A Civil War Farrier Dies in Arkansas

Floy Bates Aderman is in the lineage of the John Blue Family. Her great-great-grandfathers were brothers (Robert and John Blue) who married sisters (Ann and Elizabeth McNary). Robert and Ann had a son, Robert Blue; John and Elizabeth had a daughter, Martha Blue. Robert and Martha, first cousins, married each other and had a daughter, Elizabeth Ann. Elizabeth Ann was Floy’s grandmother.

Going back to the beginning (of this story, not of all time), Floy’s great-great-grandfathers (Robert and John Blue) had a sister named Ann (Blue) who married John Chambers. One of their daughters, Maria (or Mariah) married John Dull. At the beginning of the Civil War, John and their son, Thomas, signed up to serve in Co. H of the 1st Iowa Calvary. The men mustered in on the same day, August 10, 1861 just as the regiment was being formed. John was a farrier, taking care of the horses the Calvary used, and Thomas was a private according to the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors website.

That website also tells the work of the 1st Iowa Calvary. Like other Calvary units, they were involved in scouting activities and some battles. In the summer of 1862 they were split up for various military activity (remember that the Dulls were in Co. H) including the . . .

Guerilla Campaign against Quantrell’s, Porter’s and Poindexter’s forces July to September. Pleasant Hill July 8 (Co. “K”). Expeditions in Cass County July 9 (Detachment). Lotspeach Farm July 9 (Cos. “E,” “G,” “H” and “L”). Clinton July 9. Sears House and Big Creek Bluff, near Pleasant Hill, July 11 (Cos. “H” and “L”). Clear Creek, near Tabersville, August 2 (Cos. “A,” “G,” “H” and “L”). Kirksville August 6 (Cos. “A,” “G,” “H” and “L”).

One of the diaries of James H. Cowen was found many years later in the family attic. He served in the same company the Dulls were in, Co. H of the 1st Iowa Calvary. The diary tells of his experiences in the war from September 1862 to April 1863. There is even mention of John Dull on February 7, 1863. It is a wonderful read to understand something of the life of an enlisted man in the war.

In September 1863 the 1st Iowa Calvary was among those sent to capture Little Rock, Arkansas. This served to close off the territory west of the Mississippi and further isolate the South. Although both John and Thomas Dull survived the battles, John succumbed to what the Surgeon General’s office* (in Washington City, D.C.!) called “Remittent Fever” [sic] on October 19, 1863 and died in the General Hospital in Little Rock. Because the living conditions were so terrible for Civil War soldiers, the vast majority of deaths were not from battle, but from disease. Over the course of the war, the 1st Iowa Calvary lost two officers and 56 enlisted men in battle; two officers and 233 enlisted men died from disease. Thomas made it home safely; his father did not.

After the war was over, Maria and their son, Thomas, had to find new ways to move on.

*Fold 3: Widow’s Pension Application for Maria Dull, widow of John Dull.