the hearts of our noble soldiers again without punishment, dire, swift and sure, reaches the traitor that engages in it. The homes and families and property of those who have gone to fight their country's battles must be protected; and may my God forget me in my hour of sorest need if I do not see to it that they are protected.

But the affair in Keokuk county was soon ended, and those who engaged in it will think twice, I am of the opinion, before they enlist in such an enterprise again. It commenced on Saturday. I received word of the position of affairs on Tuesday, and by Wednesday night I had five companies and one piece of artillery on the ground, and by Thursday night five more companies and another piece of artillery; and there was not a blank cartridge there. And I tell you if it becomes necessary for me to come here to Dubuque on the same errand, I shall not bring a blank cartridge here.

CHAPTER XIV.

Letter to the President-Last Annual Message—Gen. Baker's Compliment to the Governor- The Governor's to the General-Kirkwood's Gubernatorial Administration-Difficulties Encountered-His Able Assistants-Allison, Price, E. Clark, R. Clark, Hubbard, Baldwin, Nutt, Edwards, Ingham, Sanders, Dodge-Dodge Sent for Arms— Gets Them When Others Could Not-Is Appointed Colonel of the Fourth lowa-The Governor Childless-Children in the FamilyS. Kirkwood Clark-Enlistment-Wounded at Arkansas Post-Dies From the Wound-Letters From His Uncle-From His ColonelAppointed Minister to Denmark.

His Excellency the President:

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 2, 1863.

SIR-Appreciating as I do the responsibilities and cares of your position, I have avoided obtruding upon you my opinions, except in cases wherein I would, in my judgment, have been wanting in my duty to my country had I forborne to do so. A case of this kind, in my judgment, now presents itself, illustrating a grave question of policy.

On the 8th of January Col. William T. Shaw received from MajorGen. Curtis, commanding the Department of the Missouri, written orders to repair to Helena, Ark., and report to the officer commanding the Eastern District of Arkansas, for duty in organizing and mustering in troops to be raised from persons emancipated from servitude for garrison and other duties as contemplated in the proclamation of his Excellency the President of the United States of the 1st of January. In obedience to this order, Col. Shaw repaired to Helena, reaching that point about the 16th of January, and reported to Brigadier-General Gorman, commanding, delivering the order of General Curtis. General Gorman positively refused to recognize Col. Shaw as an officer under his command; positively refused to issue any orders or to afford Col. Shaw any facilities to execute the orders of Gen. Curtis; used grossly insulting language to Col. Shaw for being willing to act under such an order; stated that if he (Gen. Gorman) had any officer under his command that would help to execute such orders he would have him mustered out of service, and that if any man should attempt to raise negro soldiers there his men would shoot them. Throughout the entire interview his demeanor and language to Col. Shaw was grossly insulting and abusive. Shortly after this interview, a member of the Second Arkansas Cavalry handed to

Col. Shaw a letter directed on the outside of the envelope, "Col. Shaw, in charge of negro camp." The letter was as follows:

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, HELENA, Ark., Jan. 23, 1865. "General Orders No. 2.

"No person, or persons, in the State of Arkansas shall be enlisted, or recruited, to serve as soldiers except by an officer duly appointed by the Military Governor of this State.

"AMOS F. ENO, Secretary of State, pro tem."

Col. Shaw finding he could not execute the order of Gen. Curtis, reported in person to him.

Mr. President, I do not desire to intermeddle in matters with which I have not legitimate concern, nor do I think I am so doing in bringing this matter to your notice. Col. Shaw is a gallant officer from the State of Iowa, commanding the Fourteenth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He led his regiment bravely at Donelson and Shiloh; was taken prisoner at the latter place, and after a long and severe imprisonment, was paroled and exchanged in October last. Except in military position, he is at least Gen. Gorman's equal. He has been grossly insulted while endeavoring, as a good soldier should, to execute the orders of his superior officer.

But the precise point to which I desire to direct your attention is this: The proclamation issued by you on the 1st of January last was an act the most important you have ever performed and more important than, in all human probability, you will ever again perform. I shall not here argue whether its results will be good or evil.

Had you not believed the good of the country imperatively demanded its issuance, you would not have issued it. I most cordially and heartily endorse it But, Mr. President, that proclamation cannot be productive of good results unless it is observed and put in force. You know its promulgation has afforded many men a pretext for arraying themselves against the country, and if, having been promulgated, it is allowed to be inoperative, its effects must be all evil and none good. Then how may it be executed? Can it be, will it be, by such men as General Gorman?

Permit me to say, in all frankness, but with proper respect and deference, the history of the world cannot show an instance where a policy of a nation to array men strongly for or against it was ever successfully carried into effect by its opponents. It is not in the nature of things it should be so, and with the facts herein presented within my knowledge, I can not feel that I have discharged my duty without saying that, in my judgment, it cannot produce the good effects its friends believe it is capable of producing, and must produce only evil, unless you depend for carrying it into effect upon those who believe it to be a wise and good measure.

Many men holding high commands in the armies of the Union openly denounce the proclamation as an “abolition" document, and say it has changed the war from a war for the Union into a war for freeing the negroes. This is caught up and goes through the ranks and produces a demoralizing effect on the men whose affiliation has been with the Democratic party, and they say "they did not enlist to fight for niggers;" while the men whose affiliation has been with the Republican party are disheartened and discouraged at discovering that the policy of the President, which they heartily endorse and approve, is ridiculed and thwarted by the men who should carry it into effect. If that proclamation is not to be respected and enforced, it had better never have been issued. I am unwilling to be misinterpreted or misunderstood. I am not influenced by party political considerations. There are few men in the country with whom I have differed more widely politically than with Gen. Butler, yet it is to me a source of great pleasure that he is to supersede, at New Orleans, a distinguished and able officer of my own political faith. Gen. Butler is prompt, ready and anxious to do the work assigned him, and such are the men we must have to obtain success. I care not what their political opinions have been, if they are unconditionally for the Union to-day.

Permit me further to call to your notice the document copied herein issued by Amos F. Eno, Secretary of State, pro tem." As the Governor of the loyal State of Iowa, duly elected by the people of that State, I would not feel at liberty to order that no person should be enlisted or recruited as soldiers in Iowa, except by an officer duly ap pointed by myself; and it certainly seems to me that the subordinate of a military governor, appointed by you, for a State in rebellion against the government, should not have that power. This act of this man is evidence of the determination of men holding their authority from you to disregard and bring into disrepute the policy you have felt bound to adopt. There is a further act of this Mr. Eno that I feel obliged to bring to your notice. He claims to act as the AdjutantGeneral of the Military Governor of Arkansas, and I am informed by authority, upon which I confidently rely, he turned from 100 to 150 sick and wounded soldiers out of a comfortable house, wherein they had been placed, in order to use the house as his headquarters; that these poor fellows were removed while it was raining, and that some of them actually died while being removed. There are many sick and wounded Iowa soldiers at the place, and some of them may have been among those thus treated. I would not, in my judgment, be discharging my duty to them, if I did not bring this matter to your notice and demand an investigation of the facts alleged.

Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD,

On the 11th day of January, 1864, the annual gubernatorial message was delivered, in which the State's finances were declared never to have been in a more healthy condition. School and University Funds and Lands, Des Moines River Grant, Swamp Land Grant, Agricultural College Grant, Supreme Court, State University, Charitable Institutions and State Historical Society, were treated upon and their condition and needs were presented and discussed. In regard to the latter the Governor says:

"Passing events render the work of this society vastly more important than ever before. We are now making history with wonderful rapidity, but are making it in a fragmentary manner. Future ages demand of us that we collect and preserve these fragments as material from which a full and reliable record of the great events of our day may be preserved. This, with the ordinary work of the society in col lecting the early history of our State, is more than it can well perform with the means at its disposal. No man can be found to devote to it the necessary time without compensation. I recommend an appropriation of $500 as a compensation for this purpose, in addition to the $500 appropriated to it for other purposes."

*

* *

ORGANIZING AND ARMING VOLUNTEER COMPANIES.

I became satisfied during the early part of last summer that designing men in this, as in other loyal States, were making preparations for an armed resistance to the authority of the General Government. The law of Congress, providing for a draft to fill the ranks of the Union army, contained a provision that was eagerly seized upon to array the poorer of our people against the government, upon the specious pretense that the object of the law was to discriminate between the rich and the poor, to the injury of the poor.

The action of the government in freeing and using the slaves in the Rebel States for the suppression of the rebellion was represented as a scheme by the government to overrun the free States with the freed slaves, to the prejudice of the interest of the poor white men.

The government, in some instances, arrested and temporarily imprisoned, or sent beyond our lines, persons whose restraint the public safety required, and this was interpreted to mean an intention on the part of the government to break down all the defenses of civil liberty and to establish a despotism. The entire policy of our government, as interpreted by these men, was that the war was waged, not for the preservation of the Union, but for the abolition of slavery; that the object of the government in seeking to abolish slavery was to bring