Charles H. Smith April 1889 to April 1890

Charles H. Smith, a native of Ohio, and a resident of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, enlisted as a private in Company C, Fourth Iowa Cavalry in September, 1862, at the age of 19. On May 19, 1865, he was promoted to second lieutenant of his company and he served in that capacity to the end of the war. He was with his regiment in the Vicksburg campaign of 1863. Captured near Granada, Mississippi, in 1863 and imprisoned in a log schoolhouse, he escaped, mounted the captain's horse and rode 200 miles to the Union lines and to safety. In 1864 he saw service in Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri, and was in Wilson's cavalry campaign in Alabama and Georgia in 1865. After the war, Smith engaged in business at Mount Pleasant, and became a partner in and manager of the Western Wheel Scraper Works - a business that prospered greatly. Mr. Smith was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Post No. 20, at Mount Pleasant. At the Annual Encampment at Burlington in 1889 he was named Department Commander - an office which he filled with honor to himself and his comrades. He died at Aurora, Illinois, on September 25, 1910.

Mason P. Mills  April 1890 to April 1891

The life of this soldier, lawyer and citizen was a noble example of the best there is in American citizenship; his death a public calamity". Such were the words expressed when, in July, 1896, Mason P. Mills came to the end of his active but relatively brief career. Born at East Windsor, Connecticut, on January 15, 1843, Mills came to Iowa as a youth, and in 1861 he was a student at Upper Iowa University at Fayette. At the first call for troops he left the classroom, went to Washington, and enlisted in a squadron of cavalry known as McClellan's Dragoons. Thus he served as a guard to General George B. McClellan until the winter of 1863 when his squadron was ordered to Chicago and made part of the Twelfth Illinois Cavalry. He was in service at Yorktown, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and in the seven days fight before Richmond, and was a member of the Red River expedition under General Nathaniel P. Banks. In 1867 he located in Cedar Rapids and engaged in the practice of law. In 1890 he was elected Commander of the Iowa Department of the Grand Army of the Republic, and all through the years that followed he was an enthusiastic worker for the cause of the veteran.

Charles L. Davidson  April 1891 to May 1892

Charles L. Davidson was a native of Ohio, who came to Iowa at an early age and located in Washington County. In 1862,' at the age of eighteen, he enlisted in Company A, Twenty-fifth Iowa Infantry. In March, 1864, he was transferred to the Veterans Reserve Corps where he served until July, 1865. At the Seventeenth Annual Encampment of the Grand Army at Dubuque in 1891, Comrade Davidson, then a resident of Hull, Iowa, was selected as Department Commander. Few men have endeared themselves to their comrades more completely during their term of office as Commander than did Mr. Davidson, and few Commanders have been more highly praised than he at the end of his career in March, 1898. Past Department Commander Josiah Given said of him: "He was a brave soldier, he was a model citizen, he was a public officer that executed his duties, so that he rose even beyond suspicion; he was a Comrade true to every teaching of fraternity and of charity; loyal to friends, loyal to country and loyal to citizenship".

John H. Steadman  May 1892 to April 1893

John J. Steadman was born in Ohio, acquired wealth in Iowa, and retired in California. Born in the home of a Methodist minister in Ashtabula County, Ohio, on April 4, 1849, he was scarcely three years old when his father died. Despite this loss of sup, port, he attended the public schools at West Farmington, Ohio, working at odd jobs to pay expenses. Although he was a mere youth when the Civil War began, after some delay, he was accepted as a drummer in the One Hundred and Seventy-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The war at an end, he returned to his studies - graduating from Mt. Union College at Alliance, Ohio, in the class of 1869. In 1873 he came to Iowa and became editor and manager of the Asocial Sentinel. Four years later he purchased the Creation Gazette, and in 18'84 he purchased an interest in the Council Bluffs Nonpareil. For many years Comrade Steadman was active in the work of the Grand Army of the Republic, with member, ship in Abe Lincoln Post No. 29, at Council Bluffs. At the Eighteenth Annual Encampment, held at Ottumwa in 1892, he was elected Department Commander. From 1892 to 1902 he was Clerk of the United States District ,Court for the Southern District of Iowa. In recent years Comrade Steadman has lived in California, where for ten years he served as a member of the Board of Education for the, City of Los Angeles. There be still resides at the age of eighty-six.

Philip Schaller April 1893 to June 1894

"Phil" Schaller, as he was commonly known to his comrades, was of German nativity, but was quite as loyal to the Union Army and to the Grand Army of the Re, public as were his native-born American comrades. Born in the Fatherland on January 6, 1838, he came to America at an early age and in May, 1859, became a naturalized citizen.

He was a sergeant in Company E, Twenty, Seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry where he served until the close of the war. When he was mustered from service he returned to his former home in Clayton County. In 1872, however, he moved to Sac County and became one of the prominent and substantial businessmen of Sac City. He served on the board of supervisors of Sac County, was county treasurer for eight years, was a member of the Twenty-first General Assembly, and served for two terms as Mayor of Sac City. Mr. Schaller was for many years active and zealous in promoting the interest of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was the "dominating spirit" of the local Post at Sac City, and in 1893 became Department Commander - an office to which he gave much time and valuable service. Throughout his long career Mr. Schaller was known for his philanthropic spirit, and his willingness to aid a comrade in need. He died at his home in Earlville, on June 21, 1912, at the age of seventy-three.

George A. Newman  June 1894 to May 1895

In the history of the Grand Army of the Republic one now and again finds a man who is known for his many years of faithful official service. Such a man was George Alvin Newman. ' Born in Jefferson County, New York, in December, 1843, Newman spent his youth in his native State, and at the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted as a private in Company G, Sixth New York Cavalry. He fought in the main battles of the Eastern Army, and in October, 1864, was honorably discharged from service. At the close of the war he moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where in 1876 he began the practice of dentistry. In 1881 he removed to Iowa, locating at Cedar Falls. As a citizen he was loyal to local interests. For several years he served as city clerk, and was an active and enthusiastic member of James Brownell Post No. 222 of the Grand Army of the Republic. At the Twentieth Annual Encampment, held at Council Bluffs in 1894, Mr. Newman was elected Commander of the Iowa Department. Subsequently, in 1900, he was appointed Assistant Adjutant General - a position which he held with honor and distinction, being reappointed again and again, for twenty years. Meanwhile, in 1915, he served also as Adjutant General of the Grand Army. He died at Des Moines on June 15, 1920. Few men in Iowa or in the Nation have served the cause of the Grand Army more continuously or more faithfully than he.