Fall of 1862 found the citizens of Davenport and Scott County adjusting to daily life during wartime.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The Draft of August <\/a>had been answered by eligible volunteers and those men were leaving home to join the Union cause. Women, children, and ineligible men now had to adapt to the loss of manpower as the work of daily civilian\u00a0life, such as the upcoming harvest and butchering, still needed to be done.<\/p>\n On September 4, 1862, the Daily Democrat and News<\/em> celebrated the number of volunteers\u00a0enlisting from\u00a0the state of Iowa with the heading \u201cThree Cheers for Iowa \u2013 21,219 Volunteers Offered!\u201d While this article celebrated the dedication and spirit of the men willing to fight for the Union; another article right below called out those local men who were felt to be evading military service \u2013 and it\u00a0named names..<\/p>\n It was called \u201cThe Coward List\u201d and\u00a0included the names of immigrants who claimed exemption from military service on the grounds of not being citizens of the United States. The men had gone before a county commissioner to proclaim this fact.<\/p>\n At the end of the\u00a0article it was stated by the paper\u00a0\u201cIt now becomes the duty of every good citizen to endeavor to ascertain whether any of the persons in this list have ever voted in this country, and if so, to at once commence action for perjury.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Sixty-two names appeared on this list. More names were added by the Daily Democrat and News<\/em> on the 5th<\/sup>, 8th<\/sup>, and 9th\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0of September as well. Listed sometimes as the Coward List and other times as the Sneak List, it was a determined effort\u00a0to shame these men into volunteering.<\/p>\n This Coward List tactic was not done only in Davenport ; newspapers all over the\u00a0north were publishing the names of men thought to be avoiding military duties while enjoying the liberties of the Union. It may be noted that the Democrat\u2019s<\/em> local newspaper rival, the Davenport Daily Gazette<\/em>, did not publish similar lists.<\/p>\n There was a war on and anyone thought not to be\u00a0supporting the Union appears to have been eligible to be named as a Coward or a Secesh\u00a0(the nickname for those who supported secession) in local papers—a distinction\u00a0most may have preferred to have done without.<\/p>\n (posted by Amy D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fall of 1862 found the citizens of Davenport and Scott County adjusting to daily life during wartime. \u00a0The Draft of August had been answered by eligible volunteers and those men were leaving home to join the Union cause. Women, children, … Continue reading