A parable: Joke-telling Abraham Lincoln (Republican) in a stovepipe hat; sober-minded Jefferson Davis (Ultra-secessionist Democrat); and diminutive Stephen A. Douglas (national Democrat) stood at the top of a cliff. Davis…
Six years after Appomattox, the Civil War was an emotional “live wire” in Iowa. Republican candidates for office tapped into the continuing agony, and they condemned Democrats with great vigor…
In Part 1, W.H. Farner left Iowa and became a Denver city councilman and physician to the 1st Colorado Infantry. After he accused the soldiers of misdeeds in the field,…
Politicians today are accused of flip-flopping, but Dr. William H. Farner fit the bill. He jumped careers and political parties with ease. He first practiced medicine and was active in…
Iowa residents who served the Confederacy were never completely forgotten, especially during campaign season. One such man was 18-year-old Junius L. Hempstead, a Dubuque resident whose father had been Iowa’s…