CHAPTER IX. THE ROLL OF HONOR.
No extended biographical notices are compatible with either the purpose or the limits of this book; nor is a large amount of such matter desirable. The deeds that have been recounted speak for themselves and the men who performed them. Yet many readers will doubtless desire to know something more of the personality of those men, of their antecedents and their subsequent career. The brief sketches which follow relate solely to those who were actively connected with the three most important scenes in the narrative,—the struggle in the bank, the fight on the street, and the capture of the four robbers near Madelia.
JOSEPH LEE HEYWOOD was born at Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, August 12, 1837. His parents upon both sides were of the sturdiest New England stock. His father was an energetic and progressive farmer, taking much interest in [pg 80] public affairs, state and national, in politics a Whig, and later a Republican, and an opponent of slavery. His mother was a devout and conscientious woman, unwavering in her moral convictions, and unselfishly devoted to her children. She sought to inspire in them the highest ideas of honor, truth and duty; and they were accustomed to ascribe to her, more than to any other influence, whatever virtues of character they developed.
Our hero's early life was spent on the farm. The rudiments of education acquired at the district school, were supplemented by reading and study at home, until he became well fitted for the practical affairs of life. When about twenty years of age he left home, to make his own way in the world. He spent about a year in Concord, Mass., another in Fitchburg, another in New Baltimore, Michigan, where he was clerk in a drug-store, and then a part of a year in Moline, Illinois, whence he went to Chicago in 1862, the second year of the Civil War.
Reared as he had been, and trained from childhood to the love of truth, country and freedom, his enlistment in the Union army was almost a matter of course. He became a member of the 127th Illinois Regiment in August, 1862, went [pg 81] with his regiment to the front, and at once engaged in active service. Among other movements in which he participated were the siege of Vicksburg and the capture of Arkansas Post. The hardships of army life proved too severe for his constitution, and his health gave way under them, necessitating his removal first to the hospital and then to the home of his brother in Illinois. Recovering sufficiently after a time to permit of his performing light army service, he was detailed as druggist in the Dispensary at Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained until his final discharge from the service at the close of the War, in 1865.
After a year spent mainly with his brother in Illinois, he came to Minnesota, residing first in Faribault, then in Minneapolis, and finally, in the autumn of 1867, removing to Northfield. Here he was for five years employed as a book-keeper in the lumber-yard of Mr. S. P. Stewart. In 1872 he accepted the position of book-keeper in the First National Bank, a position which he filled with fidelity for four years, and in defence of whose trusts he forfeited his life.
Mr. Heywood was twice married; first to Miss Mattie Buffum, and after her death, to Miss Lizzie Adams. Both were natives of Massachusetts, and both were women of superior character. A [pg 82] daughter five years of age, the child of the first wife, survived her father. She has since graduated from Carleton College, and also from the School of Music connected with that institution, and is now (1895) an accomplished teacher of music in her native state.
As has been elsewhere stated, Mr. Heywood's sterling integrity and business ability brought him into many positions of responsibility, among which were those of Treasurer of the City of Northfield and Treasurer of Carleton College. His personal traits have been so well characterized and his place in the estimation of those who knew him so well defined in the funeral address of the Rev. Mr. Leonard, quoted on pages 42 to 45, that further words in that direction are needless. His memory has ever been cherished with peculiar reverence by the people of Northfield, especially by the College of which he was an officer; and his heroic character was admired wherever the story was known. The banks of the United States and Canada contributed a fund of over twelve thousand dollars for the benefit of his family, and as a tribute to his heroism. The Grand Army Post in Northfield is named for him, and his portrait hangs in their hall. The College has a fund of $2,500, called “The Heywood Library Fund,” [pg 83] founded in his honor; his portrait and a memorial tablet in commemoration of him hang in the College library; and a memorial window in the First Congregational Church of Northfield bears his name and the inscription “FIDELITAS.” No word could better characterize the man and epitomize his life. The following lines, from the New York Tribune, are the tribute of a well-known poet to Mr. Heywood's heroism: