Thursday, February 23, 2023

Perhaps no Lucas Countyan had more friends ....

This pleasant looking young man is Capt. Emmett Bostwick Woodward, the first man from Lucas County to volunteer for Union service during the Civil War and of whom it was said at the time of his death more than 30 years later, "Perhaps no man who ever lived in Lucas county had more friends or fewer enemies than he."

The image has been added in recent years to Capt. Woodward's entry at Find a Grave by "Brigitte1999," so that's where I snagged it. No idea of the source.

There's also an obituary at Find a Grave, but a rather incomplete one. The best of his obituaries was published in The Chariton Patriot of Feb. 10, 1898, and obviously was written by someone who knew him well. Here's the text:

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Captain Emmett B. Woodward died at Atlanta, Georgia, the night of February 7, 1898. He was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1834, and was 64 years old at the time of his death. He came to Chariton in 1860 and commenced the practice of law. Possessing a very affable disposition and agreeable manner, he soon acquired a host of friends.

The day Sumpter was fired on he commenced recruiting a company for the Union service. He had the honor of being the first man in Lucas county to volunteer in that war. He soon succeeded in raising a company and was chosen first lieutenant of the company at its organization. Daniel Iseminger, having seen service in the Mexican war, at Woodward's suggestion, and on his nomination, was chosen captain. Capt. Iseminger having been killed at Shiloh, April 6, 1862, Woodward succeeded to the captaincy of the company and served with distinction for a time, when he was appointed Provo Marshal of Memphis, Tennessee, in which capacity he served for nearly a year. He then resigned on account of ill health.

After returning from the army he served several terms as Justice of Peace and Mayor of the city of Chariton. At the organization of Iseminger Post, G.A.R., Woodward was chosen its first Post Commander.

He was brought up in the Democratic faith, and when the war came he was what was then called "a Union Democrat." After he returned from the war he affiliated with the Republican party for a time. In the Republican state convention which met at Des Moines in 1867, the delegation from Lucas county presented Woodward's name for the office of lieutenant governor, and the evening before the day of meeting of the convention his nomination was conceded, but the next day in the convention the name of Col. John Scott was suddenly sprung and having a state-wide reputation as an ex-senator and the gallant commander of the 32nd Iowa Infantry, he secured by nomination by a small majority. Some years thereafter he returned to the political party in which he had been educated.

He was long a prominent member of St. Andrew's Episcopal church of Chariton. On account of Mrs. Woodward's ill health he removed to Atlanta, Georgia, where he has ever since resided until his death. His remains were brought to Chariton today for interment in the Chariton cemetery, where he owned a lot and in which one or two of his children have already been buried.

Perhaps no man who ever lived in Lucas county had more friends or fewer enemies than he.

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The unit that Capt. Woodward organized was mustered as Company B, 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. You'll find an account of its departure from Chariton in another Lucas Countyan post, "July 8, 1861: Farewell to the Boys of Company B."

Capt. Woodward's widow, Laura E. (Crist) Woodward, survived her husband by more than 20 years, passing on Dec. 14, 1921, in Burbank, California. Her remains were cremated and brought to the Chariton Cemetery for burial near his grave. There were two surviving sons, Harry L. and Ernest G.

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