Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/58

 to hold a convention to revise the Constitution of the State was defeated by the following vote:  for a convention 24,846; against a convention 82,039.

There was an animated contest in the Sixth Congressional District at the Republican Convention, where Hon. Charles Pomeroy was a candidate for reëlection. He had served but one term and strong opposition to his nomination for a second time had grown up in the district. In the election of delegates Webster County, his home was carried by the opposition and several candidates appeared before the convention. On the fourteenth ballot a majority of the opposition united upon Captain Jackson Orr of Boone County, who was nominated by a vote of one hundred and twelve to seventy-three divided between Mr. Pomeroy and five other candidates.

In the summer of 1870 General N. B. Baker and Governor Merrill in conjunction with several distinguished officers of the late Civil War, planned a grand reunion of Iowa soldiers to be held at the Capital of the State where the comrades of the long years of the War of the Rebellion might meet and renew the friendships of the camp, march and battle-field. The proposition met with universal favor and was received with enthusiasm by the “boys in blue.” General Baker at once entered upon the formidable work of making all needful preparations for the transportation, care and comfort of the grand army of citizen soldiers sure to gather from all parts of the State. The railroad officials were persuaded to grant free transportation, General Sherman and General Belknap, then Secretary of War, came from Washington to greet the Iowa soldiers. The time fixed for the reunion was August 31st and it continued through two days. More than 20,000 Iowa soldiers came together for the first time since the war and 30,000 citizens assembled to see and give them a cordial welcome. Five years had passed since the soldiers had been mustered out of the service and this meeting of comrades who had marched,