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Today is the seventieth birthday of James H. Bright, war veteran and wealthy land owner.
In marking the passing of the day, Mr. Bright has been interviewed regarding the events of his life and has written the following autobiographical facts.
I was born February 28, 1846, in Green County, Penn. When nine years of age came with my parents to Iowa. We came by boat down the Ohio to Cairo, up the Mississippi river to Fort Madison, locating in Lee county, near West Point. We lived there two and one-half years, then moved to Henry county and settled on a farm near Mt. Pleasant. We were living there when the Civil War broke out. At the age of eighteen my brother, Lee, and I ran away from school at noon one day and enlisted the 18th of March, 1864. About this time the veteran soldiers were home on furlough.
We went from Mt. Pleasant to Burlington and were examined by the mustering officer, passed and were assigned to the Fourth Iowa cavalry. We were in Burlington two weeks, then reported at Davenport, where we received our suits of blue. From there we went down the Mississippi with the veteran soldiers to St. Louis, Mo., where we received our horses. We went then to Memphis, Tenn., where we went into camp and did patrol duty until June 1. On June 1 we started out under General Sturger in the direction of Gunn Town to meet the most brilliant and daring commander, M. B. Forest (the wizzard of the saddle,) who was there with from ten to twelve thousand soldiers, the flower of the Confederate army. We met him at Brice's cross roads, six miles from Gunn Town, on June 10, where we were engaged in mortal combat for four long hours, from 10 a.m. until 2 p. m. In order to escape capture, a retreat was ordered and we hit the road for Memphis, hotly pursued all the way by the victorious rebel army. In this retreat I made my record as a pedestrian, having covered a distance of 50 or 60 miles on foot in one night, (I lost my horse in the fight) rather than go to Andersonville. This all night walk and run brought on sickness which lasted three months. We spent the winter of 64 and '65 in camp at Louisville, Kentucky. Early in the spring of '65 we went by transport up the Tennessee river to East Port, Miss. Marched to Chickasaw, Alabama. From the 21st of March, 1865, until the close of the war, the Fourth Iowa cavalry was engaged in active operation against the enemy. The Reg. was engaged in the following battles: Montevello, Six Mile Creek, Ebeneyer Church, Selma, Fikes Ferry and Columbus.
At Selma the rebels abandoned a cannon leaving it in the road. A comrade and myself were detailed to
guard the cannon through the night. I took the first relief. The blackness of the night was intense. Soon I heard the crackling of brush. I called. Halt, who comes there? The answer came back, Rebels. I demanded a surrender and understood them to make the same demand of us. Then I turned on them with my trusty repeating carbine, firing twice in rapid succession. They then commenced to beg for mercy. I asked him how many there were and they said six. I then asked if they were armed. They said no. I advanced them one at a time and disarmed them. They had one horse pistol and a kit of surgeon's tools. I returned the tools to the surgeon and received his thanks but kept the pistol. My command then took the prisoners to the rear.
I mounted the cannon and was the whole battery the rest of the night. The battle at Columbus was the last one of the Civil War, and it was fought seven days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox. So you see the Fourth Iowa cavalry, my brother and myself, put down the rebellion. We were discharged at Atlanta, Ga., August 8, 1865. We went from there to Davenport, la., where we were paid off and mustered out of United States service August 24, returning to our home at Mt. Pleasant, Ia., where we met our loved ones once again.
I farmed father's place for two years. Not being satisfied with farming, I secured an ox team, and for the next two years broke prairie in Henry county. October 26, 1869, I started West with oxen. Came to Putman county, Mo., and worked in a saw mill until spring, then came to Fremont county, Ia., and helped Allen Johnson break out his one-half section just south of Shenandoah. I continued in his employ, working by the month for $20.00 per month until the winter of '72 and '73, when when I returned to Henry county and married a girl of my schoolhood days, Mary Beshears, March 6, 1873. To this union were born seven children, three sons and four daughters. We lived happily together until September 24, 1891, when my beloved wife was called to her heavenly home. Ten years later my oldest daughter, Nellie, passed to the other shore, and January 5, of this year my youngest daughter, Mrs. Myrtle Schriver was called home. My other children are: Jesse, Roy and Glen Bright, Mrs. Pearl Walker and Mrs. Effie Welty, all living on farms near here.
We came to Shenandoah and rented of Allen Johnson the first year. In the fall we came to town and built a house across the street south of the John Snook home. This house is now across the tracks remodeled and occupied by Joe Fletcher. The next year, 1874, rented forty acres of Kimball on the Peter Peck farm. In the year '76, (grasshopper year), I bought 120 acres in Fremont county 3 1/2 miles west of Shenandoah, where Lou Walker now lives, paying $15.00 per acre. Within the next two or three years bought the quarter across the road from this on the hill. In 1882 built the nine room house, on the home place and had money enough to pay for it when completed. In the fall of 1890 I took on one of the biggest land deals ever consummated up to that time in Walnut township, buying 940 acres of B. Lombard, Jr., for $29,000.00. From time to time I added to my acreage until when I quit the farm I controlled over 2,000 acres of the most fertile land in Iowa. On January 3, 1912, I married Pearl Priestman in Red Oak, Iowa. We lived one year on the farm, but 1 having suffered a partial stroke of paralysis, we moved to town and have since lived a retired life.
I never used whiskey nor tobacco
in any form in my life.