Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/96

 Iowa urging the raising of one military company in each county of that section of the State to be held in readiness for immediate service. Colonel John Edwards, of Lucas county, was authorized to organize the militia in that part of the State and take command of any forces required to protect the lives and property of citizens and repel invasion. Judge A. W. Hubbard, of Sioux City, was placed in command of that section with full authority to use the military force in any emergency which might arise.

Union men in the northern counties of Missouri were often driven from their homes and sought refuge in Iowa with their families. In counties where the Union men were in the majority, they retaliated by driving out Rebels, who sheltered them. This condition of affairs was stirring up civil war in our own State. In order to meet this emergency a military district was formed known as the “Western Division of Iowa,” and troops were raised for service in this territory and the adjoining counties of Missouri, if necessary. While the Governor never ordered troops across the State line, he permitted the commanding officers to use their discretion, to go where in their judgment the troops were required to protect the Union men. Colonel Morledge, in command of a regiment in this district, was called upon to go to the rescue of Union men of Nodaway County, Missouri. He marched with two hundred and fifty men thirty-three miles, quelled the disturbance and took sixty prisoners. Two other expeditions were made into Missouri by Colonel Morledge during the summer. On one of these he was joined by Colonel Cranor, of the Missouri militia, and they gathered a force of 3,000 men, marching as far as Saint Joseph. Here they found a large body of armed Rebels engaged in plundering the stores and dwellings of Union men, having robbed them of more than $40,000. The Rebels were driven out of the city and a portion of the property recovered.

In July, Colonel Edwards reported that 1,500 citizens of