Farewell
to Arms
There is
an ‘end of term’ feel at present as 2nd Division say a fond
farewell to some 3,500 of our number who have completed their three-year term
of enlistment. They have all been issued with a new set of Civilian clothes
courtesy, of M.G. Paul De Krackere, while rail passes will ensure them a
swift and comfortable journey home to their families and loved ones.
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| New Irish Recruits |
I asked
Corporal Darren Deeds of the 5th Iowa what he planned to do now. “It
is back to Mahaska County for me. My pa’s farm has expanded to near double its
size thanks to the increased demand resulting from the war. A new railroad
extension into the County is approved with work due to begin in the new year.
That is partly to take out Farm produce, such as our and partly for the Coal
mined in Mahaska. I considered re-enlisting with some of my mates but there is
so much work to be done at home that Pa cannot spare me.”
A Night
to Remember
The
Division held a demobilisation Party in their honour. A splendid array of
dishes were available, a train of ‘chilled’ wagons having ensured that the
ingredients had arrived in the freshest condition. Aside from beers, a special
issue Tennessee Whiskey named ‘2nd Division’ was available and it
went down a storm.
M.G. Paul
De Krackere thanks the Veterans
“For
many of you your time of service is drawing to a close. You have performed with
skill, courage and boldness through thick and thin. Your example has fashioned
the Iowa ‘Ten Dollar’ Brigade and the 1st Massachusetts Colored
Brigade into the spearhead formations of XI Corps. It has been my privilege and
honour to serve with you and witness your exploits first hand over these past
three years.
No-one,
least of all I, can have asked for any more of you and you may each return home
with your head held high knowing the important role that you have played in
this enterprise, the greatest challenge to our Union since her birth.
For me, the enterprise has not yet reached
fruition. I, myself, will remain with the Division and prepare for the next
stage of this struggle. I look forward with confidence and determination to
seeing this revolt finally crushed and for a new United States to rise from the
ashes of the old. A Union which provides a bright and secure future for all her
citizens, a land where men and women, regardless of origin or background, may
be free to realise their dreams.”
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| Re-recruited Massachusetts veetrans |
A Short
Retirement!
It
appears that many soon missed their ‘military’ families as 1,700 of them
immediately re-enlisted back into the Division. Could it be camp cooking that
turned them, or maybe the much-increased bounties offered this year? Either way,
it is creating a headache for Major Byron Getwonphrey and the Brigade
Quartermasters as the camp is already having to be re-organised and expanded to
make room for the imminent arrival of reinforcements. Happily, this is the type
of challenge that we all welcome.
