Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/551

 and periodicals told in glowing words of countless deeds of heroism of American soldiers in the bloody conflicts on a hundred battle-fields. The names of gallant officers are inscribed on imperishable records in every State of the Union. Their brilliant deeds will be an inspiration to patriotism in all the coming years of the Republic. But no history of the war however minute can record the silent sufferings on the countless marches, the heroic deeds in deadly conflict, the horrors of the prison pens, of the common soldiers. Their unmarked graves are scattered among the forests, swamps, highways and farms of more than twenty States. They marched away from northern homes in the years of early manhood when hopes were high and life was dear to them and to all the family circle from which they parted. If there is a more trying degree of patriotism than that which sent the young men of the family out into unknown dangers for love of country, it is the suppressed grief, too deep for utterance, the long, lingering ever present anxiety of the wives, mothers, sisters and dear ones who remained at home. No language can utter, no pen describe the silent, oppressive fear that never ceased to brood over the minds of the sufferers at home. How bravely they endured the fearful suspense of years has never been and can never be told. Many were left with heavy burdens to bear in providing for the family and with too much pride to accept assistance, struggled on with uncomplaining endurance. The women on farms took the places in the field of the volunteers who had gone to war, while others added to the long hours of labor by working late into the night to provide for the family support. These humble heroisms in every day life of the patient women all over the land, were inspired by as fervent patriotism as ever impelled the men of the family to face their country’s foes on the field of battle. Like the deeds and sufferings of the private soldiers they must ever remain unrecorded but like the nameless graves that the red demon of war left scattered all over the South, in