April 14, 1879

                                                                        Ionia,  Iowa

                                                                                    April 4, 1879

Mr. S. J. Parker

            Dear Sir,  Your circular was rec’d.  Thanks.  I cannot at present send you any money but will try and do so this fall.  I would like a discription  (sic) or diagram of the proposed Tablet if you have leisure to send one.  Farming is my present occupation and my military record is substantially that of the 28” Iowa Inft. in all of whose marches (except one) and battles I had the honor of doing my duty.  Captain G. W. Phillips of Brooklyn Poweshiek Co. would I  think give you any information you may desire about my army life and perhaps it would be better myself to write concerning it.  However I will gladly answer (if I can) any questions you may see fit to ask.  The address of Burton Billings is

B.A. Billings Esq.

Nashua, Iowa

Chickasaw Co.

My Dear Teacher, I should be most happy to receive any communication from you that you will write.  I have never forggotten (sic) your kindness to me when a poor friendless boy in Grinnell.  And though unknown to you I have watched your career ever since.  I have sorrowed in heart with you over the loss of your dear children, and with thankfulness have read of your bright career as a teacher.  And though to me it is given to walk in a humble sphere of life, yet I have ever tried to do my best in the circumstances in which I have been placed.  Bear to your wife my kindest regards, give my respects to your pupil B. Callender, and accept the grateful love of your old scholar.

                                                                        A.E. Quaife

                        To my beloved teacher

                                                S. J. Parker

 The above is at the end of page 3.  Written along the side of page 3 is the following.

If it is absolutely necessary I can send you some money by May or June.

A.E.Q.

The remainder of the letter, transcribed below, is continued on page 4.

If you have a printed copy of your address delivered at the State Teachers Association at Marshalltown, Iowa I should be pleased to have you send it to me.  Also a catalog of the Iowa University.

                                                                        Respectfully,

                                                                                    A.E. Quaife

S. J. Parker Esq.

January 16, 1897

The following document is from the State Historical Library in Des Moines, Iowa. It is a Civil War narrative by Albert Quaife that appears in the book Iowa Valor, written by Steve Meyer of Garrison, Iowa.  Mr. Meyer’s address is Box 247, Garrison, Iowa  52229.

            The original document is filed under BG .C 9998, vol. X, in a manila folder labeled  “Brother against Brother.” This is a text of the entire document, which is written in Albert Quaife’s own handwriting.

Brother against Brother

An incident of the battle of Champion Hill, May 16, 1863, by A. E. Quaife of Co. H, 28 Iowa Inf.

The eventful morn of May 16, 1863 arrived, and we were under arms marching to meet the foe.  The sun shone brightly and as the day advanced the heat became intense.  Being in the advance we were among the first to arrive on the field of battle.  Filing to the left of Champion’s house, the regiment lay down to rest in the edge of the timber, the musicians meanwhile stacking their knapsacks in rows & in a small patch of brush close to the regiment.  We then reported to the Surgeons who tied a strip of white cloth around our left arms and ordered us to follow our regiment and carry the wounded to the house.  Having a few leisure moments I walked along the regiment chatting with acquaintances and passing a few pleasant remarks  with Lieut. Kerr of Co. I.  Alas: only a short time elapsed I passed his body cold in death.  He was one of the first to fall.

Also the body of dearly beloved Robert Letery, drummer of Co. G., killed with a musket ball through the head.  As the hours passed away, the bloody work continued, and we were continually passing back and forth through the woods, carrying the poor boys on litters or blankets, as we happened to have them.   It was on one of these trips, I came to a rebel lying under a tree, who called to me for a drink of water.  Stopping only long enough to minister to his wants, I continued on my way.  Passing the same place some time after, I heard a familiar voice say, “Al, come here.”  Looking up I saw Wm. E. Bowen our drum major (now of Montezuma Ia) standing by the above mentioned rebel and calling me to come to him.  Walking to where he stood, I told him I had given that same man a drink on my last trip, and had no more time to waste on him. (our orders were to attend to Union men first)  “Well,” said he (with tears streaming down his cheeks), “waite a few minutes, this is my brother.  What can we do for him.”  I found he was shot through the hips and very badly wounded.  It was a sorrowful sight, the brother in blue and the brother in gray.  Foes to the death a few minutes before, now together weeping over their sad lot.  The wounded brother was conveyed to the rebel hospital, while the Loyal brother was compelled by the stern laws of war to march on.  As I gazed on the trying scene, I thought this is indeed a “cruel war” when will it be over.  Almost 34 years has come and gone that day.  A few of us still survive, but the most of those who charged through those fateful woods have passed to that home, where there is no more war and where no brother meets brother in deadly conflict.

Nashua Ia, Jan. 6, 1897

            Steve Meyer, the author of  Iowa Valor, states that historical records confirm the incident taking place, but at the 3rd Battle of Winchester, not the Battle of Champion Hill.  He also states that this is the only known incident of a Union soldier from Iowa meeting a brother in combat.

            This document came to light only through the strangest of coincidences.  The public radio station in Iowa City, Iowa, broadcasts a program called Live From Prairie Lights, which consists of authors reading from their works at the Prairie Lights Bookstore.  Steve Meyer had recently published Iowa Valor, which is a collection of Civil War stories written by Iowa soldiers, and he was scheduled to be on the Prairie Lights program. I had met Steve Meyer previously at a Civil War event and was listening to the broadcast on the radio.  After reading narratives written by various Iowa Civil War veterans, Steve said, “Now I will read an account written by a soldier from the 28th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Company H, named Albert E. Quaife.”  I was shocked because I had not known of the above document’s existence.

            I spoke to Steve later by telephone and in person, and he said that he had stumbled upon the document by chance while doing research at the State Historical Society Library.

            The above is not the only modern-day coincidence involving Albert E. Quaife and myself.  I related the following incident to some family members in a letter written December 1994:

            “Speaking of Civil War re-enactment, I had the most uncanny experience this summer.  I read in the newspaper that there was to be a Civil War march in Des Moines on August 10th.  It was being held to commemorate a march which took place in Des Moines on Aug. 10, 1894, in which Iowa veterans of the Civil War marched to the Capitol building with their regimental battle flags to put the flags on permanent display.  (The flags are still there, and I saw the flag of the 28th Iowa Infantry, the same flag our ancestor Albert Quaife marched behind for three years.  But I’m getting ahead of the story.)  Anyone who had an Iowa Civil War ancestor was eligible to be in the march, so of course I had to go, complete with cavalry uniform.  As we were lining up for the parade, people were holding up little signs with the names of various Iowa Civil War units on them.  People whose ancestors belonged to the various regiments were supposed to organize themselves that way.  I saw a woman holding a sign reading “28th Inf.”, so I told her I would stand by her because that was the unit my ancestor had belonged to.  She asked me what company my ancestor had been in, and I said it was Company H.  She looked at me in surprise and said that was the same company her ancestor had been in.  I asked her what her ancestor had done in the company, and she said he was the drummer boy. She was even more surprised when I told her my ancestor had been the fifer.  They just had to have known each other.  Talk about coincidences.  Here were two great-great-grandchildren of two Civil War buddies, meeting each other 130 years after our ancestors had served together.  The woman gave me her name (Kaye McLain Kessel of Ankeny, Iowa) and her ancestor’s name (Reuben Brenaman). I found her ancestor’s name in the roster at the State Historical Library here in Iowa City, and sent her a copy of it.”

May 17, 1899

W. A. Holt, Pres't                    E.A. Dawson, Vice-Pres't    Julian Ruddick, Cash.

German-American Loan & Trust Co's Bank

FREY STATIONARY CO. ST. LOUIS                                Waverly, Ia.  May 17, 1899

 Dear Clarence,

 Annie was taken worse last week and yesterday Howard and I came down to see her.  She was dying then but recognized us and wanted me to hold her hand.  Howard went home on the Clipper and Lawrence and Milo came down in the night.  Lawrence and Milo went back at 4 o'clock this morning, and Hattie came down on the Clipper this morning so we were all here.  Hattie and Milo have just gone home, and they will be down again to-morrow afternoon.  The funeral will take place on Friday at 10 o'clock.  She will be buried here.  We would all like to have you come, but don't see how you can spare the money.  You must be your own judge of that.  Annie did not suffer much.  She said she felt no pain, and she did not struggle any, but died without knowing any of us, just like Ma did.  I am doing what I can for Ed, but that is not much.  Little Emma has stayed with us about two months and I will keep her till things get settled.

            I don't think of any more at present so good bye.

                                                                         Affectionately,

                                                                        A. E. Quaife

            This letter written by Albert E. Quaife to his son Clarence describes the death of A. E. Quaife’s eldest child, Anna Laura Quaife Winne, who was the mother of Quaife Nichols.  (Quaife Nichols was born June 20, 1897, so he would have been just less than two years old at the time this letter was written.)

            “Annie” was Albert Quaife’s only child by his first wife, Laura Anna Kenyon.  By a tragic coincidence, Laura Anna Kenyon died very shortly after her daughter Anna was born, and the cause of Anna Quaife Winne’s death may have been complications from the birth of her last child, Lydia Winne, later renamed Winne Pratt, born Feb. 28, 1899.