they are to be treated as outlaws, and shot on the spot, or hung to the nearest tree.” These