The leading men of Iowa, as well as the women, were actively enlisted in the work.
Ex-Governor Kirkwood, and his private secretary, N. H. Brainard, Governor Stone, Judge Lowe, Judge Coles, Chaplain Ingalls, John Parvin, and many others whose names were a guaranty of honest and faithful work, were active.
I was selected to go to Washington and secure these barracks as a gift from the government, if possible. If I could not obtain them as a gift, I was authorized to offer $1,000 a year as rent for them. I protested strongly against being sent on such an important mission; but I was overruled, and was obliged to accept the duty.
When I reached Washington, October, 1865, I went to the surgeon-general’s office, and made known my mission, and secured an official statement that those barracks would not be needed for hospital purposes. I want to say in this connection that Surgeon-General J. K. Barnes had always co-operated with me most heartily in all my work.
I then called on Quartermaster-General Meigs, the man who with such wonderful executive ability fed and clothed the great armies of the republic, furnishing quarters and equipments, and paid their wages with an honesty and fidelity that have never been questioned.
I had often met him before; and no one who ever saw him could forget his honest, rugged, but kindly face.
When I made known my mission, he looked surprised and pleased, and then said,—
“Well, now, that is certainly a good use to put these deserted barracks to.”
“General,” I said, “all I want you to do, is to say officially to the government that they will not be needed for military purposes.”
“They were never needed; they ought never to have been built. It was a waste of money.”