Books I've enjoyed and would recommend

[william42]

Hi Larry, yes, Ole is correct. The county of Mitchell in Iowa would be flat farmland. It's 4 counties west of the Mississippi, and as he said, all the counties bordering the river in Iowa, as well as Minnesota, and every other state the river moves through are mainly hilly bluffs, I think due to the glacier that moved through the area, creating the river, however many years ago that was.

Olmsted Co. MN, where I lived is only two counties away from Mitchell Co. Iowa, and I probably drove through there several times. It is pretty flat, very suitable for farming, and as Ole said, pretty enough for many country cemeteries. Serene, would be an appropriate word for the area.


Terry

[Miss Markie]

The land where your ancestors 'retired' to is some of the best farmland in the US, flat, not a lot of rocks in the fields, and a place flat enough to see your dog run away for days and days!

Ole is right, near the Mississippi, the land ranges from high bluffs, and some really high, like 300-500 feet above the river. The land turns to rolling hills (think of Grant Woods, his farm scenes from Anamosa and near Cedar Rapids capture this well.) Then you get to the flat, and you can see corn corn corn corn, occasionally interrupted by the classic gambrel roof or gothic roofed barn, several silos, and a neat as a pin farmhouse. That area, as it is great farmland, is prosperous, as farming goes, and well tended. I would guess the cemetery where your ancestors are buried, larry, would look hardly any different than where my parents are. Very peaceful and pastoral.
My parents, BTW, were married not too far from Mitchell County, in Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, in the town of Mason City. Mason City is the prototype town for "River City" in the Music Man.

[Miss Markie]

Oh, and william42 (Terry), that research night sounds fantastic!! Now where else can you meet such other 'geeks' who would be interested in such stuff than here??

[william42]

Thank you, why yes, I'm quite proud of my geekness, and I take advantage of all geekie activities that allow me to expand my knowledge of the Civil War. Evansville has a much larger library, but they've never had such an event here, that I know of. I'll get on their website and click on their "geek link" and send them a suggestion on that.

Terry

[larry_cockerham]

My sincere thanks to all of you for reinforcing my vision of Mitchell County, Iowa. As you can see gg grandpa Cockerham who was discharged from the Army in 1865 wasn't quite finished as he died in 1922 in Bristol, TN while living with a daughter. He was returned to Iowa to rest with his wife Amelia. I have a cousin who has seen their graves. I still owe myself a trip. I would very much like to see some of the native American mounds along the river as well.

[ole]

Do the trip, Larry. On the way, you'll cross my territory and will be required to present your pass.
Ole

[Miss Markie]

larry, if you come to Iowa, you will find very welcoming folks, and if you say you are in search of relative's and ancestor's graves, you will no doubt become a local celeb, and maybe get your photo in the paper. Don't laugh! We have a local, the Courier-Wedge, and every so often someone visits from some place rare, say Tennessee, and their photo ends up in the paper "Out of State Man Comes to Find Ancestors". Anyway, the Effigy Mounds National Monument outside of McGregor Iowa is one of the best parks in the US (and I get around!) outside of battlefields... I have hiked it in rain, snow, high heat and humidity, in cold, and cool crisp days. It has mounds of several layers of civilizations, ranging from ones that are just, well, mounds, to others that are in the shapes of animals (effigies). And if you plan to come, you must eat a meal at the oldest tavern/restaurant in Iowa, Breitbach's, in Balltown. You will be high above the plains of the river, and looking over prime farmland. The place is always packed and food is all homemade.

Miss Markie, also CW 'geek'

[30th_il]

Are there any interesting civil war sites near Iowa City. My son will be going to U of IA this fall and I love new and intersting places. And if anyone is familiar with western IL (pretty much along Rte 80), any groovy sites would be appreciated. Co A of the 30th IL was formed in Mercer Co. IL and I do plan a stopover there.

[Miss Markie]

Here is a site on the Iowa-Missouri border that I have always wanted to see (can't always convince the other half of my burning need to see obscure historic sites; he does humor me, but there is a limit..)

This is the Battle of Athens, the northernmost battle of the CW fought west of the Mississippi River (for all you western theater fans). Here is a link of someone's trip with photos:
http://www.baseballroadtrip.net/trav...scivilwar.html
To find this, you will need to look at an atlas with both IA and MO, as the actual park is in MO, right over the border.

If you are going on I-80, you will go right through Rock Island, and I sure a trip there would be of interest.

The Herbert Hoover Historical site, right outside of Iowa City, is worth a stop. I did get my husband to take me there last year (I collect Dead Presidents, don't ask).If you were going to drop down on 218 to Mt. Pleasant, and keep on to Keokuk, you would visit a place on the Mississippi that saw a lot of Union soldiers ship out to the war. Keokuk Iowa was a notorious town, and if I rememeber right, one of the books on the 1st MN talks about Keokuk, and all the 'ladies of the evening' and other bad influences on those innocent farm boys. From Keokuk, then you could drop over to the Battle of Athens site.

BTW, my CW ancestor was in the 101st IL, around Morgan County.

[ole]

30th:
I'm unaware of sites near Iowa City, but the capitol building in Des Moines used to have Iowa Regimental Flags on display. Presumably, the gummint would also have archives. In Winterset, just west of Des Moines, is the birthplace of Marion Morrison who was frequently a veteran of something WBTS in his movies.
Ole