The graves visited on Chariton's first Decoration Day

I've written here before about Lucas County's first Decoration Day observance, held on May 30, 1880,  12 years after Gen. John A. Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, first suggested during May of 1868 that the 30th day of that month be set aside in perpetuity as a day of mourning for the Union's Civil War dead.

Chariton's Daniel Iseminger Post No. 18, G.A.R., was organized on Oct. 18, 1879, and that provided the organizational base for an observance in Chariton scheduled for Saturday, May 29, 1880, to avoid conflicts with church services on Sunday, May 30. Heavy rain, however, fell all day that Saturday, so the event was postponed to Sunday anyway.  Follow this link to read more: "Chariton's First Decoration Day."

As a result of reports in Chariton newspapers on that and subsequent observances, we know that about 18 graves or cenotaphs were decorated in two cemeteries that day. So I sat out to discover how many of the graves visited 142 years ago could still be decorated today, using photographs taken over the years plus a few borrowed from Find A Grave.

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Dennis M. Galloway, 44, a stone mason by trade and G.A.R. member, had taken the lead in organizing the 1880 observance and he went out alone early on Sunday morning with an armful of flowers to decorate two graves at what we now call Douglass Pioneer Cemetery (above), Chariton's first burying ground.

Reports do not specify whose graves these were, but one certainly would have been that of Oliver W. Coffman, 32, a saddler of Company C, 1st Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. Oliver had become desperately ill with dysentery and its complications during the late fall of 1863 and had been sent home on medical leave in the hope that he would have a better chance of recovery. Unfortunately, he did not rally and died on Dec. 26.

A majority of his tombstone survives in the memorial section of the restored cemetery, long abandoned and in deplorable condition when taken on some years ago by the Lucas County Pioneer Cemetery Commission.

The other grave at Douglass most likely was that of Alexander Van Meter, 19, of Company K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Like Oliver Coffman, Alexander became critically ill with dysentery during the spring of 1863 and was discharged on April 20 from Benton Barracks, St. Louis, and sent home in the hope that he would recover. He died, however, on May 4 and most likely was buried at Douglass where his father and a brother also had been laid to rest.

During 1894, when the Grand Army of the Republic section of the Chariton Cemetery was set aside, Alexander's remains apparently were exhumed and brought into Chariton along with his tombstone (now broken) to become the first burial in the new memorial area.

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Reports on the 1880 observance state that 14 graves were decorated that Sunday afternoon in the Chariton Cemetery, but the identities of their occupants are not given. During 1882, however, the identities of the 15 veterans whose graves were decorated that year were given. All had died prior to May 30, 1880, so it seems likely that all were decorated in 1880, too. Two of those honored, the Mitchell brothers, had died elsewhere while serving and were buried in national cemeteries near where they fell, but they did have cenotaphs in the Chariton Cemetery. Austin Wayland's tombstone also served as a cenotaph for his twin brother, Elijah, who fell at Vicksburg --- so in all 16 men most likely were honored. Here they are, listed in the order they were published.

There's little doubt that most if not all of these deaths were related in some manner to the hardships, physical and mental, endured by these men during their terms of service.

Austin Wayland, Co. E, 34th Iowa Infantry, age 35, died April 10, 1877. His death was attributed to acute alcoholism.  His tombstone also serves as a cenotaph for his twin brother, Elijah, who died in combat at Vicksburg on July 1, 1863, and is buried with the unknowns in what now is Vicksburg National Cemetery.

William S. Henry, Co. L, 4th Indiana Cavalry, age 22, died Oct. 3, 1866. These are the Henry family tombstones (from Find A Grave). William's inscription is almost illegible.

William F. Hall, Co. K, 34th Iowa Infantry, age 22, died Aug. 27, 1868.

Lieut. Frank Nolen, Co. E, 34th Iowa Infantry, age 39, died April 27, 1867. Served 15 months before resigning his commission on Jan. 11, 1864, and returning home to Chariton where he died two years later. This appears to be a later stone, placed after the 1905 death of his widow.

Major Joseph R. Jay, surgeon, U.S.A., died July 18, 1866, age 29, six months after he had been sent home to Chariton suffering from extreme dysentery and complications. This obviously is a later stone.

Major Henry W. Jay, surgeon, 34th Iowa Infantry. died Dec. 28, 1868, age 34, tuberculosis. His health, too, had been destroyed by the war. He was discharged and returned home during February of 1865 and was on hand to help care for brother, Joseph.

Sergeant John S. Burkhead (or Birkhead), Co. H, 1st Iowa Cavalry, died Sept. 26, 1869, age 44. 

Volna D. Douglass, Co. F, 17th Iowa Infantry, died  Jan. 19, 1873, age 27, of tuberculosis.

John H. Stanley, Co. C, 13th Iowa Infantry, age 24, died May 27, 1862, in Keokuk where he was hospitalized for treatment of a shoulder wound received on April 6 during the Battle of Shiloh. 

John Scott, Co. F, 3rd Iowa Cavalry, age 27, died March 2, 1872, of a heart attack.

Noah N. Larimer, Co. B, 6th Iowa Infantry, age 25, died May 18, 1866.

John Francis "Frank" Savacool, Co. K, 46th Iowa Infantry, 56, died April 5, 1877. Frank was 44 when he enlisted and served only four months before being mustered out most likely because of disability during September of 1864.

James Mitchell, Co. F, 6th Iowa Infantry, age 32, died of typhoid fever at St. Louis on Sept. 6, 1861, buried (probably) Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Chariton Cemetery cenotaph).

Harry K. Morgan, Co. E, 19th Iowa Infantry, died Feb. 19, 1880, age 32.

David T. Mitchell, Co. F, 17th Iowa Infantry. died Oct. 3, 1862, age 19, of typhoid; buried Mound City National Cemetery (cenotaph Chariton Cemetery).