Assistant Adjutant General John Parker Risley

More than three score men have served as Commander of the Iowa Department of the Grand Army of the Re, public. A few of these have also served as Assistant Adjutant General. John Parker Risley, alone, however, has repeatedly declined the honors of Department Commander in order that he might continue his efficient service of more than a decade as Assistant Adjutant General. Born in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 30, 1846, young Risley obtained his early education in select schools of that city, and at the age of ten came with his parents to Davenport, Iowa. He attended the public schools of that city until February, 1863, when he enlisted in the Twentieth Iowa Infantry for the duration of the war. He was in service at the siege of Vicksburg. Going to Texas with General Nathaniel P. Banks, he was at the battle of Mustang Island at the mouth of the Rio Grande. He was at the siege of Fort Morgan and at the capture of Fort Blakely and Mobile Point. After the war he was for many years a prominent businessman in Davenport. There he became interested in the Grand Army of the Republic, having membership in Post No. 1. In 1922, Comrade Risley was appointed Assistant Adjutant General of Iowa - a position which he still retains. In 1922 and again in 1935, he was given the additional distinction of being appointed Adjutant General of the National Organization of the Grand Army of the Republic.