As shown in the accompanying photograph three Civil War soldiers are buried side by side in Graceland Cemetery. The grave markers indicate that all three were sergeants. When checking the soldiers' war records, I found that two were sergeants, but one was a private. They were Sergeant William A. Ostrander, Quartermaster Sergeant John W. Anderson, and Private Eben M. Jones. The person carving the gravestones had made them all sergeants. By the time the error was discovered it was too late.

All three were members of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry and were assigned to travel the northwest part of Iowa to purchase horses. A government holding pen was set up in Webster City to keep the horses while the soldiers went off searching for more horses.

On April 19, 1865, the three men returned from Fort Dodge, where they had apparently purchased some liquor. The two sergeants got rather drunk, commenced exchanging words, and got into a shoving match. Private Jones stepped between the two and stopped the shoving. He took the rifles from each and told the sergeants to "sleep it off."

Later, the argument continued and each sergeant held a loaded revolver. Private Jones rushed to stop the argument again. As he stepped between the pair, he was hit with a ball from each of them. He fell to the ground as the others continued shooting and reloading. According to the Hamilton Freeman account, Sergeant Ostrander died before sundown with three balls lodged in his body. Sergeant Anderson lingered until about 9:00 p.m. with two balls lodged in him. Private Jones lived until 9:00 a.m. the following morning.

In the April 22, 1865 edition of the Hamilton Freeman, the editor wrote "that a mob assembled to clear out the saloon in town. It was found that they had not supplied the alcohol." He states further, "that we condone the saloon, but we are all aware that these are pests of good society." Another article in the same paper reports that "the bodies were interred in the new cemetery ground north of North Bridge." This bridge was located on what we now call White Fox Road. Prior to this burial ground, the residents used a burial ground on West James Street near the Sumler Willson house. Bob Manke has trees planted nearby. He reports that these grounds are frequently very wet. At the north cemetery, the three soldiers were buried side by side with Private Jones, the peacemaker, buried between the other two.

The deaths are such a tragedy when you realize that Abraham Lincoln died just four days earlier than the two sergeants. General Lee had surrendered to General U. S. Grant just ten days earlier. For all practical purposes, the Civil War had ended when these three soldiers died.

Many townspeople were concerned that the north burial grounds were wet much of the time. Also, it was necessary to cross the bridge to bury the dead. On one occasion, the south approach to the bridge washed out while the funeral service for a small child was conducted in town. When it was time to go to the cemetery, the burial party could not get on the bridge. Someone pulled a rowboat to the shore. A ladder was placed in the boat while Sam Baxter climbed the ladder with the child's coffin on his back. The others in the party climbed the ladder and crossed the bridge. When the burial was completed, Baxter announced that "this is the last burial we will have in this cemetery."

A group of prominent business men met and formed the Home Cemetery Association on Nov. 17, 1865. Kendall Young was elected President, Wm. A. Crosley, Secretary, and L. L. Estes, Treasurer. The other board members were George Shipp, Hiram Zelie, John Wolfinger, Jacob M. Funk, Benjamin Millard, David Beach, and Jesse R. Burgess. D. C. Chase notarized the papers. They purchased five acres of land from Jacob Funk for $325. Funk was the man who later gave our city its first hospital, then known as Mercy Hospital. (As a sidelight, it is interesting to note that Funk, Millard, Beach, Estes, and Young all have streets named for them.)

This burial ground became known as Hope Cemetery. The association realized that more ground was needed. They recognized that the city could obtain more land by condemnation proceedings. They "conveyed to the city the land and all moneys, credits, and assets of said association on May 8, 1883."

The city then purchased an additional 21 acres of land from George Shipp for $2,250 in August, 1883.

In 1883 the G. A. R. moved the bodies of all soldiers from the north cemetery to Hope Cemetery. This is recorded on the military records of all three soldiers. During the subsequent burial at Hope Cemetery, there was a mix-up when Private Jones was buried to the north of Ostrander and Anderson instead of between them. This error was undetected until later so the bodies were left as they were. This Hope Cemetery is now known as Graceland Cemetery. I have been unable to determine the exact date the name was changed.

MacKinlay Kantor knew the story about the three soldiers as he studied much about the Civil War. The soldiers' graves are located just a short distance southeast of Kantor's family gravesite. Kantor wrote much about the Civil War. The short story, "Return to Holly Springs," tells about a grand encampment in heaven where the soldiers from both sides of the war would greet and talk with each other. While all of this is going on, three other soldiers come down the road and sit together some distance from the others. Those three that did not fit in with the others in the encampment were Anderson, Ostrander, and Jones.