Letter from Charles F. Shedd to Shedd Family Association, 1913

The Shedd Family held a reunion in 1913, which Charles F. Shedd could not attend. Apparently they asked those who couldn't attend to send letters. In Charles' letter, he spoke in detail about his service in the Civil War and his life after the war.

My dear Mr. Shedd:

I cannot attend the Shedd Family Reunion on August 30, but will send my letter as requested.

My father, James Adams Shedd, practiced law several years in Dayton, Ohio, where his five children, three sons and two daughters, were born. In 1847 he moved his family to Denmark, Lee County, Iowa, and settled on a farm.

Denmark had been settled by a colony from New Hampshire in 1836 and my father's brother, Curtis Shedd, was one of that colony; other settlers followed and soon the village of Denmark became quite a centre. The first Congregational Church west of the Mississippi River was organized in Denmark in 1838, and the present church people of that village celebrated last May the seventy-fifth anniversary of that event. Plans for an Academy soon followed the organization of the Church, and the Denmark Academy became known all over the West as a model place to send boys and girls to be educated.

During the years of Civil War Denmark was the first "underground" railroad station out of Northeast Missouri, and many a poor runaway slave found friends in Denmark who helped him on to Burlington, Galesburg, and to Canada.

The town was known all over Northeast Missouri as "Yankee Heaven."

When the war came upon us in 1861 my oldest brother, James Adams Shedd, Jr., enlisted in the First Iowa Infantry under President Lincoln's first call for 75,000 "three-months'" men; he was in the battle of Wilson's Creek at the time General Lyon was killed. Soon after he was mustered out of service he re-enlisted and I joined him Set. 16, 1861, in the Engineer Regiment of the West, made up from Missouri Volunteers. We were armed and drilled the same as Infantry.

When my brother James and I enlisted it was understood that our youngest brother, George Curtis Shedd, who was only seventeen, would remain at home and care for the family, but early in '62 he enlisted in the 30th Iowa Infantry and was made Color Corporal.

On May 22, 1863, during the terrible charge all along the lines in front of Vicksburg the color bearer of his regiment was shot and killed and before brother George could take the flag he was also shot, one ball passing through his heart and another through his hips; the Color Sergeant took the flag but was quickly wounded, a ball entering his left wrist and coming out at the elbow. Orders were soon given to retreat but the 30th Iowa had lost heavily in killed and wounded in this engagement.

The latter part of February, '62, our battalion of the Engineer Regiment was ordered from Sedalia, Missouri to join General Pope at New Madrid to assist in the capture of Island No. 10 which was strongly fortified and held by the Confederates. Island No. 10 is situated in the extreme south bend while New Madrid is on the extreme north bend of the great double horse-shoe bend in the Mississippi River at that section. New Madrid is twenty-six miles down the river from Island No. 10 although most directly north of it, due to the crooked course of the stream. This unnatural channel it is supposed resulted from the series of great earthquakes in that section in 1811 and 1812.

After a thorough investigation the plan of capture decided upon was to cut a canal between New Madrid and the river on the east, a distance of fifteen or twenty miles above Island No. 10, thus leaving the south horse-shoe bend and Island No. 10 off the map and opening communication between Cairo and Vicksburg via the canal for small gun-boats and transports. This canal route was several feet under water the entire distance and part of the way through heavy timber. Large quantities of working materials were shipped from Cairo down the Mississippi river to a point near Island No. 8 where the canal commenced. To make a long story short it took 600 of Bissell's Engineers three weeks to complete this canal twelve miles long and fifty feet wide; six miles through heavy timber, cutting off the trees four and one half feet under water so that small gun-boats and transports could pass over the stumps.

The device used for cutting trees under water was a large cross-cut saw bent in the arc of a circle, securely attached to an inverted V shaped frame. The tops of the trees were cut off 15 feet above the water. The frame was held to the stump by a bolt driven through an eye in the apex of the frame and into the stump; the saw when hung was four and a half feet under water and the saw frame worked back and forth similar to the pendulum of a clock. A rope was attached to each end of the saw and men on separate rafts worked these ropes until the stump was cut off. A man was always ready to dive down with iron wedge and hammer when the saw pinched. With this channel opened the boats could pass readily.

When sufficient transports had passed through the canal, General Pope loaded on several thousand of his soldiers and landed them on the rear of Island No. 10, which was not fortified, and they captured everything on the island early one morning before breadkfast. This capture opened the Mississippi River as far south as Vicksburg.

The veterans of our regiment marched with Sherman to the sea.

After I was mustered out of the army I was back again on the farm in Denmark, Iowa, the greater part of the time, until I past thirty years of age, putting the farm in shape so that it would support the family; about fifty acres of this land was scrub oak and had to be grubbed before it could be cultivated. In April, 1872, I borrowed $100 of my Sabbath School teacher to start out on m life work, though I did not know just what it would be.

In the spring of '73 I took a Soldier's Homestead in Clay County, Nebraska, and very soon worked into the grain and live-stock business there, through parties who furnished the capital. I was very successful and in time had a third interest in five grain elevators and stock yards and had full management of the business when in middle life.

There are not a great many Shedds in this part of the West. I often think of a remark made by an old lady from New England then living in the West, who said, "I have known a great many Shedds in my day back in New England, and to their credit there was not a single "fool" Shedd in the whole long list." This certainly is very encouraging; who knows but that some day some member of the Shedd Family will be President; I mean President of the great big United States--stranger things have happened.

Once upon a time I was a president of a mining company. I was before that engaged in a large and profitable business, but in an evil hour I was tempted. Yes, I was made President of a mining company. It was, of course, an honest mining company; oh, yes, everybody was honest, but no one knew just where the pot of gold lay, and yet the workmen had to be paid. It was "put in" and "put in" and no "take out." Isn't it wonderful how much good money has been deposited in the "Rocky Mountain Bank," not subject to check or sight draft, and no prospect that it will ever declare dividends?

Thus you will now understand why I do not ride in my automobile and why I am not with you today; but, hark! I think I hear a voice from the "Amen" corner calling, "Time's up, time's up," so I bid you good-bye.

Yours very truly

Source: Register of The Shedd Family Association, Vol. 3, p. 40-42.⁷⁴⁹³