Lot Abraham: Union soldier and good neighbor

Editor?s note: As part of the nation?s 150-year anniversary of the Civil War, the Henry County Civil War Sesquicentennial Task Force will be publishing a monthly column, written by Henry County historians. The research for the articles comes from Henry County newspapers published between 1861-1865, as well as diaries, journals and letters written by Henry County Civil War soldiers and their families.

By Donald Young

After serving as the commander of the first Yankee troops to enter the Georgia town of Washington, would you be willing to revisit the town 30 years later? The man involved was Capt. Lot Abraham of Henry County.

Lot Abraham?s first Civil War service was to recruit a company of men to go to Athens, Mo., to help stop the Confederate Army that was marching north to secure that area for the Confederacy. This was early August of 1861.

Abraham and Cornelius Spearman organized the ?Home Guards? and moved south to Croton, in Lee County, across the Des Moines River from Athens, Mo. They arrived after the battle (a Union victory) was over and returned home, seeing no action.

In September of 1861, a call went out in Henry County to enlist men for a regiment of cavalry to be mustered at Camp Harlan, west of Mt. Pleasant. The Home Guards joined the regiment and along with other recruits formed Company D of the Fourth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry at Camp Harlan. Lot Abraham first served as first sergeant, later being promoted to first lieutenant, and on July 23, 1863, was named Captain and Commander of Company D.

The Fourth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry Regiment left Camp Harlan on February 26, 1862, for Benton Barracks, just outside of St. Louis, Mo. The regiment?s first service was in Missouri and Arkansas. Later, they became a part of Gen. Grant?s Army serving around Memphis, Tenn. In late June, the regiment help at the seize of Vicksburg, Miss., and were present at the Confederates surrender to Union forces on July 4, 1863. The regiment was then assigned to the army of Gen. William T. Sherman and became part of his ?March to the Sea.? When the war ended, the Fourth Cavalry was near Atlanta, Ga.

Capt. Abraham?s last assignment was to command 50 men at Washington, Ga., whose responsibility was to supervise the discharge of some 4,000 Confederate soldiers. There were still ?bad feelings? between the Union and Confederate troops. Orders for discharge said no Confederate soldier should take home their ?side arms?.

Eliza Frances Andrews, a young woman in Washington, recorded the event in her diary which was later published as War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865. She wrote on May 9, 1865, ?There are four brigades of cavalry (Confederate) camped on the outskirts of town waiting to be paroled. Contrary to their agreement with Lee and Johnston, the Yankees now want to deprive these men of their horses and side arms, and refuse to parole them until they are dismounted and disarmed.

?Our men refuse to submit to such an indignity and vow they will kill every ?d - d Yankee? in Washington rather than suffer such a perfidious breach of faith. Lot Abraham, or ?Marse Lot,? as we call him, seems to be a fairly good sort of a man for a Yankee, and disposed to behave as well as the higher powers will let him. He has gone to Augusta with Gen. Vaughan, who is in command of one of the refractory brigades, to try to have the unjust order repealed.

?If he does not succeed, we may look out for hot times. The Yankees have only a provost guard here at present, and one brigade of our men could chop them to mince meat. I almost wish there would be a fight.? Captain Abraham succeeded in his appealed to higher authorities and was able to change the order.

There was, also, an attempt to burn the home of Confederate Gen. Robert Toombs whose home was in Washington, Ga. On learning of this threat, Capt. Abraham sent soldiers to guard the house, preventing any hostile action. Andrews recorded the appreciation the locals felt for Capt. Abraham when she wrote on Sunday, May 21, 1865: ?I went to church with Mary Day. Lot Abraham and some of his men were there. I couldn?t help thinking what an accession Lot would have been if he had brought his wife and come among us in the days of the Confederacy?He is a big, tall fellow from Iowa, not a spindling little down-Easter.?

Capt. Abraham served in Washington for two months, and then was sent to Atlanta, Ga., to be discharged. At the discharge ceremony, Brig. Gen. Edward Winslow officially commended the men of the Fourth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry and conferred the rank of Brevet Major on Lot Abraham.

After his discharge, Abraham returned to his farm southeast of Mt. Pleasant. He married Sarah Alden and they had four children. Sarah was killed in a horse/carriage accident on the way home after visiting her mother in Mt. Pleasant. Later he married Mary Blocker and they had one child.

Capt. Abraham helped organize the Henry County Chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, serving several terms as chairman. Later, he served as state chairman. He served one term in the Iowa Senate 1881-1884. And he built a church on his farm so his neighbors would have a place to worship close to home and served as the part-time pastor. That church still stands today.

The Captain also traveled widely including Europe, Asia, and the Holy Land. In 1895, he decided to make a return trip to Washington, Ga., planning to check out familiar sights on an overnight stay. When people learned the Captain had returned, numerous people invited the Yankee to visit them and he stayed six days!

The old soldier died on July 23, 1920, and is buried in the Abraham Cemetery on the family farm southeast of Mt. Pleasant, near the church he built.

NOTE: As part of the 150th Commemoration of the Civil War, the University of Iowa has undertaken a project to make available their Civil War holdings through their Iowa Digital Library. Among the documents now available are Lot Abraham?s diaries for 1863 and 1864. The digital collection may be viewed at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/.